Former Gambling Addict Speaks to Rocky Hill Coalition

Donna Zaharevitz started gambling 25 years ago and became addicted. Her addiction would lead to jail time, money problems and issues in her relationships with family and friends. Her life has been forever changed because of gambling.

Last week, she told her story at the monthly meeting for the ,  a group of students devoted to stopping substance abuse and other dangerous activities among teenagers in town.

Zaharevitz, of Windsor Locks, played bingo casually with friends at first. Then, she was introduced to the casinos where she played slots.

"I really liked it," she said. "I got to like it. I kept going more and more."

After winning a big payout of about $27,000, she swore that she would never be back. However, the casino sent a limousine for her the next day and she became hooked.

At times, Zaharevitz would run out of money and even took blank checks from a friend whose home she was watching.

"I never had enough money to gamble," she told the audience. In total, Zaharevitz lost about $200,000 from gambling at the casino alone.

"A gambler won't tell you how much they lost, just how much they won," Zaharevitz explained.

When the police came to her house asking about the checks, Zaharevitz lied.

"When you have an addiction, drugs, alcohol, gambling, you learn to lie well and tell stories," she said. "And I was good at what I did."

Zaharevitz hit hard times. As a well-respected member of her community, she ended up in the media spotlight the subject of a week-long, front-page series in the Hartford Courant on problem gambling. She tried to kill herself three times. She served two years probation for stealing blank checks.

On the day her probation was completed, her husband of 36 years told her that he was going to divorce her. On that day, Zaharevitz went to the casino to gamble.

"Because at the casino, I could leave all my problems at the door," she said. "I did not have to worry or think about them again."

Even after entering into a gambling addiction program at the Wheeler Clinic, she and a friend would go to the casino and gamble for 24 to 48 hours straight.

"You can't just stop," she said. "This addiction really grabs ahold of you quickly."

After crashing her car on the way home from one of her all night gambling binges, she decided it was time to get help and completed the program at the Wheeler Clinic.

"I have been gambling free for 13 years," Zaharevitz said. She added that she could no longer step foot in the casinos because if she does she could be charged with criminal trespass and pay a $10,000 fine.

Zaharevitz is currently working with the National Council on Problem Gambling to get a bill passed to allocate money to help stop problem gambling. She is working to help a younger generation before they get addicted to gambling. She feels it will be easier for young adults to get addicted to gambling especially on the Internet.

Zaharevitz believes there is life after a gambling addiction "and it is much better." She told the students that you should never gamble beyond your means and do not gamble money you cannot afford to lose.