I lost a Million Dollars Gambling! Casino Comps, Stolen Jewelry & Gamblers Anonymous | Dopey Wednesday with LJ Ruggiero
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction · Oct 14, 2026 · 1:26:20
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction · Oct 14, 2026 · 1:26:20
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
LISTEN AD-FREE on PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast
This week on Dopey! LJ Ruggiero, host of Nothing’s Off the Table and son of New York television personality Rosanna Scotto, returns for a brutally honest conversation about compulsive gambling. At 15, LJ turned $200 into $9,000 at a blackjack table and decided he’d found his future. What followed was stolen family jewelry, drugs, treatment, an extraordinary ticket business, and a gambling habit that could swallow almost any amount of money.
LJ describes going from $22 in his checking account to a $380,000 payday selling Coachella artist passes, building a business that eventually earned him more than a million dollars a year, and losing staggering amounts in casinos and with bookies. One Vegas trip saw him turn $10,000 into roughly $500,000—then lose all of it and another $100,000 before leaving.
Even after stopping drugs and alcohol, the gambling continued. LJ bet from the hospital the night his son was born, borrowed money when his wife couldn’t buy diapers, and found himself about a million dollars in debt. A confrontation with an old friend finally broke through the lies, leading him into Gamblers Anonymous, financial accountability, and a long repayment plan.
We also get into the difference between drug recovery and rebuilding a relationship with money, casino perks, family bailouts, shame, and why LJ regrets trying to police other people’s sobriety.
PLUS! Rachel Angel’s DopeyCon theme-song entry, Dave’s Step Ten intentions, Margaret Cho listener comments, and a wild voicemail about vodka at Red Lobster, a smashed mailbox, a $200 payoff, driving on a sparking rim, and hitchhiking to Newburgh after a DWI. Stay strong Dopey Nation and toodles for Chris!
Plus way way more on a new wednesday episode of that old dopey show!
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Episodes: Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
