Press and Media

Chris Beerman is a Chicago addiction therapist who specializes in gambling. This page has what a reporter, producer, or researcher needs to use him as a source: a short bio, credentials, a downloadable headshot, areas of expertise, the Illinois gambling data he maintains, and how to reach him.

Bio

Chris Beerman, MSW, LCSW, CADC, is a licensed clinical social worker and certified addiction counselor in Chicago. His private practice, Chicago Addiction Therapy, specializes in gambling, sports betting, video gambling, and compulsive trading, alongside alcohol and substance use. He also works with partners and families, and publishes Illinois gambling data drawn from state records.

Download headshot (PNG, 1023×1537; opens full size, then save). Please credit Chicago Addiction Therapy.

Credentials. Master of Social Work, Loyola University Chicago. Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Illinois; licensed to provide telehealth in Illinois and Minnesota. Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC). Clinical background across hospital, residential, and outpatient addiction treatment before private practice.

Name and title for attribution. Chris Beerman, LCSW, CADC, addiction therapist and founder of Chicago Addiction Therapy. Practice location: Logan Square, Chicago.

Areas of Expertise

Chris can speak to the clinical side of each of these, including what the pattern looks like in a therapy office, why people find it hard to stop, and what helps.

• Gambling addiction. Signs, screening, treatment, relapse, and recovery. How gambling disorder differs from substance addiction and why it is often missed. Gambling therapy · What the evidence says about treatment
• Sports betting. Mobile sportsbooks, live and in-game betting, parlays, promotions, and the football-season pattern. Why a bet that starts as entertainment turns into chasing. How to stop sports betting · Illinois sports betting data
• Video gambling terminals. The slot-style machines in Illinois bars, gas stations, and gaming cafés, which take in more money than all of the state's casinos combined. Why they are so hard to quit and why the state's self-exclusion list does not yet cover them. Video gambling guide · Illinois video gambling data
• Gambling self-exclusion. How the Illinois Gaming Board program works, what it covers and leaves open, the 2026 proposals to change it, and what self-exclusion can and cannot do for a person or a family. Illinois self-exclusion guide
• Gambling and alcohol. Why the two travel together, how drinking sets up a gambling relapse, and what treatment looks like when both are in play. Alcohol therapy · What to do after a gambling relapse
• Compulsive trading and prediction markets. Options and crypto trading, and event contracts on Kalshi, Polymarket, and Robinhood: when trading becomes gambling, and why these routes sit outside gambling regulation and self-exclusion. Prediction markets and addiction · Trading addiction therapy

He also works with the partners and families of people who gamble or drink, and can speak to that side of the story. For partners and families

Data and Research

Chicago Addiction Therapy maintains public data pages built from Illinois Gaming Board records and updated as new monthly figures are released. Charts, tables, and the underlying data are free to use with attribution, and every figure links to its primary source.

• Illinois Video Gambling Data — terminal counts, player losses, and tax revenue since 2012, statewide and by municipality; losses per adult across all legal gambling; treatment funding and self-exclusion enrollment compared with losses; a Chicago go-live tracker.
• Illinois Sports Betting Data — handle, hold, revenue, and tax since launch by month; which operators take the bets; bets per adult; the football-season cycle.

The section may grow to cover other Illinois gambling data over time. For a question the pages do not answer, or for a custom cut of the data, email with "Data request" in the subject line.

How the site researches, sources, and corrects its content is described in the Editorial Standards and Clinical Review Policy.

Interview Notes

• Chris does not discuss individual clients, current or former, and does not comment on the mental health of named public figures.
• He can speak on background or on the record, by phone, video, email, or in person in Chicago.
• He takes no money from gambling operators, sportsbooks, or prediction markets, and the site carries no sponsorships or affiliate links.

Email a media inquiry About Chris