Gambling – fun or addiction?

People, who don’t work in casinos, have in generally a distorted idea of gambling. If someone occasionally comes to the casino to play, it doesn’t automatically mean that he or she has a gambling problem. Everything rests in control of oneself, spent money and individual financial situation of the individual. Would you agree?

The truth is that gambling ruined millions of lives and drove people to suicides. Gambling is even worse than alcoholism, because the descent is much faster and less observable. In one month you can end up ruined at the street and become homeless. I’ve seen people lose their houses, cars and restaurants. They left their families, work and uncontrollably got in debt. Gambling problem starts with the loss of control over playing. Everything starts rolling like an uncontrollable tsunami. There is a single idea in one’s head, where to get more money for gambling.

Gambling consumes you lightly and slowly. Usually it begins with a recreational game and if you allow it, it will consume you piece by piece without anyone noticing. Reality check happens only when the consequences are irreversible and so big, that they cannot be ignored. Unpaid rent, bills, debts and an empty fridge! In addition to inner unrest and constant anxiety, there are far-reaching consequences. Squeaking partnership and family relationships or slowly deteriorating friendships. Not to mention depression, anger and suicide thoughts. A gambler cannot avoid health problems, especially insomnia, chronic migraine and stomach problems related to constant stress.

I can say that 99% of croupiers succumbs to hazard. It is a certain unwanted working disease, which spreads in the casino like a flue. Why is this so? A croupier sees on a daily basis how easy it is to win large sums of money in the casino. All this with one spin of the ball in the roulette wheel. Money looses its meaning and value. It becomes only plastic chips, which have to be placed on numbers. The temptation is huge as well as the vision of victory! The psychology of real money transformed into colorful chips meets its purpose 100%. Long years in this unhealthy environment play their role perfectly. You are becoming inconspicuously captured in the gambling web! Every croupier slowly transforms into a gambler!

Addiction to gambling is a brutal and very destructive matter. This addiction doesn’t differentiate. If you have a disposition for gambling and you cross that invisible line, you will easily become a gambler. It can happen to anyone! It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, educated or uneducated.

It causes the same suffering to everyone, as well as mental instability and financial ruin, which can last for ears.

How to stop forever?

It is not easy at all! However there are ways how you can help yourself before you give up for good!

The next time your thoughts wonder to gambling, remember the feeling when you lost a lot of money in the casino, online or on sports betting. Try to feel again that bad feeling of emptiness and anger you had the next morning. Do you want to experience it again?

When you wake up in the morning, make a resolute decision that you won’t gamble today. Especially promise it to yourself. Plan you day in a very precise way, so you won’t have a lot of spare time to get to a casino.

Find a hobby to stop thinking about gambling. Go exercise, shopping, to the cinema or out with friends. Occupy your mind with something else than a thought about gambling in a casino.

Google gambling addictions. Find out what type of gambler are you! Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what are you running away from in life? Or do you just need the adrenaline? What are the trigger mechanisms?

You won’t make it on your own? Participate in an anonymous meeting with group support. You will find there support of experts as well as other players, who also want to quit gambling. Awkward? No, professional! Share your problem with your closest family. They will certainly want to help you!

Ask a family member to manage your finances. If you don’t have any finances or credit cards, you will be less prone to gambling. Have only a small amount of cash on you. The temptation to lose money will get smaller as well!

Write down how your gambling problem affected your life in a negative way. Do you like what you are writing? How will your life change for the better, if it will be without any gambling?

DO NOT LOOSE YOUR LIFE, PLAY RESPONSIBLY…