Teacher writes book on how she lost everything to gambling addiction

print this

By Riku Siivonen
     
      Once a year a news item like this appears in the media: “Each Finn spends an average EUR 240 a year on games of the Finnish Slot Machine Association (RAY).”
      This is true, but it is not the whole truth. It is simply good communications.
      In reality, spending on gambling is extremely unevenly distributed. Helsinki resident Anneli Poutainen did not spend ten euros a month. She spent two thousand. Her teacher’s salary, her savings, bank loans, her own share in her apartment all went to feed her habit. She spent slightly more then EUR 200,000 on gambling in just over ten years.
      Finland is full of cases such as those of Anneli Poutainen. An estimated five per cent of Finns who gamble - a small hard core - are responsible for half of the result of Finland’s gaming monopolies.
     
Money spent by Finns on gambling has doubled in the past ten years. A higher proportion of personal income is also being spent on gambling than before.
      At the same time, gaming companies have been constantly bringing new games onto the market. Finns now spend to the tune of EUR 1.4 billion a year. Only one in four do not play at all.
      Until the early 1990s, Anneli Poutainen was one of the non-gambling minority. She was an ordinary teacher in her forties. Nothing would have suggested that in the years that followed, she would lose her job and her health to gambling, and that she would become estranged from some of her friends and relatives.
     
The turning point came when a friend invited her on a cruise to Sweden.
      It was during the cruise that she tried her luck playing roulette. She came out of the game 500 markka ahead. It felt good to win, so she tried playing on land - again and again.
      She kept trying to win back what she had lost. After a year of playing games of chance, Anneli Poutainen had lost over 100,000 markka.
     
The money that Poutiainen lost went to a number of good causes. The Board of RAY allocates earnings from casino gambling to help war veterans, and to social and health care work. The final say in how the revenue is distributed lies with the national government.
      Last year RAY took in EUR 400 million. The other national gaming monopoly, the lottery association Veikkaus, supports sporting activities, culture, and youth work, based on how the Ministry of Education decides.
     
Anneli Poutainen is an untypical gambler, in that she is a woman, and she plays roulette.
      Four fifths of the money spent on gambling comes from men, and most of those with a gambling problem are hooked on slot machines.
      It is difficult to assess the exact number of compulsive gamblers in Finland. Estimates range from 40,000 to 130,000.
      Poutainen believes that the number is even greater than that.
      “Of course. It’s not something that anyone will admit. Gambling is seen as stupidity, not an illness. That is why people are so ashamed of it”, she says.
      Undoubtedly, it sounds quite stupid, with all of the superstitions surrounding it. Adult people actually believe that it is possible to guide a machine, in which the outcome is determined with the help of a random generator, by pressing the buttons in the right sequence.
     
But gambling addiction can make a person do all kinds of things. It takes people into a different world. First to disappear are the feelings of hunger and thirst. Money loses its meaning already in the early stages.
      If the compulsion is strong enough, all of the gambler’s money is lost, again and again. That is the problem. For that reason, there are also different kinds of gamblers. Rich ones can play for a long time, while for others, a 15-minute trip to the grocery store can wreak havoc on an entire month’s finances.
      When a problem gambler is on a losing streak, he or she will want to play away all of the money that is available. One researcher says that it is a cleansing, cathartic experience.
     
Poutainen still shudders when she recalls one visit to the store.
      Her husband pondered whether or not to buy high-quality tangerines, or a cheaper kind. The basic stake for one round of roulette was easily the equivalent of 20 kilos of the more expensive kind of tangerine.
      Every ganbler knows that it is important to have a large amount of capital for the game. The larger the amount, the higher the chance to win at least something.
     
The agony of losing does not take hold in the casino, or inside the gaming room, even if the game had gone on for hours - or possibly specifically because of the long time spent. The feeling has been described as hazy. Losing feels bad and the pulse quickens, but that is easy to overcome. Once outside the casino, it is difficult to focus one’s eyes very far.
      Outside, the initial feeling can be one of calm. The money went - no matter.
      Then the turmoil begins.
      It is usually possible to keep it hidden all the way home, especially if there is still enough money in the wallet for a bus ticket. Usually there is not.
      Once at home, the tears come. The feeling is strangling. No catharsis in sight.
     
The next day can be normal again. The losses can be written off by winning this time around.
      The previous session has been analysed, the systems have been realigned. The problem does not show on the outside.
      Perhaps this is why it is hard for an outsider to understand the strange logic of a gambler.
      For this reason Anneli Poutiainen has written the book Rulettipäiväkirja (“Roulette Diary”), which was published earlier this year. In it she attempts to describe the world of a gambler. It is a world in which gambling takes precedence over everything else.
     
“A gambler will always get the money from somewhere, and will leave his family crying at home, if necessary.”
      Poutiainen first borrowed money from a bank, ostensibly for “educational travel”, among other things.
      She sold the small number of shares that she had.
      She paid off her consumer credit with bank loans that she took out for “stock investments”, for which she persuaded her friends to serve as guarantors.
     
It is no wonder then that gamblers often feel that they are not understood, and that people do not know how to help them.
      As recently as in the 1970s gambling addiction was seen as compulsive behaviour, somewhat like pyromania.
      Now it is recognised as an addiction, but it is still a relatively unknown concept in the Finnish health care system.
      It is noteworthy that for more than ten years, figures on gambling problems gathered by Lasse Murto and Jorma Niemelä in the early 1990s for their small study were used in Finland as reference. Murto was long considered the only expert on the matter in Finland.
     
Treatment was available only at the A-Clinics (which mainly focus on substance abuse).
      Even there, workers did not get any training on the subject for years. Gambling addiction is also often treated as depression - that is, treatment focuses on the effects, rather than the causes of the problem.
      Poutiainen checked into the Lapinlahti mental hospital, but she says that people there had almost no idea about gambling addiction.
      “A doctor had suggested to one friend of mine that maybe the attraction of gambling would end if the problem gambler were to play pretend roulette for long enough.”
     
Today, the extent of the gambling problem is recognised somewhat better.
      At least people talk about it more than before. For instance, RAY has financed a three-year project of the substance abuse prevention organisation Life Tastes Better Without Drugs aimed at finding ways to reduce gambling among young people.
      However, the gaming research circles are still small in Finland. The project is headed by Antti Murto, Lasse Murto’s son.
     
Those who have gambled away their fortunes are left to lick their wounds alone, because thanks to them, politicians and influential organisations have a money machine on their hands. The monopoly system for gambling is an ingenious hidden tax, where money is not taken from everyone.
      Instead, it is provided by those who do it ostensibly on a volunteer basis. In this way politicians do not need to raise taxes, if they want to distribute money to some favourite cause.
      In 1992 RAY provided money for about 200 organisations. Now there are more than 300 who need support. They have influential spokespersons. At stake are the budgets of many organisations, and much power.
     
Most recently, a week ago Liisa Hyssälä, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, came out against reducing the number of slot machines in stores and kiosks specifically because subsidies from RAY are so important for many services.
      Representatives of the organisations and cultural figures have made much noise about how the state has shifted various “legally required” expenditures to be paid out of gambling profits, which depend on the eagerness of the people to play.
      But the organisations are not concerned about problem gambling as much as about their own money.
      They want more of it all the time. For instance, last autumn, at a seminar on gambling problems, the secretary-general of Allianssi said that their subsidies should increase by four per cent a year.
     
If youth organisations like this want revenue from the gambling machine to grow all the time, then it is no wonder that Finland has had Europe’s lowest age limit for gambling - 15 years.
      The low age limit has had monetary benefits. For instance, in 2006, young people aged 12-17 provided an estimated EUR 36 million for war veterans, the diseased, cultural circles, and sports.
      This is not mere pocket money.
     
At the end of June, the government put forward a legislative proposal that would raise the age limit for all games of chance to 18. The proposal was part of a reform to legislation on lotteries.
      There was a reason for the sudden concern for youth. Researcher Tuukka Tammi explained in an article written in a publication on social policy why the problems faced by gamblers even came up in Finland.
      Tammi wrote that the reason is that the state gambling monopoly in Finland is under threat from the EU. Before that no heed was paid to treatment, research, or prevention.
     
The measures that were instigated now involved communication from the Finnish government to decision-making bodies of the EU.
      Under EU rules, services should be free and open to competition, but gambling monopolies have been allowed to remain if they have been able to control social harm better than in freer competition.
      Because of various legal moves and decisions in principle, taming the spread of social harm has been the only justification for a monopoly. The fact that money is collected for distribution for the common good is no longer meaningful. It is at most a welcome by-product.
     
Justification of the monopoly as a way to prevent gambling addiction is on shaky ground, considering that Finland has proportionally more gambling addicts than, say, Britain, where there is no state monopoly.
      The best way to reduce the social harm caused by gambling is well known: the reduction of supply.
      The thinking in Finland is that it is possible to increase the supply of gaming while reducing problems, even though this has not been successful with alcohol.
      RAY Managing Director Sinikka Mönkäre said in the early part of the summer that RAY would start planning for “responsible online gambling” if the state gives permission. Interior Minister Anne Holmlund feels that having a Finnish online poker service would “make it easier to control playing”.
In the same week it was reported that each day one person who has gone into debt playing poker on the Internet contacts a debtors’ advice centre.
      Antti Murto said that he hoped that state representatives would pay more heed to making sure that gamblers would have the means to control their gambling.
      “It is the best possibility, as there does not seem to be a desire to reduce supply.”
     
Anneli Poutiainen also would like to see more control over game organisers. “Why did nobody intervene in my obviously pathological gambling?” She refers to the long days and nights that she spent at the casino.
      Poutiainen digs out some clippings, which state that a casino can take the initiative and intervene in the gaming of a person if it clearly damages the person’s finances or health. Poutiainen believes that the aim of the information is to make the gaming monopoly appear to be a responsible way to organise gambling. In fact, it is not possible to intervene. For that reason, no such claims should be made.
      "I do not blame RAY for my gambling, but this angers me.”
     
Certainly, an individual gambler can ask to be banned from a casino or a slot machine arcade, but only for a year at a time.
      The ban needs to be acquired separately for each location. This also angers Poutiainen.
      She would like to be banned forever from every gambling establishment, but the rules do not allow this.
     
Of course being blacklisted from casinos and arcades is no solution for someone with a real problem.
      This is guaranteed by the 19,000 slot machines with their flashing lights that can be found in kiosks, sports arenas, filling stations and grocery stores, and which have been evenly distributed around Finland, according to the strategy chosen by Finnish politicians.
      The gaming companies have been on the receiving end of possibly too much flak, from people calling on them for more responsibility. The final power and responsibility is with Parliament.
     
Poutiainen stopped gambling a few years ago. By then she had a suicide attempt behind her.
      How she managed to stop is a private matter for her. It does not come up in her book.
      “It does not matter. Everyone is cured in his or her own way, if it is to be.”
      The monopoly did not help her. Could it be made to behave in a truly responsible fashion?
     
The new law on lotteries could offer some ways.
      Monitoring the new age limits would be easy, if slot machines could be limited to those with personal electronic cards.
      It would also be possible for individuals to set limits for their spending in advance. This is already technically feasible.
      The first machine that works with a customer’s debit card was recently taken into use on a trial basis.
      Lottery games can now be played with the help of a personal account, making it possible to keep track of losses as well.
     
Antti Murto has tougher means up his sleeve as well: a fixed percentage of gambling revenue should be channelled to the treatment of addicted gamblers.
      He also suggests that advertising of gambling could be subject to a punitive tax.
      What is Anneli Poutiainen’s view of the matter?
      She believes that games could be restricted to casinos and arcades.
      However, she also feels that she lacks the strength to take any strong positions, trying to focus instead on bearing her bitterness over the debts that will be on her shoulders for the rest of her life.
      “This book is my contribution to this debate. Let’s see what it brings with it.”
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.8.2008


Links:
  Finnish Slot Machine Association RAY
  Veikkaus
  Gamblers Anonymous - International Service Office
  Gamblers Anonymous - International Directory (Finland)

RIKU SIIVONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
riku.siivonen@hs.fi