Rebuilding Your Finances After Gambling Addiction
In desperate financial times, people tend to rely on gambling as a source of income. Sometime in the 1990s, when Las Vegas was beginning to cultivate a family friendly image where you were as likely to return to your hotel room with your young child and an oversized teddy bear she had won at a ring toss game as you were with a call girl and a pocketful of cocaine, and when the gaming scene at the Seminole reservation in Broward County transformed from a dingy wooden building where old ladies played bingo to the glamorous, world-famous Guitar Hotel where celebrities and wannabes went to see and be seen, gambling went from being a vice to being an aspirational career. There were shows on TV about professional poker players. Among the provisions of the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump this summer is one that counts 90 percent of gambling losses as tax deductible expenses and the other 10 percent as taxable income. The provision is meant to generate revenue from professional gamblers who also earn money from sponsorships and other trappings of being a professional entertainer. If gambling is your way of escaping your financial woes, this is worrisome to you, because every gambler knows that this escape attempt only sometimes works. If your finances went from bad to worse because of gambling, and you are ready for a reset, contact a Plantation chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyer.
Acknowledge That the Problem Is Not Just About Money
If you have resolved just now to quit gambling, it probably is not the only time that you have made this resolution. The surest way to quit problem gambling permanently is to work with a mental health counselor with experience treating patients for gambling addiction. With the help of your counselor, you may be able to make changes in your life to get out of situations that sabotaged your previous attempts to quit gambling. While talking to a therapist is a great relief, therapists cannot magically remove stressors from your life, and if many of your stressors are financial, this puts you in the same boat as almost everyone else.
Discharge Your Old Debts in Bankruptcy
By filing for bankruptcy protection, you have the chance to make some of the debts you incurred through problem gambling disappear into thin air. You should choose chapter 7 bankruptcy if you do not own substantial assets that could be at risk of liquidation. Chapter 13 is a better choice if you have valuable assets and a steady source of employment income. There is no liquidation in chapter 13 bankruptcy, but you must stick to a court-ordered debt repayment plan; if you do not do this, the bankruptcy court will convert your case to chapter 7.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Finding Solutions to Your Gambling Debt Problems
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if you are recovering from gambling addiction and want to discharge your old debts so you can get a fresh start. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Plantation, Florida to discuss your case.
Sources:
cnbc.com/2025/07/04/bettors-are-worried-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-could-cause-professional-gambling-in-the-us-to-fold.html
800gambler.org/tips-for-financial-recovery-from-problem-gambling/
