I read this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today and thought Id pass it along about the dangers on gambling:
Online betting payoff was debt and worse
In over their heads, one robs bank, one dead
Sunday, July 30, 2006 Joe Guillen
Plain Dealer Reporter
One last bet.
Joseph Kupchik, 19, was counting on one big win to wash away thousands of dollars of gambling losses.
Instead of it being the last bet of his gambling career, it was most likely the last bet of his life.
A Cleveland police investigation concluded that Kupchik, of Strongsville, stabbed himself in the chest with a filet knife and then jumped off a downtown Cleveland parking structure.
The investigation focused on Kupchik's "extensive" gambling habit, in which he "bet away a substantial amount of money, leading up to the day that he died," a police report on the investigation reads.
His body was found early in the morning of Feb. 12, in an alley off Prospect Avenue in downtown Cleveland by two men who thought he had been severely beaten.
In the weeks leading up to his death, Kupchik convinced his high school friend Tim Adams, also of Strongsville, that he was going to quit gambling online.
He said he could parlay a $500 loan from Adams into a $20,000 pay-off. That kind of money would enable Kupchik to replenish his college tuition fund that he had recently drained to pay off gambling debts.
Three days before Kupchik died, Adams wrote him that $500 check. Kupchik put the money on Georgetown University -- riding a seven-game victory streak at the time -- to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament that began in March.
"He seemed so positive about this," Adams remembered
Years ago, a young man like Kupchik would probably need underground connections to place illegal sports bets through a bookie. These days, anyone with access to the Internet and a credit card can enter the vast world of online gambling. Though such gambling is illegal, federal law enforcement is just beginning to crack down on the $12 billion, worldwide industry by targeting the offshore companies that run the gambling Web sites.
Online gambling has grown especially popular among young men. About 580,000 people between the ages of 14 and 22 are gambling online weekly, according to a September 2005 study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
In Kupchik's case, however, gambling was nothing new.
He "always had that gam bling in him, ever since I met him," Ad ams said. He remembered Kupchik betting on video games with his twin brother, John.
The Cuyahoga Community College student's gambling habit intensified shortly before his death. In about a month's time, between December and January, Kupchik paid more than $3,400 to a gambling Web site, police records show. In that time, he transferred more than $3,500 to his checking account from an account designated for tuition.
He never told Adams exactly how much he lost, but Adams knew Kupchik's debts were mounting because he had never asked for money before.
Adams was worried. Kupchik -- his friend since freshman year of high school -- seemed as if he was gambling with more money than he could afford.
But the problem didn't seem "life-threatening in any way," Adams said.
On Saturday afternoon, Feb. 11, Kupchik drove into the parking structure at Ontario Street and Prospect Avenue. He was scheduled to work that day at Steak 'n Shake in Brunswick, where he was a waiter. He never showed up.
No one sure what really happened
"What exactly Kupchik did for the approximately 12 hours that his car was in the garage, we don't know," a report by the Cleveland police homicide unit reads. "We can't discount that he remained in his vehicle, reclined in his car seat, possibly listening to music and contemplating what he was going to do."
No one sure what really happened
"What exactly Kupchik did for the approximately 12 hours that his car was in the garage, we don't know," a report by the Cleveland police homicide unit reads. "We can't discount that he remained in his vehicle, reclined in his car seat, possibly listening to music and contemplating what he was going to do."
The driver's seat was bloodstained, police later found, and the knife was about six feet from the driver's door.
Among the various items inside his black 1997 Honda Civic parked on the structure's ninth floor were handwritten gambling notes with point spreads for professional football and basketball games.
Cleveland homicide detectives concluded it was "highly likely" he stabbed himself in the chest and jumped off the parking structure. Frank Miller of the Cuyahoga County coroner's office agreed with investigators, records show. But Coroner Elizabeth Balraj officially ruled the death "undetermined," adding that he died of self-inflicted injuries.
Kupchik's family declined to comment for this story. However, it was made clear the family doesn't believe he took his own life.
A family member who asked not to be identified insisted Kupchik's finances were healthier than police records show. Police subpoenaed bank records at one bank, but Kupchik had other assets, the family member said.
Kupchik was also doing well in school -- he was accepted and planned to enroll at the University of Cincinnati, his father George's alma mater.
Plus, why wouldn't Kupchik wait to see if his big bet on Georgetown came through? As it turned out, Georgetown lost in the third round.
"Perhaps he felt that if he won, his friends and family would be that more richer," the police report reasons.
Online poker detaches player from reality
Within the rise in online gambling, poker is gaining particular popularity.
Online poker is more addictive than traditional poker, experts say, because the Internet detaches the player from reality -- time spent and money lost playing online aren't as tangible. Problem gamblers often chase their losses, compounding their debt.
"Until this current poker craze, you weren't getting that many folks coming into treatment who were primarily poker players," said Lori Rugle, president of the Ohio Council on Problem Gambling. "We weren't seeing the younger age group getting into trouble so quickly."
College-aged males are more susceptible to online gambling addiction because they are at an experimental stage in life when risky decisions are more likely to be made. Add that to widespread Internet access on college campuses and growing financial freedom, and some are bound to suffer tragic consequences.
Rugle said she has talked to a handful of universities in Ohio about cautioning students about gambling, much as the schools do for alcohol. But most don't have the resources to educate students, she said.
Poker led to downfall of Lehigh student
"The fortunate ones will do some experimentation and decide it isn't worth it," Rugle said. "But a few will get into trouble very quickly, like that Lehigh stu dent."
Gregory Hogan Jr.'s transition from graduation at Hunting Valley's University School to college life at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., seemed smooth.
The school is about 50 miles north of Philadelphia and has fewer than 7,000 students.
He pledged a fraternity and was class president at the university; he also picked up an online poker addiction and robbed a bank to cover his debts.
Members of the Hogan family were not available for an interview.
Hogan began playing poker online shortly after he started at Lehigh, said his attorney, John Waldron of Allentown, Pa. His father, Greg Sr., a Baptist minister, found out when Hogan's credit card statements arrived at the family's house.
Hogan's online poker habit grew to the point that his father visited his son's dorm room and installed anti-gambling software, Waldron said. But the credit card statements kept showing gambling losses. Hogan reportedly began gambling on school library computers.
On Dec. 9, Hogan and two unsuspecting friends pulled up to a Wachovia bank in Allentown, according to court documents.
Hogan told the driver he had to cash a large check, Allentown police said. Inside the bank, Hogan -- unarmed and wearing a red baseball cap -- handed the teller a note demanding mo
He walked out with more than $2,800. Waldron said Hogan was in the hole about $2,500 at the time of the robbery.
Police arrested Hogan at his fraternity house later that night; a witness had given authorities the license plate number of the black SUV that Hogan was in, according to court documents.
On July 12, Hogan pleaded guilty to robbing the bank. He will be sentenced on Aug. 17. He faces up to three years in prison.
In a recent interview on "Good Morning America," Hogan said he robbed the bank to pay off debts so he could quit gambling.
"Basically, the addiction told me to do it," he said. "I didn't think of the consequences at that time. I didn't think I would get kicked out of school. I didn't think I would lose [friends] or embarrass my family."
Online betting payoff was debt and worse
In over their heads, one robs bank, one dead
Sunday, July 30, 2006 Joe Guillen
Plain Dealer Reporter
One last bet.
Joseph Kupchik, 19, was counting on one big win to wash away thousands of dollars of gambling losses.
Instead of it being the last bet of his gambling career, it was most likely the last bet of his life.
A Cleveland police investigation concluded that Kupchik, of Strongsville, stabbed himself in the chest with a filet knife and then jumped off a downtown Cleveland parking structure.
The investigation focused on Kupchik's "extensive" gambling habit, in which he "bet away a substantial amount of money, leading up to the day that he died," a police report on the investigation reads.
His body was found early in the morning of Feb. 12, in an alley off Prospect Avenue in downtown Cleveland by two men who thought he had been severely beaten.
In the weeks leading up to his death, Kupchik convinced his high school friend Tim Adams, also of Strongsville, that he was going to quit gambling online.
He said he could parlay a $500 loan from Adams into a $20,000 pay-off. That kind of money would enable Kupchik to replenish his college tuition fund that he had recently drained to pay off gambling debts.
Three days before Kupchik died, Adams wrote him that $500 check. Kupchik put the money on Georgetown University -- riding a seven-game victory streak at the time -- to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament that began in March.
"He seemed so positive about this," Adams remembered
Years ago, a young man like Kupchik would probably need underground connections to place illegal sports bets through a bookie. These days, anyone with access to the Internet and a credit card can enter the vast world of online gambling. Though such gambling is illegal, federal law enforcement is just beginning to crack down on the $12 billion, worldwide industry by targeting the offshore companies that run the gambling Web sites.
Online gambling has grown especially popular among young men. About 580,000 people between the ages of 14 and 22 are gambling online weekly, according to a September 2005 study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
In Kupchik's case, however, gambling was nothing new.
He "always had that gam bling in him, ever since I met him," Ad ams said. He remembered Kupchik betting on video games with his twin brother, John.
The Cuyahoga Community College student's gambling habit intensified shortly before his death. In about a month's time, between December and January, Kupchik paid more than $3,400 to a gambling Web site, police records show. In that time, he transferred more than $3,500 to his checking account from an account designated for tuition.
He never told Adams exactly how much he lost, but Adams knew Kupchik's debts were mounting because he had never asked for money before.
Adams was worried. Kupchik -- his friend since freshman year of high school -- seemed as if he was gambling with more money than he could afford.
But the problem didn't seem "life-threatening in any way," Adams said.
On Saturday afternoon, Feb. 11, Kupchik drove into the parking structure at Ontario Street and Prospect Avenue. He was scheduled to work that day at Steak 'n Shake in Brunswick, where he was a waiter. He never showed up.
No one sure what really happened
"What exactly Kupchik did for the approximately 12 hours that his car was in the garage, we don't know," a report by the Cleveland police homicide unit reads. "We can't discount that he remained in his vehicle, reclined in his car seat, possibly listening to music and contemplating what he was going to do."
No one sure what really happened
"What exactly Kupchik did for the approximately 12 hours that his car was in the garage, we don't know," a report by the Cleveland police homicide unit reads. "We can't discount that he remained in his vehicle, reclined in his car seat, possibly listening to music and contemplating what he was going to do."
The driver's seat was bloodstained, police later found, and the knife was about six feet from the driver's door.
Among the various items inside his black 1997 Honda Civic parked on the structure's ninth floor were handwritten gambling notes with point spreads for professional football and basketball games.
Cleveland homicide detectives concluded it was "highly likely" he stabbed himself in the chest and jumped off the parking structure. Frank Miller of the Cuyahoga County coroner's office agreed with investigators, records show. But Coroner Elizabeth Balraj officially ruled the death "undetermined," adding that he died of self-inflicted injuries.
Kupchik's family declined to comment for this story. However, it was made clear the family doesn't believe he took his own life.
A family member who asked not to be identified insisted Kupchik's finances were healthier than police records show. Police subpoenaed bank records at one bank, but Kupchik had other assets, the family member said.
Kupchik was also doing well in school -- he was accepted and planned to enroll at the University of Cincinnati, his father George's alma mater.
Plus, why wouldn't Kupchik wait to see if his big bet on Georgetown came through? As it turned out, Georgetown lost in the third round.
"Perhaps he felt that if he won, his friends and family would be that more richer," the police report reasons.
Online poker detaches player from reality
Within the rise in online gambling, poker is gaining particular popularity.
Online poker is more addictive than traditional poker, experts say, because the Internet detaches the player from reality -- time spent and money lost playing online aren't as tangible. Problem gamblers often chase their losses, compounding their debt.
"Until this current poker craze, you weren't getting that many folks coming into treatment who were primarily poker players," said Lori Rugle, president of the Ohio Council on Problem Gambling. "We weren't seeing the younger age group getting into trouble so quickly."
College-aged males are more susceptible to online gambling addiction because they are at an experimental stage in life when risky decisions are more likely to be made. Add that to widespread Internet access on college campuses and growing financial freedom, and some are bound to suffer tragic consequences.
Rugle said she has talked to a handful of universities in Ohio about cautioning students about gambling, much as the schools do for alcohol. But most don't have the resources to educate students, she said.
Poker led to downfall of Lehigh student
"The fortunate ones will do some experimentation and decide it isn't worth it," Rugle said. "But a few will get into trouble very quickly, like that Lehigh stu dent."
Gregory Hogan Jr.'s transition from graduation at Hunting Valley's University School to college life at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., seemed smooth.
The school is about 50 miles north of Philadelphia and has fewer than 7,000 students.
He pledged a fraternity and was class president at the university; he also picked up an online poker addiction and robbed a bank to cover his debts.
Members of the Hogan family were not available for an interview.
Hogan began playing poker online shortly after he started at Lehigh, said his attorney, John Waldron of Allentown, Pa. His father, Greg Sr., a Baptist minister, found out when Hogan's credit card statements arrived at the family's house.
Hogan's online poker habit grew to the point that his father visited his son's dorm room and installed anti-gambling software, Waldron said. But the credit card statements kept showing gambling losses. Hogan reportedly began gambling on school library computers.
On Dec. 9, Hogan and two unsuspecting friends pulled up to a Wachovia bank in Allentown, according to court documents.
Hogan told the driver he had to cash a large check, Allentown police said. Inside the bank, Hogan -- unarmed and wearing a red baseball cap -- handed the teller a note demanding mo
He walked out with more than $2,800. Waldron said Hogan was in the hole about $2,500 at the time of the robbery.
Police arrested Hogan at his fraternity house later that night; a witness had given authorities the license plate number of the black SUV that Hogan was in, according to court documents.
On July 12, Hogan pleaded guilty to robbing the bank. He will be sentenced on Aug. 17. He faces up to three years in prison.
In a recent interview on "Good Morning America," Hogan said he robbed the bank to pay off debts so he could quit gambling.
"Basically, the addiction told me to do it," he said. "I didn't think of the consequences at that time. I didn't think I would get kicked out of school. I didn't think I would lose [friends] or embarrass my family."
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