ABSTRACT
A natural by-product of the expansion of commercialized gambling is the steady rise in the numbers of those troubled enough by gambling to seek professional help. This demand has propelled the emergence of many small organizations that seek to assist people with gambling problems. The majority of these consist of organizations that provide individuals with short-term counseling, but other variants include telephone helplines, family counseling, budgeting services, longer term residential programs, and cultural programs. Helping professionals dealing with problem gamblers have a special role in the interface between gambling and democratic societies. They are interacting daily with the tough realities faced by problem gamblers and their families. During these interactions they hear detailed accounts of how gambling losses have impoverished families and led to crime, violence, and separations, and how these effects have sliced deep and permanent wounds into the minds and hearts of those most affected. Through these exposures they are placed in a unique position during the initial expansion of commercial gambling because few others have access to the range and depth of accounts of the full extent of the suffering and chaos that enters the homes of those affected. Consequently, this exposure carries with it a strong obligation for helping professionals to bear witness to what they have heard and to carry this out into the public domain. This is a critical democratic role. They are presented with the challenge of acting as a mouthpiece for the lived experience of problem gambling. In the absence of other voices, they also face the moral imperative to extend their mouthpiece role to the more active role as advocates for change. In the context of the broad expansion of extractive gambling industries, this chapter examines features of the early years of problem gambling helping organizations and how people working within them encounter pressures to compromise these democratic responsibilities.
