Brian and Alyx Effron Founder of Collectors MD

Alyx is amazing, he identified a problem, realized there was not help for people with an addiction to collecting, and did something about it! And my apologies, I talked over Alyx a bit, but I was soooo excited to discuss!!

In This Episode...

• What is Collectors MD?
• Card Breaking & Gambling Crossover
• Mindset of a Collector
• Personal Experience with Card Collecting Becoming Gambling

Collectors MD Website is collectorsmd.com

Brian's Website endgamblingharm.com

Gambling Addiction YouTube Series The Bet Free Life

Show Email leestreetpod@gmail.com

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Music by T. Vance

Brian and Jennifer Park PhD

Jennifer is a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale researching gaming disorder, gambling, and other behavioral addictions. She is a damn delight to speak with... enjoy!

In This Episode...

• Jennifer is a Kiwi
• Gaming Disorder
• Intersection of Gaming and Gambling
• Travel Tips from a world class traveler

Brian's Website endgamblingharm.com

Gambling Addiction Video Series The Bet Free Life

Show Email leestreetpod@gmail.com

Please Rate & Review- Helps those still struggling to find us!

Music by T. Vance

Before online sportsbooks and casino apps, there was a different kind of gambling world — one run by bookies, back rooms, and the kind of debt you couldn't just close a browser tab to escape. In this episode, host Brian sits down with Tony V, a man with a truly old school gambling story, whose journey from compulsive bettor to person in long-term recovery is as gripping as it gets.

Tony opens up about what it was like gambling in an era before the internet changed everything — placing bets through mob-connected bookmakers, the thrill and the terror that came with it, and the slow unraveling that addiction brings to every area of life. But this isn't just a war story. Tony found recovery, and he shares what that path actually looked like.

Perhaps the most powerful moment in this conversation: what happened when Tony ran into his old bookie well into his recovery AND what the Bookie SAID

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What old school gambling culture really looked like — bookies, debts, and all
• How compulsive gambling escalates no matter the era or the format
• The role of Recovery Chat in Tony's journey and how peer connection supports sobriety
• What it feels like to unexpectedly cross paths with your past while in recovery
• How long-term recovery is built and protected over time

leestreetpod@gmail.com

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Brian, Jeff, and Sam DeMello, the Proprietor of Evive

Sam joins us to talk about what's new with Evive, an app you can use to assist with your recovery from gambling harm.

In This Episode...

• Who is Sam
• Recovery Chat
• What's New with Evive

Check out Evive!

Gambling Addiction YouTube Series The Bet Free Life

Show Email leestreetpod@gmail.com

Please Rate & Review- Helps those still struggling to find us!

Brian & Jersey Joe

Joe wrote some books about his gambling and recovery.

In This Episode...

• Joe's Story
• Joe's Books-

https://a.co/d/9pGTF3y - All Gamblers Suffer

https://a.co/d/7VTGAWy - All Gamblers Continue to Suffer

Brian's Website endgamblingharm.com

Gambling Addiction Video Series The Bet Free Life

Show Email leestreetpod@gmail.com

Please Rate & Review- Helps those still struggling to find us!

Thank you to our sponsor - EPIC Global Solutions

Music by T. Vance

Most people wait months or years before they're ready to talk publicly about their gambling addiction. Dawn didn't wait. In one of the most raw and courageous episode, Brian sits down with Dawn, a woman who is just two days into her recovery from gambling addiction to have a conversation that most people wouldn't dream of having so soon.

This is not a polished recovery story with a happy ending neatly tied up. This is recovery in real time unfiltered, uncertain, and extraordinarily brave. Dawn opens up about what gambling took from her, why she chose to share her story on a podcast at the most vulnerable moment of her life, and what these first 48 hours of recovery have actually felt like from the inside.

In this episode

• What gambling addiction looked like in Dawn's life and what it ultimately cost her
• Why she made the remarkable decision to share her story just two days into recovery
• What the first 48 hours of gambling recovery actually feel like — the fear, the relief, the uncertainty
• How early sharing and accountability can become a powerful tool in recovery
• What Dawn's first steps toward healing have looked like and what she's holding onto

leestreetpod@gmail.com

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When someone in your family is addicted, the whole family suffers.

Brian sits down with Christina, a sister whose brother's opioid addiction turned her world upside down. Christina opens up about the fear, the confusion, the exhaustion, and the grief that comes with loving someone who is deep in the grip of addiction, and how that experience rippled into every corner of her own life.

She talks honestly about the impossible push and pull of wanting to help while unknowingly enabling, the moment she realized she needed to draw boundaries to protect herself, and what her own healing process has looked like, because affected family members need recovery too.

In this episode

• What it really feels like to watch a sibling struggle with opioid addiction
• How a loved one's addiction affects the entire family system — emotionally, financially, and relationally
• The fine and painful line between helping someone and enabling their addiction
• How to set boundaries with a family member in active addiction without abandoning them
• Why affected family members often neglect their own mental health — and how Christina began to heal
• What support and resources exist for the families left navigating addiction from the outside

leestreetpod@gmail.com

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You don't lose a bet the moment you place it. You lose it the moment you give in to the craving. So what actually happens in that window and how do you survive it?

In this episode, Brian sits down with DIn this episoder. Rory Reid, Research Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, one of the most respected gambling addiction researchers in the world. Dr. Reid holds a master's degree in social work and a doctorate in clinical psychology with a dual emphasis in neuropsychology and marriage and family therapy, completed his post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA, and has conducted additional research training at Harvard Medical School. His work has been featured in the New York Times, TIME magazine, and on ABC, CBS, and Fox News and today he's here to talk about cravings.

This wide-ranging conversation goes far beyond gambling, touching on the surprising overlap between gambling and sex addiction, a cutting-edge treatment using magnets to rewire the brain, and what it's really like being a Canadian navigating the world's gambling capital of Las Vegas.

• The critical difference between a craving and an urge and why it matters for recovery
• Practical, research-backed strategies for coping with gambling cravings in the moment
• How environmental triggers set off compulsive gambling behavior and how to disarm them
• The surprising overlap between gambling addiction and sex addiction
• TMS Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation How magnets are being used to treat gambling disorder
• What one of the world's leading gambling researchers has learned from working with hundreds of patients

leestreetpod@gmail.com

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