PHILADELPHIA — Eleanor Biferi, 82, plays a nickel slot in the House of Blues at the Showboat Casino. She makes the bus trip to Atlantic City every other day or so, she says. The Atlantic City casinos all maintain responsible-gambling programs, say New Jersey's regulators. But their efforts have limitations.

A Coach USA bus rolls along the Atlantic City Expressway, its route seven days a week.

In the back row, Leroy Taweel, 75, carries a small lunch and the medical kit in the black leather pouch he keeps with him at all times for his insulin shots. As a diabetic, he does not see as well as he used to and does not drive much, especially long distances.

"Boredom kills," the Northeast Philadelphia resident says, explaining his three-times-a-week journeys to Atlantic City's casinos, typically for poker. "I'll be inactive long enough when they plant me."

Casino gambling helps fill the long days for many older adults, and casinos have embraced this clientele. But when their gambling becomes a problem, the results can be disastrous.

"It is harder for them to seek help and nearly impossible to return to the work force," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. "Once they blow that retirement nest egg, that's it."

The desire to fill time is just one factor that makes older adults particularly vulnerable. Often, they have disposable income. Some are bored or depressed, their children having grown, perhaps a spouse having died. For many, the sedentary nature of gambling, the sitting behind a slot machine, is something they can still do for any length of time.

"They are aggressively marketed to by the gaming industry," said Whyte, whose Washington organization provides information, education and referral services to problem gamblers in 34 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. "They fill the midweek, midday period for the casinos."

Some casinos have instituted marketing campaigns that target seniors through discounts on medications, or special trips from senior centers.

Seniors can feel isolated and are attracted by low-cost bus rides, free lunches and other incentives that casinos offer, said Jim Pappas, executive director of the nonprofit Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania Inc., which has operated since 1995. "They get on the buses more for socialization reasons than anything else."

But once a senior develops a gambling problem, experts say, he or she is far less likely to seek professional help, partly because of shame.

The calls that Abe Wexler, a compulsive-gambling counselor, fields on a given weekday reflect how devastating the effects of problem gambling can be. Wexler and his wife, Sheila, run a private consulting firm from their home in Bradley Beach, N.J., and present workshops on gambling addiction. Among their clients are resorts and the three Trump casinos in Atlantic City.

This is one day's sampling of the calls: