Sadly

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.

Okay, the poster is brutal in one way, but it makes a point. 

We have an acquaintance who routinely gambles away his savings. I don't mean part of his savings. I mean his entire savings, which never amounts to much because ... well, gambling. He is divorced and shares custody of three children, one already in high school. He has a part time job that pays a little above minimum wage. In addition he gets a small monthly sum for an emotional disability that prevents him from getting a better job, although he once was manager of a restaurant. He has other addictive issues, but he thinks he deserves to have fun at the casino because, well, fun. 

He relies on another friend of ours for advice, but he seldom follows it. When it comes to the gambling, he never follows it effectively. Recently he called the friend to report that he was at a casino and was up two hundred dollars. (The week before he had blown several hundred dollars and the friend had told him not to go back there.) He couldn't figure out what to do. The friend talked him into leaving the casino, getting into his car and kept him talking on the phone until he arrived home.

Two days later he went back to the casino and lost the two hundred dollars and the little bit of savings he had left.

Does he have the power to stop? I want to believe he does.

And I am so glad I am not the friend who gets those phone calls in the middle of the night. I would not be good at handling it.