A gripping, true story of one man’s forty-year
struggle with compulsive gambling and his
hard-won recovery
Description
My history of gambling really began before I was born.” So opens Bill Lee’s self-told story of gambling addiction, which is set in San Francisco’s Chinatown and steeped in a culture where it is not unheard of for gamblers to lose their children to a bet. From wagering away his beloved baseball card collection in third grade to forfeiting everything he owned at blackjack tables in Las Vegas, every new and terrifying loss validated Lee’s feelings of worthlessness. With gritty honesty and true humility, Lee describes what gambling addiction feels like and looks like from the inside. “Everything was a blur to me,” Lee writes about a gambling jag that brought him to financial ruin. “I was in such a reckless and self-destructive frame of mind that I would have bet my life if required. In a way, that’s what I was doing. I was that far gone from reality.” In the end, however, Born to Lose is a memoir of hope as Lee reveals how recovery from his gambling addiction has been possible through the Twelve Step program.
Key Features
Gaming is the fastest growing industry in the United States; gambling is the fastest growing addiction, affecting youth, the elderly, and women in record numbers.
There are more than 10 million compulsive gamblers in the United States and an estimated 100 million problem gamblers (those with the greatest potential to become compulsive gamblers).
The only memoir on the market to detail gambling as an addiction and to tell the story of recovery.
Key Features
Media Promotion
• Ad in Radio TV Interview Report
• Radio campaign
• Reviews in recovery magazines
• Advertising support: trade publications and online
Bill Lee is the author of Chinese Playground. He has also written numerous articles for the San Francisco Chronicle and Asian Week. Lee is the principal of Bill Lee & Associates, a senior management and technical search firm based in California. Lee has been featured on the History Channel, A&E Network, and in national print publications.
