The Modern Meeting

John B. is a compulsive gambler in recovery from Oxnard, California with over 20 years since his last bet. In 1994, John moved to Las Vegas to get away from drugs and alcohol, only to find gambling waiting for him there. He talks about what those years looked like, how long it took him to admit he was a compulsive gambler, and the turning point that finally got him into the rooms for good.  He talks about what 20 years of recovery has actually given him, and why he still shows up to meetings after all this time. 

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

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As long as people keep struggling with gambling, and refuse to go to meetings, I will keep talking about them. This week I posed a question to the listeners who are in recovery: tell me a misconception that you had about meetings before you attended them, or a reason why you were hesitant.

18 people answered. They ranged from "fear of speaking" to "thinking they weren't worthy." All of them valid, and almost all of them proven wrong. And if you've never walked into a room, there's a good chance at least one of these is the exact thing holding you back too.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

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You've heard Adam talk about his clean date, February 8th, 2022, and the meeting in Austin, Texas that changed everything. Rocky is the man who chaired that meeting. By a coincidence neither of them planned, this conversation was recorded on July 2nd, the exact day Rocky made his last bet 34 years ago. He takes us back to the beginning: the fraternity, the bookies, the loans he talked his way into, the trip to Vegas that hooked him, and the night in a condo alone when he finally called the number on the back of a lottery ticket. He also gets into the harder stuff, why he says his real problem was never gambling, the moment his recovery actually took off, and the thing he believes compulsive gamblers need more than any other addict. And Adam finally gets to say something to Rocky, in person, that he's been carrying for over four years.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

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Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

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If you grew up in the '90s, Chris Farley was probably the funniest person alive to you. Tom Farley is his older brother, and he's in recovery himself. For years Tom told Chris's story while quietly avoiding his own. In this conversation he gets into both. He talks about the afternoon a sober musician made him want something he didn't have, the friend who tricked him into his first meeting, and the night he watched his famous brother walk into a run-down room in Hell's Kitchen and say something Tom never expected to hear. He gets into what it was like to be surrounded by people and feel completely alone, the one thing he believes pulled Chris back under, and the relationship he still has with his brother almost thirty years after he died.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

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For most of my life I never stuck with anything. Jobs. Relationships. Addresses. And now, thanks to recovery, I actually stick with things. And I'm not doing it alone. We've built a community. A team. People that show up for each other.

This week we celebrated one year of the Modern Meeting Meeting. I get into how it started, how it almost didn't make it, and what this past Monday night meant to me. And speaking of meetings, there's a new one coming starting Saturday July 11: Not Your First Meeting Meeting.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

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A delayed flight, a karaoke bar in Missouri, and a $248 decision I knew I shouldn't make. What happened next at the gate was the closest I've come to that old feeling in over four years. From there I talk about five hard truths about gambling addiction and recovery. The ones people don't want to hear, the ones I keep repeating because they keep being true, and the one I save for last because almost nobody believes it until it's too late.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com

Carmela aka Carmey B — grew up in Omaha's Little Italy, in a loud, proud Italian American family whose whole world revolved around gambling. Her father owned an Italian steakhouse, hosted Sunday card games, and had a past colorful enough that two men with briefcases once showed up looking for him. He was her North Star. He was also a gambler. And for a long time, she didn't believe gambling would be the thing that got her. 

In this episode, she takes us from that first slot machine to the seventeen years that followed, and the night she finally decided enough was enough. Now 108 days since her last bet and a regular at The Modern Meeting Meeting, she's telling her story remarkably early, and she's not holding back. 

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com

From the outside, Scott Meyer had the picture-perfect life. Married his high school sweetheart, five kids, his own accounting firm, a home in the community he grew up in, and the respect of everyone around him. He was the trusted professional people came to with their money. He was also quietly destroying everything he'd built.

In this episode, Scott traces a gambling addiction that started as something social and slow, two or three trips a year, until a single jackpot rewired the way his brain saw the casino. He's remarkably candid about the double life that followed: the lengths he went to so his wife wouldn't find out, the morning a detective was waiting in his driveway, and the question his wife asked first when it all came apart.

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.

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Sonya — a Marine, an adventurer, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and a friend, who passed away on May 27th after a nearly twenty-year battle with addiction. In her sister Tracy's words: "I choose to remember my sister, not her addiction." And then we hear a letter Sonya wrote in her own hand. Thank you to Tracy and Dan for trusting me with it.

From there, this is a solo episode recorded from a hotel room on the road at the tail end of a week of conferences, meetings, DMs, and parents at their wit's end — and I came home with one conclusion I can't shake: we are not doing enough. Let's talk about it. 

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com

When we left Paul Buck, the real number had just come into focus, and the obvious question was: how did he get caught?

He didn't. 

In Part 2, Paul picks up at the night everything came apart, and the unlikely thing that finally made him stop after seventeen years: not a confrontation, not getting found out, but a newspaper article about a complete stranger. He's honest about the hardest day of his life, the conversations he had to have afterward, and what it actually takes to turn yourself in when no one is coming for you.  He also tells the story of EPIC Global Solutions, the company he founded to stop gambling harm before it starts. What began as one man's second chance now works in 38 countries. 

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 about Paul and EPIC: epicglobalsolutions.com

If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone.
Email me anytime at [email protected]

The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive!

Evive meets you exactly where you are. 

Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com