Editor's Note: Do you need sound, Biblically-based advice on an issue in your marriage or family?  Dr. David Hawkins, director of the Marriage Recovery Center, will address questions from Crosswalk readers in his weekly column. Submit your question t TheRelationshipDoctor@gmail.com.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, plastered across the front of the magnificent building, complete with circular drive, parking attendants and revolving doors, were the words, “Where Winning Comes Easily!”

Having not seen this majestic building before, my first guess was that it was a hotel, replete with parking garage, advertising for on-site spa services and shuttle. What else could it possibly be? I pulled over to take a closer look.

No, it was not a hotel, nor a spa, though it had a hotel adjacent and obviously connected to it. It was not a retreat center, though it certainly touted its fitness center and spa services. I had to take a closer look.

You’ll never guess what it was—a casino.

“Where winning comes easily?” I thought to myself. How is that possible? If winning is so easy, who paid for this monstrosity? It certainly did not fit the stories I’ve become accustomed to hearing over the past several years where men and women lose paycheck after paycheck to blackjack dealers and “one armed bandits.”

How easily does winning come? Not as easily as losing, unfortunately.

I counseling more and more individuals with gambling addictions, but I am also receiving an ever-increasing number of requests for interventions in families because a member has become addicted to gambling. In fact, this surge in gambling addiction was one reason for writing my book, Breaking Everyday Addictions, where I discuss ways we become lured into easy pleasures, only to be ensnared and distressed.

This problem is anything but new. The Apostle James says it like this: “But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1: 3-5) Who of us hasn’t lived this story?

Here is one reader's story:

Dear Dr. David. I am desperate for help. My husband has become addicted to gambling. Of course, he would never admit it. He stops by the local casino several times a week and plays Blackjack. He tries to manage his spending by only taking a limited amount of money with him, but after he loses he feels so bad that he goes to the bank machine and goes back to win back his losses. Of course that never happens.