- March 09, 2026
- Gambling
There’s no holds barred in this episode as George shares the nitty gritty about his toxic relationship with gambling and the moment his life abruptly changed.
Listen along as George shares his journey from compulsive gambling to the moment his recovery began and his faith regained control.
George’s Email: gfathanasiou@gmail.com
Engage with Wager Danger:
Call Gateway Foundation: 844-975-3663
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Text GAMB to 833234
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
I was living a life that I didn’t know I was capable of and didn’t understand why I was doing it.
SHANE COOK
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Wager Danger, a podcast where we discuss gambling addiction and recovery. I’m Shane Cook, gambling disorder program director at Gateway Foundation, and my guest on this episode is George Athanasiou.
George’s story is one of redemption through recovery.
As a Greek Orthodox priest. He embezzled money from his parish to cover gambling debts,
but was arrested and watched his story go public on the local news.
And though this may have been catastrophic for others, it provided a moment of clarity. For him, it was the beginning of his recovery.
Though he’s currently suspended from the priesthood, his recovery story is a testament to the healing power of community, professional support, and surrendering control to something greater than yourself.
Welcome to the show, George.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Thank you. Shane. Thank you for having me today.
SHANE COOK
Yeah, absolutely, man. Looking forward to recording with you today because, it’s rather unique in that, your story was made very public, where you are. And, I think that’s something that a lot of people don’t experience.
But your willingness to share with us, how that experience kind of influenced and shaped your recovery, is important. And I think it’s it’s certainly one that we want to share. So I’m going to give you an opportunity.
Let’s just start with the real basics here on kind of background, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you came from.
Yeah. You know, the path you were on, all that kind of stuff and, and we’ll just jump in from there.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Awesome. So, yeah, I’m from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, born and raised. Grew up here in Pittsburgh again. Moved around a little bit, but ended up back here. So, you know, the my family is known within the Greek community. I would say the Greek community, our communities are smaller, but the Greek community is even smaller. And sometimes that’s a bad thing or a good thing.
We know each other so well, but we know each other’s business as well. So that, as the story progresses, that’ll make a lot more sense. As to some of the difficulties within, within, sure. My gambling disorder, came to fruition and came into, into reality.
SHANE COOK
Okay. So, other things and other things as you were growing up, any particular activities or interests?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Yeah, big time sports. Sports guy love sports. And I’m the beautiful thing about it is I’m falling in love with sports again, and I’m just, you know, into the gambling world of sports, but, you know, just really big into that and into my Faith when I was younger, I wanted to go into sports management in college.
There was an older kid in our in our youth group that was going to college for sports management, and I always thought that was the coolest thing in the world and, wanted to go into that. But I also had a little bit of a crisis there, because I knew that if I went into that life and went into exactly what I wanted to go into, it was going to take away from family life, but also from my life within the church.
Okay. Church was a huge part of my life growing up. Everything we did surrounded our community and in our parish. So, it was an exploration about that difficulty, that challenge that I was facing, that existential crisis that I couldn’t live without church in my life. And it actually led me to, to go to our seminary up in Boston, Massachusetts.
Total change of total change of pace.
SHANE COOK
Right. So so you chose the vocational path? of the priesthood there?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Yes.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Faith was part of my life and my childhood. Part of my family. I mean, everything we did revolved around our church. My parents were extremely involved. And it. You know, both me and my my brother was also a priest. So both of us there, only two children. Both ended up in the priesthood. And there wasn’t guaranteed that I would get ordained in our faith. You’re allowed to get married. Before you enter into the priesthood. You have to do it before.
So, you know, my brother was. Had a girlfriend, was engaged, married before the priesthood. I decided to remain a celibate priest. Okay, that was part of my vocation and my life and my decision to give my all to the priesthood. So you could imagine that now with. You know, that happening in my life, that much dedication to the church and always will again, this has been told to me many times.
It’s not something I’m saying about myself, but I was willing to give more of myself to the church and not, focus on my my own needs and my own personal well-being. I was willing to give to others. And that’s a sacrifice. Because when you start to do that, when you start to worry about others, not about yourself, there’s challenges that get in the way.
Health challenges, you know, and then you had gambling into it. Oh, boy. But, yeah. Ended up getting ordained. Decided to remain celibate, got ordained to the priesthood. And after many years, I graduated, and there was about a ten year gap between, close to ten years between graduation and enter and actually being ordained because there were things I needed to decide in my life, marriage and, and just making sure that this was the way that that I was going to go.
SHANE COOK
Let’s fast forward a little bit, you know, how did gambling enter into your into your life?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
My family was not big gamblers, but, I do remember gambling be being present at things during about my, throughout my life, whether it be, you know, a, poker game or something at Christmas, you know, it was always part. It was always there. But it wasn’t until, I remember when Rivers casino opened up here in Pittsburgh.
I was in college at the time, and, I just remember it was it’s down the street from my house where I’m currently living, too. And, so I remember going, I remember going, I said, I’m going to go give this a shot. I’m going to see what the hype is all about. And it was all fun.
It was all fun. And games at the beginning. And, you know where that story goes, but where that story leads. But it was it was something to do. Recreation. It was a place to go, get out of the house. So but it was only happening really here because at the time there wasn’t really too much online gambling, or at least that I knew was.
And then when I would go back up to school, the closest casinos were in Connecticut, in upstate New York. So it wasn’t like we were going there. Anybody was going there at all, or even regularly. So it was only when I came home to Pittsburgh that I would you know, go down there to rivers and dabble a little bit.
But, now it wasn’t until later, it wasn’t until Covid hit where, the gambling really, really took off.
And, the. You want me to get into that? I can definitely.
SHANE COOK
Yeah. I do want to get into that at some point here. But, in terms of, in terms of your, your relationship, you you’ve explained that during that period of time as kind of it was more or less, a hobby or. Yeah. And or to entertainment force of entertainment.
And a form of entertainment. At some point, you recognized that this is going in a, in a direction where it’s more compelling, right? Yeah. It’s more compelling for you to, continue to gamble more and more. Do you do you remember what that was, and was that anything in particular that happened that kind of created that environment for you?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
as the story progresses in my life, I was ordained. I’m a priest. I’m currently suspended. So I will say from here, I don’t speak on any authority of the church right now as a suspended case, but but it is part of, you know, my story and the unique part of my story. So, I was ordained and I was serving in a community close to Pittsburgh, right on the outskirts of Pittsburgh here and, serving with a, another head for a senior priest, a wonderful man who, was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
And at the same time, Covid hit. So we are in active ministry when I tell you this, this clergyman was vibrant, just one of the most vibrant people you’ll ever meet. And, so we were active in ministry. Yeah. Active in people’s lives, going to people’s homes, spending time with people. But when Covid hit and his illness hit at the same time, ministry shut down. I mean, we were having services, but it was very limited, you know, very limited attendance.
The interactions with people were, were, were just on the phone or on FaceTime or something like that. So, I remember I specifically remember distinctly a commercial for bet MGM on on TV, you know, TV was was our source of entertainment during Covid, especially in the beginning, because, you know, we all thought, oh, two, three weeks shut down.
We didn’t realize how long it would end up being. But, so I remember and I remembered having gone and gambled and how fun it was. But, you know, you I remember winning, remember losing, and there were just a not a lot of the best feelings. Even in the times that I would go to the casino, you’d leave losing money.
And that wasn’t a great feeling. But I remember and I said to myself, maybe I said, I’m going to give this a shot. You know, I’m going to go on. Is this real? Are they really going to pay you live, or is this, like any other game where you just get collect coins and there’s nothing at the end of the tunnel, you know?
So I went on and what I so. Yeah.
SHANE COOK
Just so we’re clear here. Yeah. You’re talking about you’re making, a conscious move or decision from actually showing up at a casino to now transitioning to online gaming, correct?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
it was a conscious decision to dabble in the electronic, to dabble in the online gambling.
So I went on and, you know, the first thing that attracted me was the live dealer, blackjack. And again, I it wasn’t like I didn’t really know what to. I was kind of suspect of the slots and stuff. I’m like, this is all being run online. They somebody could be behind there, not letting you win or whatever.
But when I saw the live dealer blackjack, you go on your, you know, there’s somebody in a studio on the other side. They’re responding to the chat. You’re interacting with other people, quote unquote, sitting at your table via chat. But the dealer, her, him or herself was actually talking to you. So it gave that sense of a community.
It gave that sense of, you know, I couldn’t go out and go to the movies or go out and see friends or go out to even to the casino. But I could go on here and have a live interaction with somebody who doesn’t necessarily know me from Adam.
I was a screen name, and there were other screen names and they were chatting away, you know? You know, but the dealer, him or herself was a real person right there
it was a weird sense of community and again, a community that I could kind of hide in, you know. But again, at first it was just entertainment. Later became a problem, and it really was somewhere where I went to escape and to hide,
SHANE COOK
So Covid becomes the catalyst here. Yeah. Yeah. For accelerating the gambling, or the desire to gamble. I guess. Well, yeah. And really, the way you describe is almost, became a de facto, activity for you because you nothing else to do.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Yep. Yeah. So you know, at the beginning it was entertainment again. It was little it was little wagers here and there. It wasn’t anything big, but as things progressed, as I started to, squander my own money, that’s when things started to get, to get into the dangerous and lead to where I, where I ended up going, again, it was, you know, I was within my the gambling was within my own means.
SHANE COOK
I’m curious if you started realizing or experiencing some things that may have been sending some warning lights. Like, were there any particular struggles that you experienced or obstacles that you were navigating to continue to gambling, like maybe you’re dipping into your financial reserves, so on and so forth.
So, yeah, and and did that register?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
So I think, at the beginning too, I remember when I was watching those at when the ads were popping up about the online casinos, I do remember it was it’s, it’s, it’s no joke when they say the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other, because I, I remember knowing I always knew there was a danger in gambling. And it was very clear to me. And I just remember that internal conversation said, I do it should I not? Should I do it? Well, I, I gave in to temptation and went there. But yeah, as time went along and as I started, you know, it was one thing. If it was coming out of my, if it was coming out of my checking account, out of my, I was making that conscious decision that, you know, to, to, to use the money that I was making, that I was earning at the time and pissed that away.
But when I started dipping into my, into my reserves, into my savings account, into my college fund, that thank God I didn’t have to use during college, it was set up for me and blessed by my parents and my grandparents. I never had to touch it. So you know, there’s expendable money there. And then I’m also young and stupid and there’s money there that I, you know, in a financial position, not not anywhere near a great financial position, but enough that I could live in enough that I could set myself up for the future.
So as I started to dip into that. Oh, yeah, the, the the warning lights were going off. But once you’re, as you as you may know and others may know once you’re, you start dipping that toe and the foot gets deeper. It’s hard to pull it out.
So, I’m gambling, I’m gambling hard. But Covid is now loosening up. We’re back in ministry. We’re back in church. But gambling. Now has a stronghold on my life. Gambling is is a way of escaping. It was a way of escaping emotions. A way of escaping, crisis. I would go home and numb myself. I would go home and. And truly escape from the world. I used to do that was TV, eating other things. But gambling became the, the new the new drug of choice, let’s put it that way.
To to really numb myself. And again, I self-esteem has always been an issue throughout my life, so I think it was also there. I didn’t allow myself to feel I never allowed myself to feel whether it was anger, sadness, even happiness. I always found a way to self deprecate a little bit and to, to knock myself down. And that’s been a challenge to going forward. I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself in the conversation, but these are the real emotions.
These are the raw feelings. I mean, I remember many nights because the amazing thing about online gambling is I didn’t have to go to a casino. I didn’t have to pull money out of my wallet. It was like monopoly money, almost. But then you look in your bank account, the next thing, oh my God, look, what did I do?
But at the time, you, you know, in a casino, I heard it said this way once in a casino, there’s that cycle, but it gets cut by the you have to have the bathroom. Somebody walks by to give you a drink. You have to pull money out of your wallet. The cycle gets cut and you kind of come out of this daze.
But, you know, online gambling, that’s what moves with you. That song moves into the shower with you. It goes to the office with you, it goes in the car with you. And there really is never that that cut from the cycle that I think is set up in, in other ways. So, Oh my God, it just it, it became so addictive.
And we’re already addicted to our phones to begin with. Now add another addiction. On top of that was gambling. And it just became this, this nightmare.
But, you know, the priesthood has its own. It has its own challenges. Your you are on call 24 seven, right? You, you are giving up more of your own life and giving up your own needs for the needs of others. And there are a lot of clergymen. It brother priests that actually have way better of a healthy relationship with both ends of that than I did.
I mean, imagine my brother and others who do have a spouse and children. Imagine, you know, that that, sacrifice that’s being made. So I had already pulled out that scenario for my own life being, you know, not having a wife and children, but at the same time, neglecting myself was a big downfall for me. And I think it spiraled into what has had become has become a, gambling disorder.
But one of the biggest challenges in being in an active gambling and ministry is the time I was spending on on both of the, on those things because, again, I, you know, I tried to give 110% to the priesthood. Well, now you have something that is totally taking over my mind of my life. So you know that that phone was with me in the office.
That phone was with me at events. You know, was I actively gambling while people were around? I was trying to hide it. You know, I, I remember with that MGM, I had a VIP host, the, you know, online VIP host and, and the things that I was offered tickets to events, sporting events, concerts that people were paying thousands of dollars to go to are being offered to me.
But you know, what kept popping up in my head was how could I go? How could how could George be see Father George be seen coming out of a bet MGM box at a Steeler game or at the Taylor Swift concert? There was a casino close to our parish, and I know many of our parishioners went there.
You know, I, I knew, I knew, you know, my person is would go for entertainment reasons. Others may have had gambling disorders that I didn’t recognize, but I couldn’t walk in there. I’d never walked in there, but I would if I went to a casino. It was the one here on the north side, rivers. Because again, I was able to get away from my community, but there was this sense of demeanor that I had to hold up with in my own life.
But I was scared. I was I was naturally scared to be outed. You know, it’s one thing to come out of a box or, you know, a club seats or whatever. It’s another one to come out, one that says bet MGM or or bet rivers, whatever they are. So there was, you know, so there’s that challenge of being caught, but also just the internal angst.
I mean, I again, I talked about myself, really just low self-esteem, but I remember nights yelling at myself in the mirror in the bathroom, you know, getting up from my bed where I’d been gambling and going to, you know, go use the restroom. Looking at myself in the mirror with just utter disgust, you know, even if I won, even, you know, even if I was winning that night, it was.
What do you doing, dude? It’s four in the morning. Why are you awake? You have church in the morning. You have to be at at this event. You have a funeral. As a parish council, you need to be on your game. But there I was gambling. There I was numbing everything and escaping from everything. So that that I think that was a very difficult.
And I remember one time, and I think I’ve told you this story before and in the conversation we had, I remember preaching one day and I was preaching to, to basically preaching to myself. And I just remember, you know, words, words that were coming out of my mouth. I truly will tell you, as a man of faith, there were times where I would preach that those words were coming from somewhere else.
I’m in my mind as they’re coming out of my mouth going, wow, where is this coming from? And I just remember I was basically preaching to myself, and I just remember this nasty taste in my mouth, a stench, an odor that I could physically smell. I’m sure no one else could, but it was my. It was. That should have been my wakeup call.
That should have been the moment where I said to myself, oh my God, you’re in deeper than, deeper than you ever wanted to be. But, but again, when you’re in active addiction, you don’t. Nothing cuts that cycle.
SHANE COOK
talk a little bit more about you’re starting to talk about the emotions that you were feeling inside and how it was affecting you. What was it? Was it was this every day or was it did it start?
It was just every now and then, and then it grew to a point where it was you just felt this every day. And and then in particular, was there anything that you do, you were afraid of that you were like constantly thinking, am I going to be exposed here? Yeah.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
you know, I had the challenges of being exposed in my priesthood to my community here of, of my gambling addiction. And again, at first it was, you know, frequent but not as frequent that it became daily. I mean, it became a daily addiction, not just at home, but in the office, anywhere I was that I was able to get away for a little bit, place that bet, play a few hands of, you know, black, blackjack on the, on the, on the app, or even ending up getting into slots and and sports gaming at the end.
But, you know, one of the things that became a huge challenge for me was I was squandering my own, as I said before, pissing away my own. So now what happens now? George decides as his father, George, and George decides, I have access to funds that are not that are not my own. And that’s where I crossed that line.
I went from this being an addiction to now committing a gambling related, crime. So I started dipping into, dipping into funds that I had access to. It’s in the church again, very little at the beginning. You know, that 50 bucks, you say, oh, I’m going to pay that back as soon as I get that win or, you know, pay that back.
As you know, the end of that story, you can play that. You can play the video to the movie to the end. There was no paying that back. So now there’s multiple challenges here. It’s not exposing my gambling, not exposing the theft. And it all it all tied together and being an active priest in ministry.
So it’s the lies, the deceit, all of those character flaws that we often talk about at, in GA and in therapy. They were all coming out. I mean, they were all coming to my the forefront of my head, but again, nothing was exposed yet to anybody. Nothing was exposed to the community. But I saw I saw what was happening. I saw the addiction coming a mile away. I saw the the end coming, but again, I was in that in that state that there was just no ending it. I was almost in desperation of now as as the funds got deeper and deeper for myself, but also what I had to begin to take from the church, it became desperation. I was no longer playing for fun. I was no longer playing for George. I was paying to maybe get that big enough win to put that money back. And even when that big enough win came, guess what didn’t happen? The money did not go back in.
But it was it was such a challenge.
Keeping up the it was almost like a double or even triple life. And it was it was so difficult. It became exhausting. It became truly exhausting,
to be living in that, in that just vicious cycle.
SHANE COOK
Right. So in terms of the emotions that you were experience.
What type of emotions were those that that go along with that was, I mean, your fear of discovery? Was it. Yeah. I mean, I mean, or something bigger even.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
I mean, there were there were always my emotions playing into it with my own life. And things that the church. But oh, then becomes fear. Fear of being exposed to guilt. Oh my God, guilt was huge. You know, any time I took money from the parish or from myself, the oh, there was always that angel. Devil. And the angel was begging me on the shoulder to to not do it.
I’m literally, I’ve explained I’ve explained it before. It’s almost living in an out of body experience. I was actively doing it. I knew what I was doing consciously, but I was watching.
I was watching myself. I was literally watching myself commit the crime. I was watching myself, you know, it’s a weird. I’m not maybe not doing the best job of illustrating it, but there was just this sense of I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t believe what I, what I was actually doing, because that’s not the way that I was raised.
I was not raised to be this person. I was. I was raised to give money, to give myself to the church, not to take it, not to take from my hard work, but then also the the offerings. And in the stewardship of other people. My God, I was I was living a life that I had didn’t know I was capable of and didn’t understand why I was doing it.
So, that was I think that was one of my biggest struggle was fear. Fear of getting caught. Guilt, shame. Shame is so toxic. Shame is one of the most toxic things that we could ever experience in our lives. Because shame is basically telling ourselves you’re not worthy of God’s love and God’s mercy. And boy did I fall.
I saw for the devil’s trap in that one. Yeah. And truly embracing it, basically telling myself I was not worthy no matter what I did, I was not worthy. And so as the story progresses a little bit because I have to go here with this, I remember Father George had passed away. Our other priest, he was Father George, the one mesothelioma.
He passes away. I’m in the parish by myself for about a year and a half. And then a senior priest was brought in, and I was still young. So a senior priest was brought in. And I just remember many conversations with him that he would say, you’re a really good priest. You really do this engaging with the kids or with with the parishioners, like we were getting to know each other.
We had known each other from seminary, but we were getting to know each other and working in a working setting and in a ministry setting. And every time he would compliment me, oh my God, I was the most self I was. So I would I would nod my head, I would, I would wag my head. And he he used to pointed out to me, he was a former police officer.
So he knows those those nonverbal nonverbal cues. But yeah, the cues. But I was so self-deprecating because I knew Shane, I knew what I was doing. I knew what was behind. Yes, okay. I was a great this with the youth. I was a great priest with that. But my God, I was I was flogging myself in those moments of shame.
And again, it was basically telling myself, you’re not worthy. You’re not worthy of this. You’re not worthy of forgiveness. You’re not worthy of of mercy. And honestly, there were many times where I saw myself as unworthy of the priesthood.
And I know there’s many that probably continue to think I am unworthy of the priesthood, and I have my moments where I slip there as well.
But again, that’s that toxic shame. Yeah. That I really embraced in a in a really bad way.
SHANE COOK
Yeah. So. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. That’s a, that’s a raw moment. So I appreciate that. Absolutely.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
My pleasure. As part of my story, Shane, it has to be said.
SHANE COOK
So all of this is going on in the background, and at some point this is all coming to a head and it’s it’s starting to build. And there had to be some moments that started to lead up to the beginning of the what I’m beginning of the end, but it’s really the beginning of the beginning in your story. So what is it that was happening, as it was drawing near to this, becoming fully exposed and going wildly public as well?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Yeah. So, you know, as things build up, I was always afraid of getting caught. I was almost always afraid of the consequences. But, middle of 2023, I could start to hear some questioning about certain finances within the church. There were some discrepancies. Again, I committed a crime, but boy, was I an idiot of the way I did it. I, I’ve been told by someone you were really stupid in the way you committed this crime.
So, since I may have been a saving grace.
SHANE COOK
Plea for help. Correct?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Correct. It definitely. Yeah, absolutely. So, so I, you know, things are starting to build. There’s questions starting to be asked. I knew the answers to all these questions. I knew the answer to all the all of the discrepancies. But boy, was I, I wasn’t get out myself. There was no way I was, you know, in that that has become a part that became a part of shame at the beginning of my recovery was why didn’t just come out?
I mean, I can’t the biggest thing about this, I can’t go back and change anything that was done. It’s not a move. You can’t go back and change the story. So this is just literally what happened. And you know, I’m not trying to make any excuses, but things are building up. Questions are being asked, you know, things are being looked into.
And I remember towards the fall of 2023, we had some meetings. I mean, we legitimately had meetings about specific things that were happening. And I remember trying to convince myself having opportunities. Maybe not nobody was like, hey, George or Father George, we know it’s you come up, you know, tell us the truth. But there were opportunities for me to say something.
And I remember having an internal conversation one night. It was about 1:00 in the morning, and I said, oh, you got a call? You got to call father and tell him what’s going on. You how are you? Just have to come clean. This has to end. I was in a vicious. I was in a cycle myself, spiritually, mentally, physically.
I was just in a terrible, terrible place. But I had convinced myself to call him. I said, tomorrow morning, I’m calling him, and this is it. I’m going to. I’m going to tell him what’s going on. Well, of course, I went to sleep and totally convinced myself not to. I truly wish I would have gone at that point.
I don’t care if it was one, two in the morning, would have picked up the phone and call, and he saw my call coming in at one in the morning. He would have answered and but but I psyched myself, out! I basically lied to myself saying, you can dodge this a little longer. It was always the game of a little longer.
the only fear that I had at the end there was how, when and where. But that’s a huge fear, of how this was, how this was going to culminate. I remember even Thanksgiving. This all happened right after Thanksgiving when I was arrested. But, even Thanksgiving, going home to my parents and and, the the facade I put on of being happy go lucky, but I remember driving home back to back to my apartment, saying to myself, oh, all right, how do I do?
I want to end this, do I? You know, there was never a plan. There was never a suicide plan. But the thoughts were in my head. Don’t get me wrong. Do you? Do I drive my car off this bridge right now, on my way home, and never have to face the consequences of this? Or answer because I knew what the I the embarrassment that was going to come, the shame that was going to come.
00;28;59;19 – 00;29;18;01
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
So those things crossed my mind. They did. But I will tell you, Shane. Once everything happened. So I, I went out. It was a couple days after the week after Thanksgiving. I went out to grab a sandwich. Was I was surprised I was doing because I really wasn’t eating well at that time. I knew everything was. I mean, it was just, you know, tightening.
00;29;18;05 – 00;29;36;13
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
The grip was tightening. I went out for a sandwich, and when I came home, there were, police in my hallway and in my apartment, and again, they they were very kind to me and gave me a lot more, respect than I deserved at the moment, but that it all came to an end right there.
And the why I say end, and I think you and I had talked about this off the air one time.
It was my end. It was the end to the vicious cycle. You know, you would think being arrested would cause you to be in a, you know, you you look at the viral videos on TikTok and on reels, and you see people being arrested and they go into this tantrum. I was calm because there was a sense of relief. This was over, my nightmare was over.
And I remember talking to I was just beginning, but also over at the same time. I remember talking to my therapist about that later on, and I said, is it weird? Like, I always felt this weird, you know, conflicting sort of, why am I so relieved?
But I realized it was the end of my journey of gambling. But then what? I didn’t realize whether it was the beginning of everyone else’s journey. My parents, my family, the community I hid this. It’d be different if I had been exposed. And then it culminated into this. Now we went from 0 to 100 within an afternoon. I was being completely exposed to my world. And of course, you know, local priest gets arrested. That made it on the news. You know, it all. It all became just a nightmare for my family, for the community, and and for myself. I was in a daze. I I’ll never forget. I just was in for months after a few months after after being arrested, I was I was definitely in a daze.
But truly, it was the me it. For me, it was the means to the end. It had to happen this way for me to get the real help I needed. If I would have gone to my parents, to my head priest, to my bishop months before and said, listen, I have a gambling problem. This is what’s going on in my life.
What I have actually got the true help that I needed. Or would we have tried to skate? You know, you start playing those games, would we have tried to, you know, hide certain things, get myself help this had to happen the way it did for George, for me to actually make a change in my life. It had to happen.
So I needed to be arrested, as weird as that is to say, I needed to be arrested for this change to happen within within me. And I can see that very clearly now, two plus years later.
SHANE COOK
Yeah. And, I would imagine that’s come with a lot of self-reflection to get to that.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
So I’m arrested. You know, I I’m released to my parents. Thank God they did not, they did not. I was never in a jail cell. The magistrate waited to to process me, and I was released to my parents. They came and got me, and the judge was comfortable with that.
I wasn’t going to be alone. I wasn’t going to be in my apartment. I never lived in my apartment again. We moved out of there a few months later, but, But I come home to my parents, and, you know, this is new for them. This is new. And finding help was new for me, so multiple things happen.
I had my mom was just, you know, of course, inundated with all of these thoughts. And she was searching things online. Luckily, we have a plethora of,
of outlets out there, and she happened to listen to a Ted talk and, she was like, wow, this person’s talking. You know, she was speaking very well, and a lot of things were connecting to Pittsburgh.
And my mom was like, man, this this woman sounds like she’s, you know, from the area. Well, we googled her, and, of course, he’s one of the leading therapists in all of gambling disorder. You know, world wide. But she’s right here in Pittsburgh. So I remember my mom telling me this, and I emailed her that night. It was 6:00 at night.
You know, days are in my head. Workdays over by 715. I have a response and she’s willing and ready to meet with me.
And that’s just, you know who I’m talking about. You know that that is her.
In the meantime, you know, people are reaching out to my parents. People are, you know, in the good ways. People wanting to support them.
See, how am I safe? Am I doing okay? There was a lot of care and compassion that at the time, I did not feel I deserved, but was coming in in waves and I think it truly saved my life. But one parishioner. Oh go ahead. Sorry.
SHANE COOK
Well, you know, I, I’m glad you brought that up because I think a lot of people would have the same question. And certainly one of the one of the questions that I wanted to explore a little bit more with you, how did the parish respond, when this news broke? And they continue to respond again.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
And it all happened in different ways. I think at the beginning everyone was just shocked. They didn’t they never expected this of me. It I really, truly shocked. Not just that community, but the Pittsburgh community, because again, I grew up here. It’s not like I did this in the middle of nowhere where we have one parish in the area and no family.
I mean, I decided to do this in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, and where we have, you know, eight Greek parishes in the in the area. I mean, it’s not hard. This was hard to hide from at all. And, you know, again, the news jumped on it right away, but there was a lot of prayer and compassion.
There was anger. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t get the brunt of that because I was now away, you know, but I understand in having conversations with with the head priests there and others, that was forget there were some that it was immediate forgiveness. There were others that, were angry and over time have come to forgive. And there’s other that others that still have not forgiven. And again, those are the consequences of my actions. But, one of the biggest telling points here was there was a parishioner who I had known for a long time, again, growing up in the area, you know, these people before you’re even their priest. There was one parishioner of mine that was texting my mom and dad, and at one point he said, is this gambling?
Is this, you know, there has to be something behind this. He wasn’t just stealing. Is that does this have anything to do with gambling? And when that text came through, my mom said to me, you have to call, you have to talk to him. And in my shame and in my embarrassment, I picked up that phone and called and he said, Father George, I’m a gambling addict, too.
He goes, I go to GA meetings weekly. I want you to come with me. And reluctantly, I said, yes, I was nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know all this existed out there. And he said, I want you to come with me. And if it makes you feel more comfortable, we’ll go to dinner with a few of the guys beforehand.
If you want, and just make you feel more comfortable. So we meet at a local restaurant near our meeting and there and this was a very interesting, part of, of my understanding of my reality versus others realities. Local restaurant. This is right before Christmas time. You know, people are shopping and out. Families are out. So we’re having a great conversation.
I mean, you’ve got people that have been had been gambling free for 20 plus years to myself, the newbie, in the room who does this all everything just hit the fan. So we’re having great conversations. I’m very comfortable. And then I remember a family walked in and they knew one of the gentlemen at the table, who’s world other than his family, didn’t really know about his gambling disorder.
So the tone of the conversation had to change really quickly because we’re talking openly, talking about gambling disorder. And then here’s these people are sat right next to us. So, you know, to not expose him. The conversation had to change. And I realized at that moment to myself, my world of GA and my gambling world is so different than theirs.
You know, than other people. Other people can go in with the disorder, get help taking care, you know, help, get it taken care of. Their family knows there’s a support system, but everyone in my world knows Father George goes to GA. Father George goes to goes to therapy. But again, that was part of the public, exposure of this.
But I think ultimately it’s given me an opportunity in recovery because I don’t have to hide. I don’t if everybody knows I can be that person that speaks to you guys. If I was hiding right now as a priest saying I wouldn’t be doing this, this podcast with you especially, I wouldn’t be saying that I’m the priest from Pittsburgh in my last name.
You know, it would be in autonomous, you know, avenue of of GAA. So that was a that was a big catalyst for me. But again, look, here’s someone who offered themself who who showed their expose themselves to me and their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses and took me to, to, to my first GA meeting and then, it’s amazing because even to this day, now, two and a half years later, I got a text message from a parishioner after the Super Bowl, the day after the Super Bowl.
And she said to me, Father George, I was really thinking about you yesterday. This is a woman who, from the beginning forgave me right away. I mean, we we have still continue to have a wonderful relationship, a relationship that’s rebuilding, let’s put it that way. Trust. It’s rebuilding. You know, a lot a lot of forgiveness there. And I remember her saying to me, I was thinking about you.
Were you able to watch a Super Bowl? I don’t know if it triggers you all the ads, all this and that. And I said, luckily, I am good. I’m okay. Like, I can watch the game. I’ve fallen in love with sports again, I said, but I know there’s brothers and sisters in GA and in my community that cannot watch those things
I said. But what’s more important here is the fact that no matter how much pain I caused the parish, you specifically all this, you thought about me. You thought about me in that moment, and I said, that’s the silver lining in all of this. Here it is. That now, something that can be hidden so well and something that doesn’t get exposed as much as a gambling disorder.
What I did and all the trauma that I caused has turned into understanding has turned into, maybe some exposure for other people that didn’t understand, don’t understand gambling as a as an addiction. The disorder and the fact that I came to mine during the Super Bowl, I’m being very selfish and say this right now, but the fact that I came to mind just put a little bit more of a of a stamp on your you’re moving, you’re moving forward or you’re recovering from this, you’re, you know, and other people are taking the time to understand, to get to know and to forgive me because they understand more about this, this illness and about this addiction.
So again, there’s the beginning of the recovery journey. And now a story that was more recent within the last month and a half, you know, so a month. So it really the community has responded in ways I could never imagine. I will tell you, when I was, when I had my sentencing, there were over 60 letters, character letters sent from people.
Whether it was from my life in Cleveland, local family, friends, even some parishioners from the parish that I was serving, there were close to probably 60 or 70 people that showed up, in attendance that day. And, and, truly, I mean, the embrace of this community from all over Pittsburgh has just and even the greater Greek community and Orthodox community out throughout the country.
I’ve had a lot of people that have, that have reached out and just shown prayer and support and, it’s given me an opportunity to when I see these people and talk to these people, to actually ask for forgiveness.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had over all of these all this time is forgiving myself. Forgiving myself was the greatest challenge. And it wasn’t until recently that I made some headway. In doing so, forgiving myself was huge. And other people, I mean, I had people from the beginning telling me, we forgive you, we love you. But those were those that fell on deaf ears, that truly fell on deaf ears. I was again back to my.
SHANE COOK
You weren’t ready to hear it at that point.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Correct.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
there was been a lot of introspection with my with my therapist. I went down and did a program in, outside of, Atlanta, Georgia that is specifically geared towards clergy who have gone through trauma experiences. I, my the diocese here in my, in my parish priest that the home parish, my home parish made that available for me to go to and it really it was a lot of diving in and realizing George isn’t allowing George to be George.
I don’t know if let me say that again. George isn’t allowing George to be himself. So I’ve learned a lot about myself. But again, I was always going back to that toxic shame. And my therapist has pointed out they pointed it out down there. I mean, it’s this is huge in my mind. But, I think the mercy, love and forgiveness shown by others was a catalyst to where I went.
But once my sentencing happened, we were trying to figure out what is the best way for me to address the community. How do I actually talk to these people? How do I actually ask for forgiveness? Because if you didn’t know anything about the legal system, you do something too early. It could. It could mess up, you know, it could be looked at as, intimidation.
There’s just so many. You have to be very sound in your mindset legally. And I had a very good lawyer and others guiding me in that direction. But there was always that missing part of talking to the people at the parish. How do I communicate my my regret, my guilt, my shame? Everything. So it was decided, by myself and my sit in, my therapist and the lawyer and representatives of the community that I would write an open letter to the parish, and it would be distributed to the community.
It didn’t blindside anybody like me showing up on Sunday and just talking to the community like we were trying to work with everyone’s emotions there and and everyone’s understanding. But that letter, the day that letter got sent out, I actually had some peace in my mind and in forgiving myself in my honestly, that was like that last little piece that last little moment that allowed me to begin to forgive myself.
Do I have moments where I fall down that rabbit hole? 100%. But it wasn’t until that part. And there’s still there’s people I need to see and to talk to and to hug and to embrace and to cry with and to let them have their anger out on me. Like I still need that. But this was the first big step towards forgiving myself and actually liking myself again and loving myself again.
This is something I’ve had a hard thing doing to do hard time doing since I was a teenager. Like I told you, self-deprecation. Self esteem has always been an issue, but learning about myself more in depth, learning about my challenge is learning about my warnings and my triggers has really started to help me mend and. Heal, but. Also help me forgive myself and put that shame to rest.
SHANE COOK
That was that was wonderful. It’s, I think your your ability to recognize and be able to characterize what you’re going through. You’ve definitely honed that skill through this process. So, I, I firmly believe that will, assist you as you move forward. And it’s, it’s a good skill to have. So congratulations on that. Thank you.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
And one of the things that’s come with it, too, is gratitude. Again, I, I regret what I did, but I’m thankful for the way it ended so that I could get true help and healing. Gratitude to my family, to the people around. I mean, when I tell you embraced. I’ve been embraced in moments where I was utterly ashamed of myself. And it’s not nothing but the worst of myself. My God, did people bring me in and lift me up?
I remember the bishop saying to me, he goes, Father George, you’ve you’ve hit a bottom. But there are there are still some questions. There because there are people’s arms that are catching you. The rocks are there, the shards of glass are within reach.
But that could. But there’s people that are actually cushioning. You from that, and I. I can’t thank them enough. My parents, my friends. I mean, you know, it’s interesting because there are people that are no longer in my life that that, you know, are just not there yet. And I don’t know if they’ll ever be there and don’t understand.
And, again, I don’t want to make excuses for why, but they’re no longer in my life. And I was so caught up for the longest time on yearning for that relationship, and I was ignoring the people that were literally going, George, I love you, George. I’m here for you. So I’ve. I’ve really it’s hard because I miss those people.
I want to mend those relationships. I’ve always been that kind of a person. I don’t want there to be, you know, angst between me and someone else. Like, that’s my natural go to. And again, part of my problem, I think I was always a self, a people pleaser. I think that was part of my in my journey here.
But I’ve had to realize to myself, I can’t be, can’t be held captive anymore by by those emotions and by other people who aren’t willing to forgive and aren’t there yet. But open your eyes, dude. There’s so many people around you that want to be part of your life. So I’ve started to really take an active role in that.
And, you know, once. So, going back to the court, I was sentenced to five years probation, first year on house arrest. So I have an ankle monitor. It comes off in a couple of months. So, I get out, I can go to church, I can go to my therapy and go to GA. I can go to work. I’m doing some private work on the side. So trying to make up some money because I’m a suspended priest, I can’t actively participate, but I get around when I can. But the judge was so merciful that day. But I do look forward to when the ankle monitor comes off and I can really go and visit with some of these people that that have wanted to get together.
I’ve had a few people come to the house, but, for no means have I been shut off from the community, but it will be a little easier to do some of these things as time has passed.
When the ankle monitor comes off, and when I’m a little more free to be out there and to have some of these conversations. So, yeah, it’s thank God again, the judge was merciful. And apparently, from what I understand, it set a new tone for some people, for some judges. According to my therapist, the case is actually that, the line of sentencing has been used a few times in a in a local case here, and also a federal case.
I think it’s set a different precedent because, you know, my therapist has told me she met with a group and it showed my story, shared my story with them and kind of had them do a guessing game as to, what ended up happening to me. And when they found out that I was only that. Not only that, I was given, probation with House arrest.
They were relieved. They were happy. They expected that I was sitting in a in a jail cell somewhere. So, again, God’s mercy, the mercy of others. My therapist and three other people spoke on my behalf at court that day. And and let me tell you, with my therapist, I think the others were incredible, but my therapist had some home runs that day was a put a little sports, sports thing in there.
But she hit some home runs that day. And really, I think people don’t often look at gambling disorder as a real addiction. And I think you had a gambling related crimes. There’s a few out there, but if you look at some of the statistics, they’re not very favorable to in, in their outcome. But and I’ve talked to many who have sat in a jail cell who has been in prison, but I the church was not seeking jail time for me.
They were not seeking that. I think that was a huge, thing for me, you know, in the ultimate sentencing. But again, you know, it’s interesting. My therapist, she made a point that day in court. She said to me many times, there’s no help for gamblers in prison. If I was an alcoholic, if I was on drugs, there’s aa, there’s Na in jails, there’s no ga in jails.
Right. And she said, you’re actually probably more exposed to gambling in jails. You’re exposed to, you know, gambling amongst inmates, even with some of the guards, whatever. Because you would have gotten no help. There was no help for you in jail. And I think that resonated very much with the judge that day as well.
SHANE COOK
Yeah.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
So again, her mercy, her her expertise and the, the work that I had already started to do, I had a year and a half, so November of 23 till February of 25. I mean, that’s a year and a half between arrest and sentencing. So I had already started all of these steps towards recovery. And I think the judge also saw that that day as well, that I had a support group.
I had things in place to keep me on the right path and cutting that cycle would have probably been detrimental, and it was better to keep me in this, this new lifestyle, to put it that way.
SHANE COOK
Yeah. Well, George, your, your story is, is compelling, and an inspiration as well. So I appreciate you sharing the story with us. If there’s anything else you’d like to add, what would that be?
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
So a couple things. One is this, this illness doesn’t discriminate for anybody listening to this. You know, one of the greatest pleasures I have right now in telling my story is to show that this could even hit a priest. You know, this this addiction can, can, you know, could take anyone’s life over. I don’t want anybody listening to to be down on themselves and to think, you know, the shame or judgment about themselves.
This could happen to anyone. I’m sorry it happened to me. But at the same time, I’m. I’m honored to be that representative for others to show that, you know, you can. This could happen to anyone. And God willing, you can recover from it. And the other thing, too, and this is more faith based, and this is, something that I continue to tell myself.
And it’s funny because I used to preach about this all the time. You know the story. I do it for anybody who’s, you know, Christian out there knows the Bible. The story of Peter walking on water when when the stormy seas were happening and and he got out on the water and walked towards Christ when his focus was on Christ, he was walking on water.
The second he started to worry about the stormy seas, he began to drown. And I’ll tell you from experience, you know, keep that focus. Keep that focus on God. Keep that focus on your higher power, because you can do amazing things when you do. I ran away, I ran away from God. So far, even as an active priest, I ran so far away.
But I thought I ran so far away. But when I turned around, his hand was right there. As soon as I refocused my life on Christ, his hand was there to pull me out of that, pull me out of the depths. And it’s amazing, Shane, because I preached about that so much in my priesthood. But I didn’t really hear it until it was me, until I was the one reaching back out, even though I thought I ran miles and miles and miles away.
I turned around and God was there. So give yourself to your higher power. Whether or not you’re Christian or whatever you are, there is something fulfilling in and giving yourself over and giving your what you can’t control over to to something more. To me, it’s Christ, to me it’s God. But for you it might be for someone listening, it might be someone else.
But don’t hesitate to give that power over most of us in GA, most of us in this. We know we have to give over. We have to give over our, you know, expose our finances, expose things in our life. But one of the biggest challenges, I think, is giving control and giving our lives over to something more powerful.
And I think it’s it’s very healing and fulfilling. So that’s kind of those are the things that I say. You set that up perfectly because I was like, oh, shoot, I didn’t say those two things I really wanted to say, but it’s a good, good catalyst. Good. Segue into that, to allow me to, to to share that.
SHANE COOK
All right. George, thank you so much.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
Thank you.
GEORGE ATHANASIOU
And, really thank you for giving me a platform and gives me an opportunity to tell my story. And, and I, and one of the other podcasts I did, I’m going to tell it to you as well. Anyone who who listens. Shane. If you get comments. Hey, I’m you know, I’m really struggling with this, so you can please connect them with me. I’m an open book, public. So please, you know, connect anyone who wants to talk further with me, I’m, I’m willing and able to be a brother for someone who, who’s on a recovery journey, no matter if it’s new or someone that’s been doing it for a long time, I want to. I want to be better for the gambling community.
I want to be better for myself and, and share some of the talents God has given me in, in helping me to, to recover. So, anybody you know wants to connect, please, Shane, you have my permission to do that.
SHANE COOK
All right. Well, I appreciate it. Everyone. George, a fan I see you got a thank you.
We love hearing from you, so please take a moment to like, share and comment on our podcast. You can reach out to us directly via email at wager Danger at Gateway foundation.org. Look for us on Facebook at Recover gateway on LinkedIn at gateway Dash Foundation, or through our website at Gateway foundation.org. Wager danger is supported through funding, in whole or in part through a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery.
And remember, recovery is a lifelong process. If you or a family member, is struggling with a gambling problem. Call gateway at (844) 975-3663 and speak with one of our counselors for a confidential assessment.
