Femi LazarusCEO at Femi Lazarus Consulting

The next episode of Declassified is a necessary conversation. Gambling is a societal epidemic.

14 May 2026 · 2 min

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1:43

In this brief excerpt from the Declassified Podcast, Speaker A recounts two extreme real‑world gambling stories: one individual who solicited large contributions from neighbors to fund his gambling, eventually failing to meet obligations, and another who staged his own kidnapping to collect ransom and clear gambling debts, later returning to a Thanksgiving church service. Speaker A asks whether these scenarios constitute problematic gambling. Speaker B affirms both are examples of problem gambling but notes that a clinical assessment is required to determine if they meet criteria for gambling addiction. The clip concludes with a promotional line for the Declassified Podcast on YouTube and Spotify.

Chapters

I know of a gambler who at some point he thought to himself that the best job for him to do is to collect contribution from people. Yeah. So he was taking contribution from people and everybody in the neighborhood were contributing huge sum of money, right, with him and all that. And he just You know, and you know the way that thing works, something just keeps telling you that you can multiply this and all that. So, um, by the time this one wants to take the contribution, that wants to take that contribution, he couldn't meet up with all of them. And, um, so it became a very complicated problem. Yeah. And eventually he ended it all, right? And there's another case that I know, someone who was hooked on gambling. He faked his own kidnap, collected ransom, came back home and did Thanksgiving in church. Interesting. And cried on the day of the Thanksgiving, and everybody cried that they could have killed him, but he actually gambled. He did that because he needed to clear some debts. Correct. And went back straight in. Right. Would you describe this case as problematic gambling?
Absolutely. Both cases. Both cases? Both cases. Okay. They are problem gamblers. They— but until they are clinically examined, you would not be able to say whether they are addicted or not.
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