The potentially addictive nature of gambling, particularly online gambling, can have a devastating effect on young lives and can be extremely difficult to get under control. It's an addiction that Austin, 24, wishes he wasn't having to battle.

Intelligent, good-looking and personable, it would be hard to tell that this Human Kinetics student from Ottawa is fighting an addiction that is threatening his financial and emotional well-being. But, as strong as the desire to gamble might be, Austin is determined to put his life back together and to kick the insidious addiction.

His first visit to the casino in Hull, Quebec, was with his mother on his 19th birthday as a rite of passage, or the thing to do to celebrate the event. He lost a couple of hands of blackjack and didn’t return until he was in university. At the end of his first year, he went back to the casino with friends and lost $25 on the slots. With his remaining $25, he played roulette with his friend and won $50. Then he won another $50, then $375. He went back the following week and won $175.

“Winning money was a good feeling,” said Austin. But the third time back, he lost $175 which, ironically, started his binge gambling. During the summer he went two to three times per week with a friend and by the end of summer had a net loss of $500 a big financial loss of a young student.

That year, he began going to the casino with other friends who were gamblers. One of them won $5,000 and Austin wanted a part of that action, but decided to wait until the end of the school year. The day after school got out, he headed to the casino and during that summer lost a “lot more” than he wanted to lose.

The cycle of winning and losing continued when the school year started. He didn't want to continue gambling, but losing and winning were becoming “a blur.” Instead of taking the bus to school, he would head to the casino once or twice a week and spent the whole day gambling.

His losses were mounting. Half way through his third year “pop ups” on the computer urged him to gamble online. He started playing blackjack and roulette two to three times per week. Televised poker was also drawing him in and he signed on to a Poker site. “I thought I could be like the guys on TV, only better,” said Austin. “There was more thinking involved and I was attracted to it.” Playing up to as much as six or seven hours every day, his grades began to slide. “You don't notice the time and games can last longer than in the casino. It's more engaging.”

He started losing all the money he'd earned to go back to school and began using his credit card. His mother found out and cut off the internet, making him angry.

He returned to school, got a second credit card and tried to “get things on track”. He was becoming depressed and his mother wanted him to get counseling, which he refused. Finding angry, threatening words written about her by her son, she called the police, had him removed from the home and changed the locks. He called a friend, who gave him a place to stay.

Wanting to live on his own, he rarely gambled that summer, got an apartment and promised himself he would stay away during the school year. Deadline pressures drove him back and he was to rack up a $17,000 debt, spending his OSAP (student loan) money and $7,000 on credit cards and bank debt. “It's so easy online, the money just drains from your account with the click of a button and I could justify it by telling myself it was relieving stress,” Austin said. “But the chasing got worse and I couldn't pay rent or the credit cards. I got fired from my job because I was often late. Then I spiraled.” His

“mother, aware of his desperate situation, came to his rescue, but with conditions: he was not to gamble and had to get treatment. That led Austin to Windsor to the Problem Gambling Services of Windsor Regional Hospital. (continued on back)