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June's addiction began soon after her husband died of lung cancer on Christmas Eve in 1997. June was a new widow, disabled, homebound. Her four children were on their own and had moved away. She turned to her computer and the Internet to find solace. Instead, she found keno.

As June played the online games from her New Jersey apartment, offshore gambling sites became her new suitors. She won $10,000 four times. The companies sent her gifts, ranging from a wristwatch to bouquets of flowers.

Then the tide began to turn. Losses piled up fast. She went through her husband's $57,000 insurance settlement for on-the-job exposure to asbestos. She cashed in certificates of deposit. The woman, now 73, ignored her friends when they visited her. She remained in her chair to place wagers and sometimes stayed up all night.

"I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't supposed to be doing this because I'm a Christian," said June, who even spent the money set aside for her burial. "But I couldn't help myself."

By the time she stopped gambling 18 months ago, June had lost $110,000. "I really am ashamed," said June, who asked that her last name not be used because of confidentiality that recovering gamblers require of each other. "I always paid my bills on time."

June credits Ed Looney, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, with saving her from financial ruin. Shut-ins who spend hours at a computer are particularly vulnerable, Looney said, adding, "It's an incredible market for those who hunger for relationships."

The Internet gambling industry started only eight years ago. There are now more than 1,800 gambling websites, frequently based in small island nations, according to Looney. The federal Department of Justice maintains that online betting is a violation of the Interstate Wireline Act of 1961, which regulates telephone sports bets. Nevertheless, researchers estimate that overseas

Internet gambling sites will generate more than $4 billion in profits (nearly two-thirds from Americans) in 2003.

That amount of profit is estimated to be three times the profits from the Internet pornography business.

So far, few Christian ministries are equipped to help Internet gambling addicts. But Chad Hills, a research associate with Focus on the Family, believes it's no coincidence that pop-up ads for pornography and gambling are juxtaposed on numerous websites. "People are as susceptible to gambling as pornography if it's a part of their makeup," Hills said. "Christians are not immune, not by a long shot. When we think we are immune, we tend to drop our guard, and then we're in for a world of surprise and hurt."

Internet gambling stakes are higher than those at casinos, according to Chris Anderson, director of the Gambling Recovery Center in Chicago. "Every state with gambling has a regulatory body because of vice and sin that happens if it's not regulated," Anderson said. "But who regulates the Internet?"

U.S. Rep. Jim Leach has been asking his colleagues for four years to enact legislation. "There is no regulation of gambling on the Internet and no protection for the consumer," the Iowa Republican told CT. "The difficulties for families can be rapid and catastrophic."

Leach sponsored a bill last year that passed the House but languished in the Senate. He introduced an identical bill in January, and is more optimistic this year because of the change in Senate leadership.

To compete online, players generally must open a personal account and provide "front money," usually in the form of a credit card.

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April 2003, Vol. 47, No. 4