She wrote this book
Posted on 03/08/2008 12:58:09 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - 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 five 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.
Arnie Wexler, the former head of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, estimates there are 5 million problem gamblers in the United States, with 15 million at risk of becoming compulsive.
"Hers is not a rare case, believe me," said Wexler, who says he had a gambling problem. "This is the most powerful addiction you can have without putting something into your body. You remember your first big win, and you think `Hey, I can do this again; I can get it all back.'"
As a young lawyer, Taveras made a name for herself representing the families of victims of American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in New York City's borough of Queens in November 2001, killing 265 people.
Her practice had 400 clients and earned her $500,000 a year. She appeared on TV and radio to discuss legal issues, wrote a guidebook for women dealing with deadbeat dads in the court system, titled "The Gangsta Girls' Guide To Child Support," and was a regular contributor to Hispanic culture Web sites. In 2000, the New York Daily News named her one of "21 New Yorkers to Watch in the 21st Century."
As an escape from the seven-day-a-week pressures of her law practice, she started going to Atlantic City to unwind in September 2003.
During one five-day gambling jag at Resorts in June 2005, Taveras says, she existed on nothing but orange juice and Snickers bars that the staff gave her. On the fifth day, she said, a dealer told her to go home because she appeared exhausted and unable to keep track of her cards.
Taveras spent nearly a year in clinics to treat her gambling addiction. She filed her lawsuit last September, representing herself, and is now working at a telephone call center in Minnesota.
"Everybody says `You gambled and you enjoyed yourself, then lost your money and now you want it back,'" Taveras said. "They think gambling is fun. It isn't, believe me. Not when you get like I did."
They brought that in where I live, and you would NOT after awhile be surprised the people who get sucked in. Often it seems to be women although surely men get caught up in it, too. Some have good jobs in the community and embezzle money to continue on with their habit.
I don't give myself credit, but got gambling out of my system when I was young and went to Reno for a weekend, am thankful for that.
There are some personal stories around here that hit close to home. I wish there wasn't so much gambling around the country. I remember I was kind of shocked when I believe it was NH started the first state lottery. Now look at where we are with it now.
If you can control it, maybe it's not such a big deal to have some fun once in awhile, I don't know, I'm kind of a live and let live type but still I consider gambling a sin, at least in excess compared to your means. I don't think there's anything about it in the Catholic catechism, but I'm entitled to my opinion.
Gambling’s only bad if you lose. :-)
Morons who gamble everything away will get zero sympathy from me! Her lack of self control is no one else’s problem.
I cannot understand anything "Fun" about losing. And of COURSE the majority of people MUST lose.
Two or three times a year I buy a lottery ticket, and spend the time in between feeling dirty and stupid.
Not Guilty!
Someone like her should have founs a sugar daady somewhere to finance her gambling forays.
DADDY.Sorry for typo.
Baby, you're nothin' but a freakin' whale to them. And a rather small one, at that, considering you only lost 1m. Sore loser. Too bad yo didn't borrow money from a loan shark to pay off your debts. Then you would know what racketeering is.
I don’t understand how she could wear that outfit in public (and I’m not a prude).
Maybe she would double down on Lotto tickets
I’ll bet you she gets the casinos to settle.
Maybe she would double down on ME!
Seriously,I used to think you had to have a FEW brains to become a lawyer.
This ditz proves that ain’t necessarily so.
It's happened. Some jidot in Massachusetts (where else?) tried killing himself by crashing his Mercedes head on into a couple in a Miata. Needless to say....
I remember coming home from Belmont Park on the Belt Parkway (some years ago) some guy had center punched a bridge abutment on the overpass in his GTO. Really made a mess. I figgered he lost the mortgage money on the ponies and couldn't face his wife. Maybe he tied up traffic, but at least he didn't kill anyone else.
Clearly, she is a woman who had too much money to go with too few brains. The casinos may have performed a public service by bringing reality home to a self-indulgent fool.
She wrote this book
That’s for sure. Talk about letting it all hang out. Gees.
What you pro’ly won’t hear at the trial: “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, here you have before you a compulsive gambler, reverting to form both as a gambler and as a professional ambulance chaser, trying to pull off one more gamble, with you as accomplices. See through her plan and vote craps when you deliberate. Thank you.”
I think I’ll sue the State of Ohio for addiction to lottery tickets then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.