Gambling nearly destroyed Joe Lucilo’s life. By the time he turned 20, he says his bookies owed him at least $100,000.
The Malvern native was a star in high school. Ten years ago, he streamed college football at North High School where he started quarterback on his team and was a member of his college basketball and baseball teams.
His SAT score was good enough for SUNY Maritime College to recruit him to play football, he said.
But Ruscillo’s downfall began when he discovered gambling. It started when he was 16, making small bets at bookmakers on nearly every sporting match. Tennis was popular. Illegally placed bets quickly escalated into the thousands.
Ruscillo, now 26, said he hit rock bottom last year with the advent of online sports betting legalized in New York state. Over the past 10 years, he believed that from $2 million he gambled $3 million and lost his $300,000 from $200,000 before starting his life over with the help of his family and girlfriend. I’m here.
“Your first bet was $20 at 4 p.m., then it went to $50, then $100. said.
“Suddenly, I am in thousands of dollars in debt with my local bookie and I can’t pay it back. I have debts to my friends that I can’t pay back,” he said. “It’s a dangerous road.”
I was already dependent on it, but it makes getting a bank account and putting money in so much easier and deposits are right there in 2 seconds.
He owes a lot and the bookies have a payment plan for him.
Debt piled up and I almost lost friends and family. he asked them for a loan. Tensions mounted when he did not repay them.
His parents banished him from their home many times, forcing him to move in with his grandparents. He often didn’t have enough money to buy food or gas.
“He’s a great kid with a bad problem,” said his mother, Jennifer Lucilo.
Besides loans, he gambled with money he earned from public health work, his family’s car glass business, and waiting rooms.
“You can literally lose your hard-earned money that week in a minute,” he said.
His mother took him to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, Gamblers Anonymous meetings, and anyone else who could ask for help, but none could cure him. .
“It’s so much easier now”
Joe Lucilo said he pushed the envelope with the start of legalized online sports betting in New York in January 2022.
“I was already dependent, but it’s made it so much easier to get a bank account and put money in, and deposits are two seconds away and there,” he said.
Ruscillo said it was almost impossible to resist the ubiquitous ads, especially on the iPhone.
“Even though I knew a lot about it and how bad it was and how detrimental it was to your life, they still got me,” he said of the ad. Told.
He believes he lost $40,000 to $50,000 in the first two months after online sports betting was legalized in New York.
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His mother said she was terrified when sports games were shown on her home TV.
“When sports start, I get sick of it,” she said. “It’s no longer a love of sports. It’s like, ‘Oh my god, is he going to bet? ‘” How much will you lose this time? ”
In online sports betting, Joe Ruscillo knew he couldn’t keep going. He got honest with his family and girlfriend and said he needed more help, and they came up with a drastic solution. He ditched his iPhone and replaced it with an old fashioned flip phone.
He also gives all his salary to his mother so he can’t spend the money on gambling.
The strategy is working. He has paid off almost all his debts and keeps money in the bank. He and his girlfriend are looking to buy a house or condo.
“It’s not a love of sports anymore. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, is he going to bet?'” How much will you lose this time? ‘ she said.Credit: Morgan Campbell
“I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in my life,” he said. “I saved a lot of money. I don’t gamble. And all my friends who are my true friends are still around.”
His advice to young people is to stay away from gambling.
“You go to Gambler Anonymous and there are men in their 60s, 70s who are still battling addiction today. They didn’t even have an app,” he said. “If it was addictive back then, it’s even more addictive now.”
His mother’s warning is even more severe. Gambling “should be banned. It shouldn’t even exist.”
with Jamie Stewart
