How a Psychiatrist Lost $400,000 on Gambling Apps

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Business News, News, Daily News

4.2 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In November 2022, Kavita Fischer downloaded a casino app from DraftKings, one of the top online betting companies in the U.S. Kavita was looking for relief from the stress of a recent divorce and the isolation of working from home during the pandemic. In less than a year, Kavita gambled away hundreds of thousands of dollars. We speak to Kavita and to WSJ’s Katherine Sayre about how online betting companies keep customers coming back by giving them bonus credits and VIP treatment. Further Reading: - A Psychiatrist Tried to Quit Gambling. Betting Apps Kept Her Hooked. Further Listening: - Disney Gets Into Gambling Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Kavita Fisher is 41 years old. She's a mother of two and she lives in the quiet Pittsburgh
0:11.6	suburb of Mount Lebanon.
0:13.2	There's a dog.
0:15.2	Hello?
0:16.2	Last week I paid her a visit.
0:18.4	Hi, I'm Katie.
0:20.3	Nice to meet you.
0:21.6	Her home sits on a cul-de-sac overlooking tree-covered hills.
0:26.0	I read it a lot of this house when I moved in.
0:29.0	Like this was all carpet when I moved in and it was like this ugly yellow color.
0:33.3	Yeah.
0:33.7	So I had it all painted.
0:35.2	And it's gorgeous.
0:38.0	Kavita is a psychiatrist and she focuses on addiction.
0:42.7	What interests you about it?
0:44.6	Just the ability for people to change
0:48.0	and the impact on the brain of addiction
0:51.3	that a lot of people don't realize how much of a disease it can be.
0:56.0	What is addiction?
0:57.0	Like, yeah, how do you...
0:58.0	It's a process in which our brains become used to something that they can't that it can't get away from in the most simplest sense.
1:06.0	Despite knowing that it's not healthy or knowing that it's affecting your life,
	...

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