Matea Gold and David Ferrell are staff writers for the Los Angeles Times. "Going for Broke" is one of a series of articles on compulsive gamblers which they wrote in December 1998; the series received a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Other article titles included "Treatment Options Scarce for Gamblers" and "Casino Industry Fights an Emerging Backlash."

David Ferrell has been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times for 18 years. He was part of the news team that won Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He has also been nominated individually for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for a year-long series on extreme sports. One of those pieces, about an ultra-marathon across the floor of Death Valley, appeared in the 1998 edition of ``The Best American Sports Writing." Ferrell is the father of two and lives in Long Beach, California.

Matea Gold covered the 2000 presidential race, traveling with Al Gore and covering Senator Lieberman, his running mate, during the Democratic National Convention. On August 17, 2000, Gold served as the C-SPAN Internet correspondent, answering web surfers' questions via the C-SPAN website discussion board during the Democratic National Convention Pre-Show.

Gamblers Anonymous

From the site: "GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem."

Los Angeles Times

This site includes Archives, Print Edition, Discussions, and Feedback links.

Gam-Anon.Org

From the site: "PURPOSE: We are here to assist you in resolving the problems you are facing in your life due to the gambling problem."

Going for Broke