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A podcast about addiction, recovery, and mental health — with a focus on gambling, alcohol, and substance use.
Hosted by Adam Lyons, a compulsive gambler in recovery, The Modern Meeting shares real stories, support, and strategies for anyone impacted by addiction.
🎧 New episodes every Tuesday.
If you’re struggling, supporting someone who is, or just looking for connection, this is for you.
105 Episodes
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Larry K went to his first Gamblers Anonymous meeting at 16 years old in 1973 — not because he was ready, but because his grandmother paid him $100 to go. What followed was 53 years of compulsive gambling, multiple relapses, four marriages, and a stint trading $30 million in stock market options while convincing himself it wasn't gambling. This is not a straight line recovery story. It's something far more honest than that. Larry breaks down the difference between abstinence and real recovery,...
This week we're getting specific. After pleading my case on the importance of lived experience stories, I tell five stories from my gambling that I've either never mentioned on this podcast or have only glossed over. From the debt collection calls that started waking me up every morning, to the manic thoughts during a slot session, to the elaborate lie I told my parents during my final bailout. This is what twenty years of compulsive gambling actually looked like up close. If yo...
Mandy S hadn't placed a bet in 917 days when she sat down for this conversation with Adam. She wasn't a sports bettor or a casino gambler. What kept her gambling for many years was scratch tickets. She hid her addiction in plain sight. She didn't need the casinos or to sneak away on her phone. All she needed was a convenience store, gas station, or grocery store. What followed were years she couldn't have predicted. Gambling through IVF, a marriage that almost didn't survive, and three relaps...
I was supposed to release this episode on Friday. Instead, I didn't start recording until Sunday night. Four years into recovery, the "f**k it phase" is still very much a part of my life. The procrastination, the putting things off, the feeling that nothing bad is actually going to happen...it didn't disappear when I stopped gambling. It just found new places to live. This week, my higher power sent a message in the form of a pickleball injury that I hope gets me back on the right track. ...
If your child has a gambling problem, where do you even start? That's the question Kim Freudenberg and Linda Uphoff couldn't answer when they needed it most. Kim's son Kurt started gambling at age 11 — on video game skins and offshore casino sites — and the family didn't find out for eight years. Linda's son developed a sports betting addiction after college, and by the time she recognized the signs, his savings were gone and he was dipping into his 401k. Both women searched desperately for h...
Episode 100 of The Modern Meeting. This is a chronological look back at the first 99 episodes — clips that show how the conversations and perspectives have evolved over time. Different voices, different experiences, but all centered around addiction, recovery, and growth. If you’ve been listening, you’ll recognize some of these moments. If you’re new, this is a good snapshot of what this podcast is about. Grateful for everyone who’s been part of it so far. We’ll see you on the other sid...
In Part 2, Louis Ruggiero picks up where he left off - sober from drugs and alcohol but deeper in his gambling addiction than ever. From betting $40,000 on UFC fights to losing $600,000 on a sports betting app in months, Louis reveals how compulsive gambling brought him to the brink of suicide while his fiancée was postpartum and his newborn son was in the next room. He shares the phone call on the corner of 48th and Madison that changed everything, how Gamblers Anonymous saved his life, and ...
Louis Ruggiero grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Private school. Three sports. By most measures, he had every advantage. At 14 — he turned $200 into $9,000 at a blackjack table in the Bahamas and lost every penny before checkout. By 21 he had a bookie, three felonies, and was stealing checks from a friend to stay in action and fund his other addictions. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Louis walks us through the early years — the entitlement, the structure that kept...
Oklahoma was the last place I ever gambled in a casino. WinStar. January 31st, 2022. This is my first time back. We cover a lot of ground this week — bad flights, great food, a statewide conference on problem gambling, and a number that stopped me in my tracks: 143 casinos in a state of 4 million people. What does that landscape mean for people trying to get out? And is it ever a valid excuse? We also celebrate Christina Cook — the person who changed the trajectory of my life — as she marks f...
Adam sits down with Meagan Dunham, a licensed master social worker and Gambling Program Monitor for Louisiana's Metropolitan Human Services District (MHSD) serving the Greater New Orleans area. Meagan didn't come to this work through lived experience — she came through public health. What she found when she arrived at gambling was familiar: a population going unseen and underserved. In this conversation she breaks down what gambling harm actually looks like on the ground in New Orleans, how M...
I'm taking a break from talking about meetings and connection. We know that's important. But this week I want to talk about something different. The cold hard truth that most people struggling with gambling don't want to hear: wanting to stop and being ready to stop are two very different things. Close your eyes, clear your head, and answer three questions. Your answers might tell you more than you're ready to admit. If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone. Email me anytime a...
Adam sits down with Sal Guarino, co-founder of The Recovery Partners, an online coaching program for gambling recovery. In a conversation that covers nearly 40 years of living with a gambling addiction, Sal and Adam dig into what keeps people gambling for decades even when they know better, why the same mind that justifies "one more bet" is the same mind that says the meeting wasn't welcoming enough, and what it really means to build a life in recovery instead of just defending against the ne...
In this episode, I talk about finally sending the Venmo for a gambling debt that had been sitting in my head for seven years, why procrastination still shows up in my recovery, the anxiety that creeps in when life starts going well, and how I’m learning to sit with stability instead of chaos. Also...who wants to come to Chris Stapleton with me?! If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone. Email me anytime at modernmeetingpod@gmail.com The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive! Evive ...
Adam sits down with Australian recovery advocate and founder of The Hope Project Australia, Kate Seselja. Kate shares her lived experience with gambling addiction — from early wins that pulled her in, to years of secrecy, shame, and financial loss while raising a family. Kate challenges the traditional “disease model” of gambling addiction, arguing that many gambling products — especially electronic gaming machines in Australia — are deliberately designed to maximize engagement and loss...
After 91 episodes, we made it to February 8, 2022. Adam has his first viral clip and recaps Noah's wedding weekend, what inspired him to start the Friday episodes, and how he's never going to stop telling his story. If you’re struggling right now, you’re not alone. Email me anytime at modernmeetingpod@gmail.com The Modern Meeting is supported by Evive! Evive meets you exactly where you are. Download Evive today or visit www.getevive.com
Malik Keene’s addiction story spans decades — from gambling on card games as a teenager to casino markers, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, and multiple DUIs. What began as bullying and insecurity turned into a lifelong search for validation through money, gambling, and substances. Malik describes running a “casino” out of his college dorm, countless nights driving hours to Atlantic City, blacking out outside casinos, and nearly losing everything — including his life. After years of addi...
It's a matter of weeks before Adam surrenders in Texas. Adam sits down with Ted Hartwell, Director of Storytelling at the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling and someone approaching 19 years away from his last bet. Ted’s relationship with gambling began early—normalized through family trips, childhood poker games, and growing up around it—but didn’t become a problem until much later in life. Living and working in Las Vegas, Ted shares how gambling slowly shifted from nostalgia to escape, espe...
Adam and the Botelho family discuss a variety of topics while snowed in. Danny Funt is an investigative journalist and the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Betting. In this episode, we talk about how sports betting went from illegal and taboo to completely normalized — and what that shift has meant for fans, gamblers, and the people behind the scenes. We dig into VIP programs, league partnerships, media influence, and why this industry exploded so fast with so...
Adam sits down with Andrew Schreier — a counselor, public speaker, and podcaster with over 20 years of experience in addiction and mental health. Andrew shares how his work in counseling, gambling recovery, and education has shaped the way he thinks about language — and why the words we use around addiction matter more than we realize. From stigmatizing labels to well-meaning advice that misses the mark, this conversation explores how language can either create distance or build connection. A...
Adam makes it to Texas. Todd F is approaching two years in recovery from compulsive gambling, but his journey to get here wasn't linear. In this raw and honest conversation, Todd opens up about the intersection of bipolar disorder and gambling addiction—how manic episodes fueled his gambling, how two relapses tested his resolve, and how gambling ultimately cost him his marriage. Todd talks about what it's like to battle low self-worth even in recovery, why he leans on his GA family to get thr...
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