When Luck Runs Out: Help for Compulsive Gamblers and Their Families. By Robert Custer and Harry Milt. Oxford: Facts on File Publica tions. 1985. Pp. 239, £10.95.

This book, set very much in the American gambling scene, might be dismissed as inappropriate to the British reader. This is not the case because the problems it describes have their counterparts in this country. Legalised gambling and gaming has been available in a much more widespread form in Britain since the introduction of the Betting & Gaming Act 1960. In the way that where problems with alcohol are related to the availability of drinking so problems with gambling are related to the freedom with which gambling can occur amongst the population as a whole. Many members of society enjoy gambling as a pastime and recreation. They would object strongly to it being controlled or removed from their range of activities. The evidence is that rigorous control diverts gambling from legal to illegal participation and is therefore no solution to the problems of the few who become as dependent on gambling as others are dependent on alcohol. The Royal Commission on Gambling 1978 referred to this problem but felt that no recommen dations could be made concerning any control since the size of the problem was not known but in any case was probably small. It offered the well worn clichéthat more research is needed and did however recommend the setting up of a National Council on Gambling as one way of investigating the extent of the problem. When Luck Runs Out describes vividly typical stories of compulsive gamblers. It gives a number of personal histories describing the effect on the individual, on the family and by implication on society. The authors bravely describe the person ality and psychopathology of the compulsive gambler but recognise that while the traits and upbringing they describe may be common they are by no means universal. They do try to set out the typical picture of the individual but perhaps more important they describe those features by which the compulsive or pathological gambler may be recognised. So often, family doctors, social workers, psychiatrists, and probation officers recognise that there is a family problem, presenting perhaps as depression in the spouse, money shortages, disturb ances in the children but not enquiring about the possible cause; equally the family may be reluctant to divulge what is the hedonistic and unacceptable explanation of their problem. A further chapter sets out the action which must be taken by the member of the family who identifies problems. Hopefully it will be the gambler who would recognise the difficulties and seek help. Much more commonly it will be the spouse and occasionally it will be the business associate who has been defrauded or otherwise put into financial difficulties who notices the problem and decides to take action. The role of Gamblers Anonymous and its related organisation Gam-Anon is seen as the cornerstone of treatment but brief mention is made of a psychotherapeutic approach linked with a referral to GA. This book is a useful addition to the sparse litera ture on compulsive gambling and can be recom mended to psychiatrists, social workers, probation officers, community psychiatric nurses and others whose lack ofinformation about this syndrome may result in them overlooking the possibility of helping someone who is in need.