Official warns of addiction to gambling

WINDOW ROCK, May 1, 2008

For Janet Hillis, it's not a question of if the Navajo Nation will have to start treating gambling addicts, but when.

With the tribe's first casino now expected to be open in as little as six months, Hillis and others in the tribe's Department of Behavioral Health Services are beginning to talk about how this will affect their operation.

Hillis is a clinical counselor in the Fort Defiance behavioral health office, where staff members commonly see tribal members with alcohol and other substance abuse problems.

But in the background are tribal members who may be developing addiction problems because of all of the casinos that are now within two or three hours of most reservation communities.

"We haven't had anyone come in and actually get counseling," Hillis said.

But the Fort Defiance office has been contacted by a couple of tribal members who have inquired about the possibility of getting counseling.

Hillis said the department has also been contacted by Navajos who expressed concern about their parents spending so much time at the casinos and ignoring family responsibilities.

The problem the department encounters, she said, is that in these kinds of cases the parents refuse to come in and get counseling.

"They won't acknowledge they have a problem," Hillis said, "and we can't force them to come in. It's all voluntary."

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She said she talked to one woman, who described herself as a professional, who talked about getting counseling but hasn't done it so far.

The woman said when she started going to casinos in the Albuquerque area, she was a consistent winner at first and then gradually began spending more and more time at the casinos and losing money.

"It got to the point where she began losing track of time," said Hillis, who added that this is common with gaming addicts.

The woman would go to a casino and start gaming and suddenly realize that it was 4 a.m. and she was supposed to be at work in a few hours.

There were times, Hillis said, when the woman realized she had not eaten and had lost all of her money with none left even for food or gas to get home.

Over many months, the woman said she lost so much money that she finally lost her vehicle, was in jeopardy of losing her trailer, and was borrowing money from anyone who would give it to her.

She got to the point where she would get upset at family members for loaning her money and enabling her to continue gambling.

Hillis said she expects to see more and more cases like this woman's when the casino opens in Church Rock, N.M., and hopes that by then the tribe has a program set up to help those who can't control their gambling.

"Right now it seems like the tribe's only concern is about the money," she said, adding that little has been talked about on the effect the casino or casinos will have on members of the tribe.

"Maybe they don't see it as a problem but we see it here because of the reports from the children," she said.

Hillis said discussions within her department indicate that the gaming problems will also lead to more substance abuse problems among some tribal members, more sexual abuse and crime as people try to deal with the frustrations of the gaming addiction and the need to get more money to feed the addiction.

"We're going to have to deal with problems like children being left alone at home for days at a time while their parents are out gambling," she said.

Part of this concern is to make sure that the tribe's behavioral health staff has the training needed to handle the increased problems as well as the staff to meet the new demands.

Another part of the concern is whether the ones who need help will come forward and ask for it.

Hillis said she knows that there are people who are now trying to cope with gaming addiction and haven't come forward to get help, even though it is available at any of the DBHS offices across the reservation.

Anyone who thinks he or she has a gambling problem is encouraged to call the Fort Defiance DBHS office at 928-729-4012 for a referral to the nearest counselor.