Gamblers Anonymous: What About It?
Gambler's Anonymous is Alcoholics Anonymous' counterpart, and is reputed to be a 'haven' for hopeless, addicted gamblers.
The group comes complete with an official credo in pamphlet form that outlines the problems created for oneself and others by compulsive gambling, together with a suggested 12-step recovery program.
The format for the meetings of the San Francisco chapter is simple and unvarying. The secretary, whose office is elective, designates a member at the end of each meeting to serve as chairman for the next meeting.
The chairman reads the little pamphlet, or preamble, as it is known officially, and at the conclusion of this reading, which takes about 10 minutes, generally comments on the profundity to be found in the preamble.
It is good form to comment further that every additional reading of the preamble yields new and deeper meanings.
The chairman then calls on each member of the group to give a 'weather report.' At the conclusion of the weather reports, there is a brief prayer to close this portion of the meeting and a bull session follows during which refreshments are served and members talk more informally.
One unusual feature of this group is that wives are encouraged to attend, and at least six members of the group are invariable accompanied by their wives who sit passively in the back throughout the weather reports, but interact occasionally with group members during the bull session.
Membership in the group numbers about 25, with approximately 11 0r 12 hard core members. Exclusive of wives, there are usually about 15 local members present and one or two guests from other chapters in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Telephone contacts among members are frequent and there is considerable between-meeting fraternization in the form of parties at the homes of one or the other of the members.
The age range of members, is, roughly between thirty and sixty. The occupations of some varies, but of those that are known there are skilled laborers, cab drivers, song plugger, newspaper reporter, sales promoter, men who have their own businesses or are employed in business firms, and, some, simply call themselves as con artists.
Two men have served time in jail for bad checks. About half the group are Jews, and there is one Negro. Some of the members have restricted their gambling to either horse-playing, card playing or crap shooting while others have engaged in all of these.
The weather reports reflect modes of expression that are highly urbanized and idiomatic, and they manage to be simultaneously cynical and platitudinous.
Several members employ a 'Guys and Dolls argot,' occasionally mitigated to meet the demand of respectability imposed by the presence of women.
Levity is sanctioned, even encouraged, if it has a wry, mocking quality designed to give the impression that underneath it all, the person is talking about deadly serious business.
Self-flagellation is also common, and members are invited and, if necessary, not too subtly coerced by the attitudes of other members to admit that they have serious emotional problems.