- May 05, 2023
- Gambling
TASC serves those in need of substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health conditions, gambling disorders or family health and reunification challenges.
Tanya Bibbs-Smith talks about her outreach efforts across IL to reach youth and adolescents that are exposed to gaming and gambling at an early age. She’s helping this demographic understand the connection between their actions and how it has the potential to lead towards a gambling disorder.
More about TASC can be found at: https://tasc.org
Call Gateway Foundation: 855-723-0963
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER
Transcript:
WAGER DANGER EPISODE 14: SPOTLIGHT SERIES –TASC TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES FOR SAFE COMMUNITIES
Host: Shane Cook
Hey, Shane Cook in Bloomington, Illinois today. And I’ve got with me a special guest Tanya.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Well, hello. Hello, everybody. My name is Tanya Bieb Smith.
Host: Shane Cook
Well, I was going to continue Tanya.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Bib Smith messing with you.
Host: Shane Cook
Shay, I’m curious. Can you tell us a little bit about TASC, its mission, what it does, and how long you’ve been with them? I understand you’re the regional outreach coordinator. Maybe a little bit about what that means as well.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Okay, let’s start out by talking about, a little bit what TASC does. TASC offers a range of services both in person and via telehealth, of course, so that we can address any patient’s needs. We can reinforce those needs by helping them through court situations. If they’re dealing with DCFS or they’re dealing with a substance abuse disorder situation, as far as the court is concerned, we also help with those situations as well. But TASC considers all areas of our patient’s lives and family and community engagement, individual therapy sessions, school and work, wellness management and continuing care integrated within our services. So we do quite a bit.
Host: Shane Cook
You have a recovery home as well, is that correct?
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
We do. I believe it is in I’m new at TASC, so please forgive me, but I do believe that it’s in Boville, Illinois if I’m not mistaken.
Host: Shane Cook
All right, so tell us a little bit about what your role is at TASC as Regional Outreach Coordinator. What does that entail?
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
It entails a lot of stuff. I pretty much travel around the state of Illinois, and when I say the state of Illinois, I mean anywhere in the state of Illinois. Upstate, downstate, middle of the state, across the state. So I do Billville Springfield, Chicago, of course, is our biggest area and where our main location is. I also facilitate at different entities such as VA halls, assisted living, unassisted living, and anywhere where individuals will take the community to gamble. Or maybe they’ll have bingo sessions, maybe they’ll have Keno Spades be with them or something like that. If they’re having some type of gambling event in the community or at the casino, then I will normally go out and facilitate those different groups or the different meetings that they may have. If they’re having a Gambling anonymous meeting, sometimes I facilitate those.
Host: Shane Cook
Just go by and talk about a few things that may be new with treatment. As far as problem gambling.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Okay.
Host: Shane Cook
So most of the work you’re doing then is centered around problem gambling, and awareness.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Problem gambling and substance use disorder.
Host: Shane Cook
And substance use disorder. Okay. And going out and meeting and coordinating with the various civic organizations that you mentioned, right?
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Absolutely. Political churches, schools I go to middle schools, high schools, colleges, you name it, I pretty much do it.
Host: Shane Cook
Sure. Okay. Are you finding an openness it’s interesting that you mentioned middle school and high school. Historically, it’s been a challenge. I’m trying to put it in. It’s been a challenge to really break into middle schools and high schools to talk about substance use or gambling in the past. Do you see that it’s opening up? People are definitely to have that conversation.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Absolutely. I definitely see. This is becoming more of an open area of discussion, especially in middle schools and high schools. We have so much technology that these young people are able to get a hold of iPhones, Androids, laptops, iPads, and tablets, and these things have gambling-initiated things on them. Such as you could play Pinball for free, but if you pay one dollar 99, you can buy 5000 more coins or 5 million more coins and you can bet, we’ll give you $5 to bet in the tournament or something of that nature. So a lot of these young people aren’t really paying attention to or recognizing that it can become a problem, gambling, and they aren’t recognizing that they are gambling. That’s what I start finding out when I start facilitating in the middle schools. And so a young man goes, oh, Ms.
Smith, I’m not gambling. I just wanted to go to the next level in a tournament. And I had to explain to him that they’re still gambling. He’s still gambling. And so I think that it amazes a lot of people, especially when I start talking about the different games that are considered to be gambling games. People tend to start to feel a little weird about it. And so I always have to still explain, hey, we aren’t trying to discourage you from gambling. We just want you to know that when it becomes a problem, we are here for you and there is assistance, there’s help for you. So a lot of people don’t think they bingo as gambling, but it is sure, yeah.
Host: Shane Cook
Anytime you risk something of value or perceived value, with the hopes of gaining more and with a high probability that you’re going to lose. Right. Even in the video games that are out there, it could be a digital coin, but within the context of that game, that’s something that’s valuable. Right?
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Absolutely.
Host: Shane Cook
It’s a tough one for people to get their minds around, I think, especially younger folks. But I think it’s necessary and needed. I’m so glad to hear that you are having success at getting in front of middle school age and high school-age students because the gaming progression ultimately will naturally evolve to online gaming or online gambling, whether that be in the sports book setting or some other. So it’s good to hear.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Yeah. Another thing that I wanted to touch on just briefly is I was actually listening to the radio, and I have that old serious radio, serious or Internet radio, but they were talking about Howard University students, over 80% of the campus, has a gambling problem.
Host: Shane Cook
Oh my gosh.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
They have heard that. Yes. They started to use their college tuition, their disbursement checks, and their reimbursement checks to try to double and triple them, and they would take that. Some students were winning, so they were able to pay their college tuition and still have money left over. But the majority of and the percentage that they gave on the radio was 45%. So the majority of those students were unable to successfully win. But those 45% of students are now in deep debt, not just college debt, but gambling debt. So now what do they do? What do they do? So people like myself and people like counselors, case managers, different things of that nature, they’re going out because they’re trying to help these students and let the courts know because some of them are going to court for this because they’re in debt.
They owe, you got to pay. So with that being said, they are getting counselors and case managers and things of that nature. We’re going to the course, and we’re saying, hey, these students need help. They don’t need jail. They need to be put on payment plans to pay these individuals back. So I thought that was so very interesting, though, because here you have people who are going out and putting themselves in debt to go to college, but now you’re putting yourself further into debt because now you’re gambling, trying to double or triple that money. It’s that mindset of the gambler, I would say.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah, absolutely. I’m still shocked to hear that 80%, they narrowed it down to 80% of the student body has been participating in that. Wow.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
They actually gave three different colleges. One was Howard, one was Spellman and the other one I don’t want to lounge them. So I don’t remember.
Host: Shane Cook
Was that primarily HBCUs that the study.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Let me just say, the particular show that I was listening to was this show was directed toward HBCUs, okay? So I can’t say if it’s Princeton or Harvard or any of the other sister colleges or what have you, but they were talking about HBCUs. And I know that as a black woman in my community, they don’t believe in gambling. We just don’t believe gambling is a disease or that it is a disorder. But now that I am out in the community, now that I’ve learned that I’m able to teach some of my community individuals and some of my family members, hey, this is a problem. This is a disorder. It’s a disease. So let’s talk about it.
Let’s get into it, and let’s start talking about it with our friends and have them start talking about it with their friends and family, and let’s start having our friends, as well as ourselves, watch our children who are playing on PlayStations and iPhones androids, and they’re playing. And the one young person said to me, well, Ms. Smith, it says in-app purchase only, but what happens when you run and go and get Mom and Dad’s credit card for that? In-app purchase only.
Host: Shane Cook
Right.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
And it could be a continuous thing. You might do it once, but what about the kid that does it 34567 times? I remember a story just recent, and I want to say it was back in January of this year. Eleven-year-old young man got his dad’s credit card. Do you remember the story? No. He won $90,000. Had it not been for him to put the account in his dad’s name, and used his dad’s credit card, he would not have gotten that $90,000. Wow. His dad was able to get the $90,000, but this young man, eleven years old, used his dad’s credit card to play an in-app purchase only, and he won.
Host: Shane Cook
Wow. No, I hadn’t heard that one. I’ve heard similar stories. Right. And the most recent one that I was thinking of, this smaller kid had used the DoorDash app on his dad’s phone and ordered, like, $1,000 worth of food from different restaurants.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Oh, my God.
Host: Shane Cook
Yeah. It all comes back to accessibility. Right. And it’s something that I talk to a lot of people about, especially when it comes to anything that you can put on your phone. An app, whether it be sports book gambling, that sort of stuff. Having that be so available and accessible can lead to some really undesirable outcomings. Very WEX, especially young kids picking up on it and playing with it. Yeah, not about me, but I’ve had a similar experience with my youngest playing video games and having access to a card on that account. As soon as it starts clicking, I’m like, whoa, wait a minute. What’s going on?
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Just in general, as parents or even as adults, we just need to be a little more mindful. I think sometimes we get a little busy and a little caught up in our world of work and trying to make a household run and different things like that, and we just say, here, because I’ve done it to my children. Here, take this car. Go do that. Here, take this cash. Go do that. And we are recognizing that they see it as, okay, well, mom is buying this, so I can buy this, too, and I’ll just use her card. She knows I don’t have any money, so let me do it this way. But that’s just not the case.
Host: Shane Cook
Right.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Not our pockets-wise, but in that same breath, these are some of the things that draw our children into the gambling world. Because we get so caught up in our things, we just say, Here, give them the card. And then they go and they do these in-app purchases. Or they’re betting. They already know about off-track betting, and they’re online doing it, or they’re playing the lottery online, or they’re doing I remember a couple of years back when this is just recent as well. This young man was on Robin Hood, and he thought that he had lost all his money, so he committed suicide. Well, his brother found out the next day that he actually had not lost all his money, he actually had gained $3.8 million.
Host: Shane Cook
Oh my gosh.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
These are all stories you can actually look up. They’re online, of course. Everything is online. But I just try to follow some of these stories because when I facilitate or talk about it, I just want to let people know that Robin Hood gambling, just gambling, different things that we think aren’t gambling, they are playing a stock market gambling.
Host: Shane Cook
Right. So especially playing the futures market. Like that whole setup was right? Yeah.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
But if you think about it, a lot of these gaming things and a lot of games that we play, have all these extra draw-ins, too. Because you and I, we can sit here and say, oh, yeah, we don’t have to gamble, or we can take $5 and just gamble with it and go about our way. Whereas some people, they’ll take $5 and then they got an extra $500 stuck down in their pocket. So they’re going to go and they’ll play the $5. Well, it came up with two bills and a circle. So let me put this $100 in here. Maybe it’ll come up to three bills next time. So I call it the sighted sound effect. You look at it and it’s close, so you want to get closer and you keep hitting that button or you keep pulling that lash down.
So you just keep gaming, you keep betting. And then we pass these things onto our youth. The youth, they see that they may not be able to see us in the casinos, but they’ll see us on our phones. We’re playing those casino games. They’ll see it on TV, oh, Mom, Dad, do you pull the lever or do you hit the button and you only have to say one or the other or both? It’s something that sticks in their mind. It’s a mindset. So always tell people, be mindful of your gambling. Set goals for yourself sometimes if that’s what you need to do. But also be mindful of the people around you who are gambling because even if you don’t have an issue, they may have an issue.
And we should be able to pick up on that before it gets too bad if we can.
Host: Shane Cook
Absolutely. Great advice, Tanya. I appreciate you jumping on today and having spending a few minutes here with us on Wager Danger to talk about what you do at TASC and what you’re passionate about. I mean, it certainly comes through that you have a great deal of passion for this, for helping others and especially around gambling disorder. I fully believe that we are just now seeing the beginning of what could potentially be a wave of individuals that are going to be seeking out gambling disorder services here, especially since online sports betting is so new, but rapidly growing in terms of the monthly handles that are being wagered on sports betting in the state of Illinois. So I think it’s just a matter of time before those of us who are providing these services are seeing a massive influx of patients seeking our services.
So it’s been a pleasure to get to know you, and I look forward to working together.
Guest: Tanya Bibbs-Smith
Well, thank you so much. It was a pleasure being here, and thank you for letting me talk about something that is so near and dear to my heart and hope to do this again.
Host: Shane Cook
All right? Yeah, definitely.
Host: Shane Cook
We love hearing from you, so please take a moment to, like, share and comment on our podcast. You can reach out to us directly via email at wagerdanger@gatewayfoundation.org. Look for us on Facebook and Twitter at recovergateway on LinkedIn at gatewayfoundation or through our website@gatewayfoundation.org. Wager Danger is supported through funding in whole or in part through a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery. And remember, recovery is a lifelong process. If you or a family member is struggling with a gambling problem, call Gateway at 844-975-3663 and speak with one of our counselors for a confidential assessment.
