He d spent most of the year since his wife s slaying bouncing around the area, borrowing money from friends, staying at different places, scrambling to cover bad checks, and gambling at bars and casinos. There were a lot of bad checks, Hedner said. He had . . . It all was for pulltabs. In cases such as Avina s, Hagstrom s and others, it is too simple to say that gambling was the sole reason for their decisions to end their lives.
Experts say that depression is by far the leading cause of suicide.
Gambling is often a symptom of that depression. It is also a way to escape family conflict, work issues, boredom or other problems. But when addicts escape to a casino or to pulltabs or to a racetrack and lose, it can exacerbate the depression and trigger a suicide attempt. A lot of time, on the road back from the casino, they think about it, said Bill Bergwall, senior counselor with the problem gambling program at Fairview Behavioral Services in Minneapolis. Most of the time, it s during the remorse stage that this happens, when they ve lost a lot of money or they ve had some financial consequence.