WCZY radio personality kicks gambling addiction
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When Shawn Powers was a boy, growing up in Toledo, he got his first taste of gambling.
Family parties and holiday get-togethers involved Powers and relatives playing cards for pennies, nickels and dimes.
It was innocent enough, his aunt teaching him various card games, and at one point took his brother Brian’s $5 birthday money.
“He never got addicted like I did,” Powers said from the studio of My1043 WCZY FM south of Mt. Pleasant. “As a teenager, I played board games for cash.
“As an adult, I got to go to the casino.”
Powers, who hosts the My1043 morning show, traveled from Toledo to Detroit, an easy trip that saw him win $75 at age 19.
That hooked him on slots and tables at casinos in Detroit, but he didn’t stop there.
Scratch off and Mega Millions lottery tickets were next.
“Then I’d just gamble on stupid stuff,” Powers said. “I didn’t see it as out of control until I met my wife in 2000.”
Powers, who described himself as a binge gambler, made his last bet a year ago.
Now, he carries his one-year Gamblers Anonymous chip and key fobs that mark the months he has not gambled.
Binge gambling is described as the inability to stop once one has started to gamble, and Powers knew he fit the bill.
For years, with moves for jobs at different radio stations in Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Illinois and other markets until moving his family to Isabella County.
Powers was blowing hundreds of dollars, if not more, at casinos near his home.
After he and wife Patti married in 2004, they moved from Toledo to West Virginia.
That’s when Patti – who might have been internalizing what she thought was Powers’ gambling addiction – knew there was a problem.
While the couple lived in Illinois, Powers didn’t do much gambling but then a move to Canton, Ohio in 2011 led to betting at illegally run street corner casinos, where he likely spent thousands, and left Patti knowing that her husband had a horrible addiction and needed help.
“She knew it,” Powers said. “I knew it.
“I guess she just learned to accept it at that point.”
Then Powers lost his job in Canton, and started gambling more.
To hide what he was doing, he used credit cards so Patti wouldn’t see withdrawals from their bank account.
The secrets and betting almost destroyed Powers’ marriage.
While his gambling subsided for a while, it came back again six years ago, and Powers found himself sitting outside a divorce attorney’s office in January 2021 with paperwork, but couldn’t go through with it.
Rather than signing the divorce paperwork, Powers came clean to his wife, telling her he needed help.
A good friend told Powers about Gamblers Anonymous, and he went to his first meeting two days later.
Since then, Powers has only missed two meetings, and the 12-step program saved his life.
What he learned about himself put him on a new path, learning his character flaws, what triggered him and why he gambled.
He is slowly paying back his debts, “little by little.”
“I want to be reminded of the gambling problems I had until it’s paid off,” Powers said, adding that gambling addiction has no cure and no physical symptoms like some other addictions.
Powers also wants to let others know there is help and hope for gambling addictions, and that Gamblers Anonymous is a life-saver for anyone who needs help stopping.
That path to freedom from gambling addiction isn’t easy, Powers said, but it’s worth the effort.
“Even if you fall, get back up and start again,” he said. “It will save your life.”
While Powers sometimes struggles, he has the tools now to fight any urges, even while living in close proximity to the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.
Powers’ gambling addiction is his own to claim, and he doesn’t blame the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe or any other casino operators for his problems.
His addiction manifested itself long before he moved to Isabella County.
“It’s not their fault at all,” he said, adding that he loves the Tribe and what it brings the to the community. “I can’t control myself.
“That’s my problem.”
During the first few months of Powers’ attending GA meetings, he was afraid to go to the Soaring Eagle, but no longer; he’s been to concerts and eaten at the casino with no nagging urges to hit the floor.
When his daughter turned 18, he gave her $100 to spend gambling at the Soaring Eagle, and had no urges while watching her, a major milestone.
“I don’t have the urge,” he said. “I’ve learned what my triggers were and I know how to stop.”
Powers feels blessed to have entered recovery and hopes his story will help others.
“There’s no such thing as a failure,” he said. “I’m not going to fall.
“I’ve learned so much about myself and the problems of addiction. I’m not going back. I’ve made that determination.”
Since Powers announced his one-year mark of not gambling, he has discussed it on social media and on his podcast, In the Life of Shawn Powers.
“It’s about taking my experiences and helping other people,” he said. “The bottom line is, there is hope. Don’t be ashamed.”
