Caught in the Web of the Spider – a Book you Need to Read!

Legalized gambling is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. For most of the industry's patrons, gambling is merely a fun activity which does not have any serious regularity to it. Four percent of those who become addicted; however, it can be a devastating illness that negatively affects every aspect of their lives.

According to one source, an estimated four percent of the adult population will experience a serious problem with gambling that will result in serious debt, family disruption, job losses, crime or suicide.

Compulsive gambling affects the gamblers, their families, their employers and the community. As the gamblers go through the phases of their addiction, they spend less time with their family and spend more of their family's money on gambling until their bank accounts are depleted. Then they may steal money from family members. The work environment oftentimes becomes disrupted; there is a lack of focus, projects do not ge finished and time is used to plan the next move to the casino. Some employees go as far as to embezzle money from their employers or engage in other illicit activities to facilitate the next "binge."

Gambling addiction is a progressive disease. At the outset, it progresses slowly and grows until the victim's life becomes chaotic and uncontrollable.

Most compulsive gamblers are not able to "kick it" on their own. They require professional help to be able to come to the realization that they have a serious problem.

German author Mareen Mathis tells her story in an autobiographical account of her life. This was a therapeutic assignment given to her by her psychiatrist, after being court ordered to seek treatment.

Ms. Mathis had become so obsessed with playing roulette that she simply had to go to the tables every day. Her addiction resulted in her gambling away her assets as well as her husband’s and eventually embezzling money from her cousin.

Mathis examines what caused the ruinous behavior of a middle-class woman who had grown up enduring the hardships of the Nazi years in Germany by delving back into the past, assessing her familial situation and her own character.

Ms. Mathis and her famliy are swept into World War II under the Hitler dictatorship, she establishes a carpet business which she runs successfully for 20 years. Heavily burned by an ailing mother and disabled husband, she starts venturing out to a local casino to escape the disheartening reality she is faced with every day. As her visits to the casino become more and more frequent, she starts losing control. Soon she is lost in a world of compulsive, obsessive behavior. She keeps her gambling addiction well hidden from others, even those close to her, but at 66, while still active and dynamic, she was “on the verge of a total breakdown”.

Writing about her life has helped her understand why. However, none of this would have been possible without family and professional intervention.