I am Brian Meister. I work as a counselor/therapist with People with a Gambling Disorder. I speak on the topic of Gambling Disorder. I am a Person with a Gambling Disorder and a Drug Use Disorder in recovery. I will share with you my own perspective in this blog on the cost of gambling to individuals, families, society whether the gambling is legal or not. I will disclose that as the title above alludes to I believe the costs of gambling outweigh the benefits. I believe that the prolific expansion of gambling in the US, and in Illinois, was not done in a thoughtful way either economically, and more importantly, with a social conscience. The ideas I will present will be my own; not my employers, not any recovery group or any other party I am connected to. I will use, and cite, data from others though some of the citations will be anonymous. I do not believe I have all the answers to effect change for the benefit of individuals, families, and society from the negative effects of the proliferation of gambling. I do know that I want myself and others to have a voice in finding solutions to the horrible effects from gambling. I know that my thoughts are the collection of all the wisdom and data I have gleaned from others that have been integrated in my being along with my own experiences. I will soon write a post explaining why I chose the title above. Before that I want to complete a resource page for those experiencing their own gambling disorder, experiencing the effects of someone else's gambling disorder, or for those interested to learn more about the topic.