Anyone who sees the title of this article may not want to read any further, but I assure you it all makes sense at the end. It is much better than it sounds.
To put it in context let me draw your attention to the recent news in which a woman was caught stealing money from her boss to buy lottery tickets. I am sure she did not think she was stealing; she was simply borrowing the money to win the jackpot. After winning the jackpot, however, she would put back the money she stole. The news article does not quite say this but I can tell from looking at her picture.
However, this novel technique did not work for her. She did not have much luck with the lottery. She might have won sometimes to the tune of $5,000 - $25,000. But that was not enough. She became more and more frustrated and kept stealing, hoping that one day she would definitely win. Her logic may have been, if I buy thousands of tickets one day it will click! That would have probably come true if she were given enough time to experiment but people in the office where she worked were not so patient. They got suspicious and eventually she was caught and handed over to the authorities. It turned out she had stolen more than $2.3 million over a period of three years! It probably felt like thousands to her rather than millions.
Note that she did not buy a house or a ferrari with the money or simply put it in the bank. Probably another poor guy won the lottery and part of it came from the money she put in pool - the money she worked so hard to steal. Some of the money also went to building local schools, roads, and other items of public interest. She did not spend a penny on herself. In other words, she took the money from the rich, a well-to-do doctor in this case, and essentially passed it on to the poor. Saddly, authorities are not taking it this way. They intend to charge her with second-degree grand larceny for which she faces up to twelve years in prison.
Article comments
1 - Suzanne Graupner Pike, PhD
As a PhD psychologist and certified gambling counselor I want to add a few comments to your article. I recently testified as an expert witness on pathological gambling in a federal court case of similar proportions to the one mentioned in your article. The defendant refused to plead guilty to theft because for the same reasoning that was mentioned: she fully intented to repay what she took and had merely "borrowed" the money to chase her losses to win back the orignial amount she took. This "irrational belief", that can assume almost delusional proportions despite evidence to the contrary, is called "The Gambler's Prophecy"--the idea that if one keeps gambling, eventually everything will be won back or more.
Pathological gambling is a legitamite MENTAL ILLNESS. It is classifed as an "Impulse Control Disorder", not as a substance abuse. It is treatable. Unfortunately, the courts do not see it that way. Whereas, if the woman was a crystal meth user, she would get rehab instead of jail time. But for gamblers, the courts continue to view them as "thieves" and incarcerate them where there are no treatment options. Such is the state of our court system today. It's a disgrace! What is more, there are few treatment options for pathological gamblers--period. In California, the San Diego Center for Pathological Gambling is the ONLY treatment-specific program for gamblers despite the fact that at least one out of 20 Californian's has a gambling problem.
Thank you for your article. I hope it opens some eyes---or at least makes the blind-fold slip.
Suzanne Graupner Pike, PhD