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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
January 2004 |
Ministry serves gamblers
By Bill Robinson, assistant editor
The Journal-Press, Lawrenceburg, Ind.
AURORA, Ind. -- Gambling addiction continues to grow in Indiana, according to the Rev. Janet Jacobs of Aurora, who is director of Gambling Recovery Ministries for the South Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Jacobs and her husband, Ron, who is a technical advisor to GRM, said according to surveys completed in 1998 by Louisiana State University, 5.3 percent of Hoosier adults are problem gamblers and eight-tenths of one percent are compulsive or pathological gamblers.
The survey shows among children in grades 6 through 12 that 11.2 percent are problem gamblers and 7.5 percent are compulsive gamblers.
A National Gambling Impact Study completed in 1999 shows that people who live within 50 miles of a casino have double the rate of gambling addiction, said Jacobs.
"They don't tell us what happens when someone lives within 50 miles of three casinos as we do," said Ron Jacobs. He said Indiana's gambling addiction statistics are slightly higher than the national average.
Jacobs said her Gambling Recovery Ministries seeks to assist persons with gambling problems to receive the help they need. "We seek to reach for Jesus Christ, persons who are suffering from the progressive disease of addictive gambling. We also want to reach the persons -- family, friends and associates -- who are physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually impacted by the devastation experienced by and brought on by the addicted individual," she said.
Jacobs said participation in religious activities and religious attitudes are protective factors against gambling addiction in the senior population, according to addiction experts.
Gambling Recovery Ministries, a South Indiana Conference advance special, covers the southern half of Indiana. She would like to work with interested congregations and other community groups to help people affected by problem gambling, said Jacobs.
A similar ministry works in the northern half of the state, she said. The United Methodist Church's official position is that people should abstain from gambling; people who have a problem with gambling should be ministered to, and the church encourages addictive gamblers to receive therapeutic assistance, said Jacobs.
"Our focus in GMR is helping people. We are not political in nature and are not involved in anti-gambling," she said. People with chronic gambling addictions are part of a group "with the highest suicide rate."
Gambling addiction is one of the most difficult types of addiction to detect because addicted gamblers often take steps to hide their problems, she said.
During its first year, GMR has built a relationship with Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-anon in Southern Indiana and Greater Cincinnati, she said.
This winter, GRM will sponsor monthly meetings to help problem gamblers at Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church in Dillsboro on U.S. 50 west of Aurora.
Meanwhile, GMR has applied to the federal government for $10,000 under the Faith Based Initiatives Program to provide funding to expand programs.
Robinson is assistant editor at The Journal-Press in Lawrenceburg, Ind.
©Journal-Press
Last updated on 02/09/2004