I went back to Springfield, MA for the first time in over six years. I went for a conference, and I ended up walking through the casino for the first time since I entered recovery.

In this episode I break down the top five things I noticed walking through MGM Springfield as a compulsive gambler in recovery — the dead-eyed slot machine players, the guys with a hop in their step, the craps tables packed to the railing, and the woman who hit $1,800 and couldn't have cared less. I also get into what happened on the way out — five beers in, casino all around me — and what that told me about my own overconfidence in recovery. I also have something to say about what MGM Springfield put in their employee break room next to a zero-fee ATM. I promised myself I'd stay calm about it.

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Brian Dolan grew up in The Berkshires, won $500 in a March Madness pool in fourth grade, and spent the next 15 years chasing that feeling. By his freshman year of college he was dealing drugs to cover gambling debts. By his mid-20s he had $80,000 cash in a shoebox from a "hot streak," and lost it all, plus more, within months. Three treatment centers. Multiple relapses. A night he thought about jumping off a bridge. And then, five years to the day before Adam's own sobriety date, Brian surrendered. He's now a master's level counselor, recovery coach, and board member of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling — with nine years away from a bet and a practice built entirely around helping others find their way out.

Content Warning:

This episode contains discussions of suicide and mental health, which may be distressing for some listeners. If you or someone you know is struggling, please consider seeking support. Help is available. In the U.S., you can contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 — available 24/7.

For more information on Brian:

www.briandolancounseling.com

Brian Dolan MHC, CRC | LinkedIn

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I still have zero urge to gamble, but in the last few months I went from one meeting a week to four. And it's been awesome. This week I share not just what I've been learning in those rooms, but what I've been contributing — including a different way to look at ego in recovery, how to navigate the early days, and how one person's energy can completely change the course of a meeting. I also took a break mid-record to take a phone call from someone who slipped as they were closing in on a milestone.

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On December 1st, 2012, his birthday, Edgar Jones' teammate took his own life and his girlfriend's life outside the Kansas City Chiefs facility. The team played the next day. Edgar played. And then he spent years trying to outrun everything he felt, with pills and alcohol, while performing at the highest level of professional football. In this conversation Edgar talks about survivor's guilt, substance abuse, what it took to finally get sober, and why he believes the most important thing any of us can do is find the right container to pour our fuel into. He also gets into the current state of mental health in professional sports, what's happening with young athletes and gambling, and why staying quiet is the worst thing we can do.

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I've moved 18 times in almost 25 years. Every single time, I convinced myself the new place would fix things. New city. Fresh start. Maybe this time I wouldn't gamble. It never worked. Because I took myself with me every time.

In this episode, I'm unpacking what recovery calls the "geographic cure" — and how it played out in my own life across 18 addresses. I also just moved into what might be the best apartment I've ever had in my life. And within 48 hours, I was already being tested.

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Jacob grew up in England, moved to Australia, and spent 15 years losing everything to sports betting. He tried GA meetings. They helped, but only so much. What actually saved him was therapy. Nearly 100 sessions later, all with the same therapist, and he's still going strong.

Now 7+ years removed from his last bet, Jacob sits down with Adam and talks about losing his mother to cancer when he was 10 years old and never dealing with it and how gambling became the escape that filled that void for the next two decades. He breaks down what it looked like to burn through an entire month's salary in a week, rely on payday loans just to survive, and slowly lose the respect of everyone who loved him.

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On this episode I share a life update - Moving back to Rhode Island and very excited about it. I also recap the latest conference in Illinois where I made my first keynote and heard some amazing things from others in attendance. A last minute Red Sox game in the rain brought me closer to my higher power, and a Modern Meeting original celebrates a recovery milestone.

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Abdullah Mahmood is back. The gambling coordinator at Maryhaven in Columbus, Ohio returns to The Modern Meeting for a conversation about what might be the most significant piece of gambling legislation in the country right now. The Save Ohio Sports Act — introduced by two Republican and two Democratic lawmakers — would effectively abolish mobile and online sports betting in the state, limit wagers to four brick and mortar casinos, ban credit card use, and eliminate parlays and prop bets. In a state where 98% of sports betting happens on a mobile device, that's a seismic shift.

Adam and Abdullah break down what's in the bill, why it started with a match-fixing scandal involving two Cleveland Guardians players, who's going to fight it, and why it probably won't pass in its current form — but probably should. They also get into the five stages of change, what Abdullah is seeing on his caseload right now, and why a man's first appointment is almost always about saving his family rather than saving himself.

Contact Abdullah:

https://maryhaven.com/gambling/

https://www.gamfin.org/

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