Thurston Smith, an addiction counselor in Beaufort, S.C., said gamblers often suffer silently. Yet, unlike most states with legal betting, South Carolina offers no treatment programs for compulsive gambling. Two months ago, alarmed by video poker's growing popularity, addiction counselors formed the nonprofit S.C. Council on Problem Gambling. Operators make no apologies and say most poker patrons play machines for entertainment and don't get hooked. They say the industry is no more responsible for addictive gambling than distillers are for alcoholism.
Few gamblers like to talk about their problem in public.
Mullinax declined to be interviewed. S.C. He had saved years of canceled checks and ATM receipts and took them before a jury as evidence of his massive losses. Gladys, his wife of 35 years, had filed a lawsuit against J.R. Stroupe, the A-1's owner. She also sued J.M. Brown Amusement Co., the owner of the machines and the sixth-largest video poker distributor in South Carolina. Both denied liability, although Stroupe acknowledged he watched Mullinax gamble hundreds of dollars at a time.