This battle can be won. When Denise Larson's brother started playing video lottery 10 years ago, it was just something to do in the quiet little towns of Kingsbury County, South Dakota. However, caught in the seductive grip of flashing colors and the occasional payout, Terry Pratt, then nearly 30, became a person his sister hardly recognized. What began as fun became an obsession. The problems didn't appear overnight, Larson said.
Addictive gamblers hide the habit very well.
My father would see him at the machines around town. As Terry's addiction grew, he pulled away from his family. It's hard to find words for the state he was in when the addiction was so powerful. And he said he didn't know. It took the South Dakota Penitentiary.