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Quoted Text

Problem gambler tries long-shot suit
BY WAYNE PARRY The Associated Press

    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — She was an ambitious lawyer and TV commentator who starting going to Atlantic City casinos to relax, and soon was getting high-roller treatment that included limousines whisking her to the resort.
    Arelia Margarita Taveras says she was even allowed to bring her dog, Sasha, to the blackjack tables, sitting in her purse.
    But her gambling spun out of control: She said she would go days at a time at the tables, not eating or sleeping, brushing her teeth with disposable wipes so she didn’t have to leave.
    She says her losses totaled nearly $1 million.
    Now she’s chasing the longest of long shots: a $20 million racketeering lawsuit in federal court against six Atlantic City casinos and one in Las Vegas, claiming they had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.
    “They knew I was going for days without eating or sleeping,” Taveras said. “I would pass out at the tables. They had a duty of care to me. Nobody in their right mind would gamble for four or fi ve straight days without sleeping.”
    Experts say her case will be difficult to prove, but it provides an unusually detailed window into the life of a problem gambler.
    “It’s like crack, only gambling is worse than crack because it’s mental,” said Taveras, 37, a New Yorker who now lives in Minnesota. “It creeps up on you, the impulse. It’s a sickness.”
    She lost her law practice, her apartment, her parents’ home, and owes the IRS $58,000. She said she even considered swerving into oncoming traffic to kill herself.
    In interviews with The Associated Press, Taveras admitted she dipped into her clients’ escrow accounts to finance her gambling habit.
    She was disbarred last June, and faces criminal charges stemming from those actions, but is trying to work out restitution agreements in order to avoid a prison term.
    Her lawsuit names Resorts Atlantic City, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, the Tropicana Casino Resort, the Showboat Casino Hotel, Bally’s Atlantic City, as well as the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
    The casinos deny any wrongdoing, maintaining in court papers that Taveras brought her problems on herself. Casino representatives either declined to comment for this report or did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
    Last month, a judge dismissed the Trump casinos, the Tropicana, Showboat and Bally’s from the lawsuit on technical grounds, but allowed Taveras to refile the suit against them by April. The suit remains in effect against Resorts and MGM because its allegations against them were more specific.
    Joe Corbo, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said casino workers undergo extensive training on spotting problem gamblers and referring them to help, including a self-exclusion list the state maintains. Gamblers can voluntarily bar themselves from casinos, either for a few years or for life. While they’re on the list, casinos cannot solicit them.
    Dan Heneghan, a spokesman for the state Casino Control Commission, said 663 people are on the list.
    “This can be a delicate situation, and it comes down to an individual’s personal responsibility,” Corbo said. “We can only suggest that they receive assistance and provide information how they can obtain help, but it is up to them to commit to seek it.”
    Paul O’Gara, an attorney specializing in Atlantic City gambling issues, said it will be difficult for Taveras to prove that the casinos knew she had a problem but ignored it.
    “How are you supposed to know whether this was a woman who was just having a good time, or had money and was just lonely, as opposed to someone who couldn’t control themselves?” he said.

Well here you have it! An attorney that won't even take responsibility for her own actions! She should be disbarred from the legal profession!

And what really is the clincher here...is that our government allows for Casinos and THEN has the taxpayers pay for government programs such as 'gamblers anonymous'. Doesn't anybody see a problem here?