Being a single mom, I used to gamble a lot. My motivation was to just win big so that I could take care of my boys. It wasn't considered an addiction until some years later. When I first took a quiz in an article about it I realized that I had a problem. It was hard to mentally abstain from buying $5.00 worth of lottery tickets every day but I came around. It helped me a lot to when I verbalized to others that I had a problem. I thank God that I didn't lose anything because of it.
At least you weren't playing for money Gelsemium, you can consider yourself extremely lucky, otherwise you could have gone into debt or worse, depending on how addicted you were.
I'm sorry to say that I know how true that is, you're never sure what exactly rock bottom is until you hit it yourself... Just remember that once you hit it, there is no way to go but up, it only gets better.
Sometimes, it can take hitting rock bottom to actually wake someone up to the reality of the situation.
This is true, I never gave the jump because I felt the weight of the responsibility, I mean, I was fairly good at it, but at the same time I didn't want to lose my money.
Yep in my case I was given numerous warnings by my parents, relatives and even from up above I believe. I did not heed any of them till I really hit rock bottom. But after that you can either stay on the ground and cry about your mistakes or pick yourself up and make the necessary changes to get out of the mess you are in.
I have never been a fan of gambling as I hate to lose but I had tried it on a few rear occasions but it never became an addiction as once I started losing I would stop. It is however factual that once you win, you get back right to it feeling that everything will be ok now and you may stand another chance to win. I have seen it destroy families, especially when the women gamble away even their baby's money for feeding and diapers. It is really a sad situation.
Many and most addictions do lead to losing all one has, it is not by any means specific to gambling. Any addiction can cause a great financial need that is or becomes greater than ones resources. The gambler is chasing after a win, in the same way an addict is chasing a high.
Gambling can ruin you and put your entire family on the street if left unchecked. I have never felt a strong impulse to gamble. I have gambled before though and can completely understand why people get addicted to it.
I would definitely say my mom is addicted to gambling. She did not raise me and I did not know here until I was 15 which is when I meet one of my sisters, I stayed with her for a short while and I remember her going to bingo and OTB all the time even though we had no food in the house or the lights had been turned off. I guess her logic was that if she won, she could sort out all the financial problems. She still goes to bingo regularly as well as to casinos yet claims to be struggling to pay her rent and bills.
Gambling is a serious problem and it does not get the attention that it should as the other categories of addiction but it is serious. I have experience with the effect that it had on family members and how it wrecked marriages, resulted in bankruptcy and being connected to other addiction as well. It is based off odds as we all know and for someone to keep going back because they hope that it will be better next time can be detrimental to a family. Some may look at it and say that it may result in persons being lucky and winning thousands but this cannot be guaranteed and it is simply a waste of hard earn money in my book. This will definitely impact on family life as if less money is coming in and i know that it was given away during gambling, then naturally i will be upset. This can result in the individual getting abusive or turning to drugs to smooth out this glitch at home that resulted from his/her careless actions.
The FOBTS (fixed odds betting terminals) in UK bookmakers have made this an utter epidemic in recent times. Gambling addiction in this country will get a lot, lot worse before it gets any better.
This is true and in an ultimate case all their live is directed to finding money to what they need, it's a sad life, both addiction to drugs, gambling or any others resemble quite a lot.
I remember a friend's wife describing it as being "raped" financially by her husband who was addicted to online casino.
I have known people who have lost everything due to gambling addictions and it is horrible to watch. You get a big win once and you are hooked into thinking that you will have the same fate over and over again. Soon enough you will not have any money to pay bills and then you gamble bill money thinking you are going to hit another jackpot. It is a horrible cycle. I stay away from casinos because I do not like them.
In the early days it may seem good, but slowly it will affect the mind as the more you put in you don't get back and are depressed that I put this much in and only got this back which is not good. The, addiction is very strong as a person can spend the money they have on this and end up having to sell things or get a loan just to survive and it will not be good when you are indebted and using the money in gambling. This, is going to get worse as people don't see what is wrong and also spend more than they get in the casino.
It is just a good thing that Internet gambling is illegal, at least in the US it is. There are so many problems that go along with gambling. I think people would stand to lose much more if they were able to sit at home on their computers and gamble.
I've never wished anyone to win at gambling, even 1 million dollars. Gambling companies are glad if people win, because they invest the money back and even the double, then become addicted and sell every earthly thing they have to be at a round table, playing blackjack and poker. Gambling addiction is bad, but not unrecoverable. You can always quit if you want to, but you just have to see that's very unpragmatical to gamble, firstly and foremost.