Casinos need to help gamblers curb their spending yeah…

Casinos need to send out statements to gamblers is what one Philly paper says. Thats like Starbucks sending out monthly statements to curb folks coffee drinking habits. Ridiculous thoughts. Its just bad for business.

Bill Kearney lost it all.

A self-made millionaire, the former Bucks County resident had a lavish lifestyle — a house, Mercedes, vacations.

Then he became addicted to Atlantic City casinos. In six months he lost his first million. The next few years, in the “chase” to get it back, he lost more.

“I ended up losing everything,” Kearney, formerly of Langhorne, said Monday. “I destroyed a family.”

That was in the 1980s, more than 20 years ago when Paul Clymer was early in his career in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Today, the two men share the same fight.

Kearney’s story is the inspiration behind Clymer’s bill to require Pennsylvania’s casinos to send monthly statements to gamblers on their winnings and losses — the thought being that people bordering on compulsive gambling would see their losses — and their spouses would have access to the information, too.

“It would have helped my ex-wife lock up some assets,” said Kearney, 57.

Casinos have the technology to create the statements through their reward cards, which allow them to track the amount of money and time someone spends gambling.