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By Katie Balestra
Rob Walgate, a student at Youngstown State University, has a tattoo of praying hands on his left bicep with the scripture Mark 10:27 written underneath. "Jesus looked at them intently and said, humanly speaking it is impossible, but not with God. Everything is possible with God." These are not just any words printed on Walgate's skin. These are the words that saved his life.
Last March, Walgate was admitted to the Compulsive Gambling Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Four days before he was admitted, he had lost $23,000 in five days while betting on professional basketball games. Walgate claimed that the total amount of money he lost over the period of five years was about $50,000. "Gambling consumed my life. I lied to everyone and even stole from my parents, so I could keep gambling," he said. "I had to withdraw out of [Grove City College] because my grades were so low from gambling all of the time."
One would have thought that Walgate had the perfect life when he went off to college in 1995. He had a scholarship to play basketball at Grove City, a girlfriend and a loving family at home in East Liverpool, Ohio. But after betting small-time in high school playing poker and blackjack with friends and gambling with fake money on "Casino Night" at his high school, Mountaineer RaceTrack beckoned him further. "I thrived on the excitement. I never did it for the money," Walgate said. "I would go up to [Mountaineer] with my friends, and I would be the center of everything. I would buy everyone drinks and blow all of my money. "Once I won $12,000 in two days, but I was mad because I didn't win $24,000. I even scheduled my college classes around gambling." Walgate feels that he lost five years of his life with gambling. "I missed my brother's last basketball game because I was in rehab. There are things that were more important than the excitement of gambling that I missed out on," he said. In addition to missing family activities, Walgate also found himself stealing from his parents and consuming drugs and alcohol. He bounced his father's checks by cross-referencing social security numbers, drank [alcohol] incessantly and began smoking [marijuana]. "I never ate or slept. The only way I could sleep was to drink or smoke. It was a totally awful living nightmare that I put my family through," he said.
However, Walgate's "wake-up call" came when he lost the $23,000 over professional basketball games. "I'll never forget it. It was the Lakers verse the Kings, and Shaq made a free throw that ended the game. It had been five days of betting on the games, and that free throw ended it all. "What scared me was that after losing, I wanted to keep gambling. I had a couple hundred dollars in my pocket and was actually thinking about betting on Phoenix greyhounds that day." Dr. Valerie Lorenz, executive director, compulsive gambling center, Baltimore, Maryland, said gambling is a frequent problem in young people. "First of all, there is such an increase in legalized gambling. Also, there is cash/credit access for everyone. There is a lack of education and awareness, and the government has not made much effort to combat this problem," she said. "This is also the first time in the history of our country that a generation has grown up with the government message saying gambling is family oriented." Walgate said that after he was admitted to the gambling center in Baltimore, his life began to change drastically. He said with the help of his family, and most importantly God, he would have never been able to recover.
"God is the sole reason for my recovery. After I heard Cameron mills, [member of the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team], speak in my church, it clicked in my heart," he said. "He talked about examining the soul and searching for the truth in life. "I realized that I was living my life for all the wrong reasons. I wanted financial prosperity, to be the center of attention and to have instant gratification. I was selfish and greedy." Sandi Walgate, Walgate's mother, said it was her faith in God that had gotten her through the entire ordeal. "I didn't know how [the situation] would turn out, but it was God, without a doubt, that got my family through this." Right now, Walgate is speaking out in churches about how God has changed his life. He has also had the opportunity to be on the Early Morning Show with Bryant Gumbel and has spoken on local radio stations. "I talk in different churches to show how God has had his hand in all of this and how he helps me everyday. "I am thankful that I can talk about all of the great things God has done in my life. It has been a pretty awesome experience," he said. "I know [speaking out] is what God wants, and I'm going to continue to do it. "I know this sounds like a cliché, but if I can help one person or can prevent one person from destroying [his or her] life, it is worth it for me."
Visit www.LostBet.Com.
Katie Balestra is a professional writing and editing student at Youngstown State University
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