Fall to rise higher

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a entity Vida Libre is made up of people who previously did not know how to live without gambling, and their relatives. As its president, Áurea Pastor, says, they work to promote healthy habits and end problem gambling by offering preventive talks to students and teachers in high schools in Alicante and its surroundings, psychological help to pathological gamblers and their families, as well as training for all those who want to contribute to turning this situation around.

The paths for a game to become an addiction are complex and different for each person. The consequences (moral, emotional, work, social, and physical deterioration) are always the same. For Luis Vilar, it all started when his wife died in 2013. First, he played slot machines to escape and thus avoid his loneliness, until a moment came when he lived solely for and by gambling: he barely spoke to his daughters and accumulated an avalanche of debts that forced him to sell his house. "I woke up thinking about the machines, I ate quickly thinking about the machines, and I went to bed thinking about the machines. I wasn't really living," Luis recalls.

Now that he has been rehabilitated for a year, his challenge is to help people who come to Vida Libre to leave behind this universe of colored lights and strident sounds "that is designed solely to take our money." This is the anatomy of gambling: the probability of winning something in a slot machine game, for example, is a tiny 18.3% or, in other words, more than 80% of the time you lose.

From his position as a volunteer, Luis has begun to do his bit by collaborating with the association's psychologist in group therapies. There he expresses his point of view to the patients and tells them how he got out of that "hole." "It would give me great satisfaction if everything I have gained from my experience could help others," he states. "Also, here I can help young people. I see that many are falling, and I am here to try to prevent it."

The president of Vida Libre also laments this trend, which she believes is on the rise due to the emergence of new technologies and the ease of online betting: "On Tuesday I was with a 22-year-old boy who has been hooked since he was 12. He even skipped school to play," says Áurea. "Being able to encourage someone to start their path towards recovery somehow compensates for all the suffering my husband and I went through because of his addiction. In fact, when someone who was in treatment years ago comes to greet us, I don't need anything else: my day is made."

Text: Alba Losada Photography: Laia Sabaté

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