Two lottery jackpots have hit astounding levels.
The Mega Millions jackpot for Friday night will be in the range of $970 million, while Powerball is expected to be in the range of $430 million. The Milwaukee Brewers are playing for a chance to go to the World Series. The Packers are trying to again play to form. All these are examples of places where there is a lot of gambling going on, and an expert says be careful if you choose to take part in legal gambling.
Rose Blozinski is Executive Director of the Wisconsin Councilk on Problem Gambling says be cautious...
"...When you gamble, most people can do it for fun and it's not going to be a problem. But if you're going to be buying some lottery tickets, or the sports games going on right now with the Brewers and things, you should be cautious. You don't want to spend more money than you can afford. It's important that you can get a gambling problem and it's important to know that..."
Blozinski explains when gambling goes from fun to a problem. She says be alert if you've always spent one amount, then you begin to spend more...
"...It's really the first time you're going over and it's a good thing to pay attention to. Other things are spending more money than you can afford, gambling more often, maybe have bills that you can't pay, affecting your personal relationships. Those are things to pay attention to..."
Blozinski says spending gobs of money on lottery tickets won't change your chances of winning much. She has some advice..
"...If anybody feels they have a problem, or they know someone who has a problem, to give us a call at 1-800-GAMBLE-5. We can answer any questions, we can make referrals to Gamblers Anonymous meetings and treatment providers. We also have a chat line which is on our website at wi-problemgamblers.org Someone answers the phone 24 hours a day and we encourage people to call in and we can get them going in a positive direction...."
Blozinski says there has been an uptick in calls for help to 1-800-GAMBLE-5.
