Gambling addiction or compulsive gambling is a worldwide problem that many people suffer from and it can strain relationships, interfere with work, and lead to financial problems. Some people may do things they never thought they would do, such as stealing, just so they could keep on gambling. Many people think that they cannot stop, but with the right help they can regain control of their life. Compulsive gamblers keep gambling weather they are having a good day or bad day, this is one of the main reasons why they end up going bankrupt.
Gambling may not be a bad thing when gambling under control. But when it starts affecting things such as your financial situation, free time and work, this is when it is considered a problem. Unhappy feelings like depression and stress can lead to compulsive gambling or even make it worse. The reason that this happens is because people need to release their stress or depression, and for many the thing to do that is gambling. But what they do not realize is that there are safer ways to release stress such as meditating and exercising.
Finding out if someone has a gambling problem is not always easy. Sometimes it is called the hidden illness because there are no obvious physical signs, as opposed to addiction to alcohol or drugs. But one way to tell is that these people will usually deny the fact that they have a problem. They will also do almost anything that they can to hide the problem. another way to tell is if they are not around as often as normally and if they lie about where they have been or where they are going.
Although it is not an extremely easy thing to stop doing, it is possible. But not all gamblers are the same so for some, it may be harder or easier to stop depending on how much...
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...y at home and exercise or meditate for about Fifteen minutes, reliving all of the stress they have had throughout the day. These are all simple, safe and cheap substitutes for gambling which can provide you with the same affect gambling does, but in a much safer way.
Overall gambling is, and can be incredibly harmful to themselves, and their loved ones. It tears apart relationships, and deprives them of their pride and money. But with the right mind set, they can quit and get themselves out of the abyss of compulsive gambling. There are many alternatives to use instead of gambling, which is helpful in the process of quitting. So yes compulsive gambling is a worldwide problem that needs to be solved, and with the right help they can do that for themselves, but they have to be willing to change.
Works Cited
Addiction is something that may seem inevitable, but at the end it’s entirely the fault of a person who is addicted. In the article, “the power of habit” by Charles Duhigg, it states how Angie Bachmann became addicted to gambling and how it was entirely her fault because she kept accepting the offers from casinos and many other reasons. Both the casino and Angie knew what they were doing by Angie letting herself get into the situation and the casino encouraging it. She started out as a well-settled housewife. When everybody left the house, she ended up all alone without having much to do. Because of this, one day, as she was passing through the streets, she decided to visit a casino for a change. “She knew gambling could lead to trouble, so
Expanding gambling can increase gambling addiction. Compulsive gambling addiction is a social issue that is related to gambling. In the past, compulsive gambling was thought of as an issue or behavior for adults. However, “today’s youth are the first generation to grow up in a society where gambling is legal, easily accessible, and in most cases government supported” (Monaghan & Derevensky 537). Gambling is often advertised in the media as a quick and easy way to “get rich” and is rarely seen
Addiction is something that may seem inevitable but at the end it’s entirely the fault of a person who is addicted. In the article by Charles Duhigg ‘the power of habit’ Angie Bachmann got addicted to gambling, it was because of her fault as she kept accepting the offers from cassino and many other reasons.. Both knew what they were doing but still Angie let herself get into the situation, and the casino encouraged it. She was a well settled housewife, when everybody used to leave the house she was all alone. One fine day, while passing through the street she took a visit to casino just for a change.
Addiction is defined simply as a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as drugs) or do something like gambling (Addiction, 2016). Addiction can be crippling and can control all aspects of your life to the point of not being able to function as a productive member of society. Addicts can have a life long struggle, even once sober, or clean, from the addiction.
Gambling... Who does not like to gamble? People play lotteries, bet on sport games or try their luck on slot machines with a thought to win some amount of money. In fact, this excitement for gambling can be seen even from early ages; for example, ancient Egyptians used to play dice in 2000 BC or the first casinos opened their doors to customers during the Greeco-Roman period ( Whittaker and Cushman 1 ). Nowadays casino industry is a large business in the United States that brings high revenues and offers various entertainment that attracts people from different areas. So just recently residents and visitors of Worcester, Wicomico and surrounding counties got a great opportunity to try themselves in a new Ocean Downs casino that came into operation couple months ago. Ocean Downs casino is an excellent benefit to the community that helps to improve the economic and social status of the county and also serves as a great entertainment for the adult population.
The article, “The Power of Habit” (chapter 9), by Charles Duhigg, is about Angie Bachmann who was addicted to gambling. It all started one day when she felt so lonely that she decided to go out and play in the nearest casino. Angie started by setting rules just so she would not become addicted. As days went by Angie slowly started to break her rules and gambled more than what she should of have. Angie lost a lot of money. Although, Harrah’s casino would send her free stuff and vacation trips to get Angie to play more. Angie realized that she had a problem with gambling and went away for a time, but she went back to Harrah’s casino when her parents inherit her money. Angie lost all the money that she inherited and started to get loans
Compulsive gambling is considered to be a type of impulse-control disorder. Even when the addict is aware that their addiction is negatively affecting their life, they cannot stop the impulse to gamble regardless of the consequences. The mental health community distinguishes between problem gambling and gambling addiction. Problem gambling is any gambling behavior that affects your life. Gambling addiction is where the person is unable to resist the impulse to gamble. The must gamble regardless of the consequences. A common myth is that problem gamblers have to gamble every day. When in reality it can be either frequent or infrequent. It is normally cyclic. Where there are periods of gambling, followed by rest periods and then back to gambling. People can go for months without gambling and still be considered to have a gambling addiction (Saison).
By understanding the golden mean, one can achieve a proper balance between insufficiencies and over-indulgence. Individuals who are able to control the amount of time and money they gamble are successfully able to achieve the golden mean. By giving oneself a sufficient amount of time and money to gamble, one shows that they are able to fulfill the virtue of temperance. Should the individual had not given themselves sufficient time and money to gamble, they would be deficient in the amount of temperance they should have exercised, which would be a vice. On the other hand, should the individual spend too much time and money on gambling, they would be in excess of the amount of temperance they should have used, which would also be a vice. Furthermore, many of the behaviors seen in compulsive gamblers would lead to more vices, since continuing to gamble would likely result in deficiencies in honesty and respect, and an excess in
The adrenaline-rushing feeling of gambling offers people the idea that opportunity lies within their hands. Unfortunately, there are far too many consequences to gambling to even begin to count. To win you must play, and to win big you must play big. As more gamblers can recall their losses rather than their winnings, gamblers are often dealt with poor hands and must play the risky game to stay alive. Even though gambling has so many faults, some still fall under its corruptions because of gambling’s deceiving fallacies.
As previously mentioned, the issue at the center of the controversy or debate is morality or ethics. Morality or ethics has been at the heart of controversies regarding gambling because some people consider it as unethical. The consideration of gambling as an immoral act is largely attributed to religious beliefs and stigma of obtaining money relatively for nothing. Moreover, the ethical dilemmas and concerns associated with gambling is brought by the emergence of problem gamblers who account for nearly 2.1 percent of total number of gamblers (Kannon, 2012). Therefore, ethical concerns and dilemmas in gambling are fueled by the inherently sinful attitude about the activities, which generate a classical ethical problem from an individual level
Is the negative point of view strong enough for us to want to outlaw gambling because of its addictive nature? Gambling can only be seen as entertainment if the person gambling has limits on how much he or she bets and knows when to stop. A gambler starts betting with small amounts of money and slowly larger and larger bets will follow. There are three stages of gambling addiction. according to the Arizona Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc. phase, loss phase and depression phase.
Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our government has sought out a few solutions that help those who have developed an addiction and prevent a further increase in the number of people becoming addicted. Personally, my outlook on the problem is that it needs a better solution. I think that a higher funding to gambling addiction clinics, more ordinance and restriction laws, and more prevention and awareness programs should bee brought into consideration in order to lower the amount of people who become addict to gambling.
middle of paper ... ... One site I did find was Gamblers Anonymous. Gamblers Anonymous is a twelve step program similar to that of Alcoholics Anonymous, the web site displays the twelve steps that need to be taken to help you curb your gambling addiction. With the ease of access to gambling online, there is a very good chance that a rise in problem gambling may occur in the future.
David Surface wrote an interesting article, “Problems Gambling in Older Adults”, that speaks on a study that was conducted in Wayne State University that revealed that older people may gamble for reasons that are outside of gambling entirely (Problems Gambling In par. 2). While most people gambling for the sole purpose of winning some money, many elderly show signs that they might gamble for the purpose of being distracted from struggles they may have. Just being around other people might be enough for them to want to throw their money away, almost as compensation for what is going on with their life. Furthermore, Senior Centers have activities such as bingo night that is gambling in disguise but they just go with the flow and are losing blindly because the name is not gambling but ‘bingo night’. Distractions and disguising have proven enough that seniors can easily lose money, some not even realizing that it is happening. However, some people believe otherwise when it comes to the elderly gambling
Compulsive gamblers deal with problems within themselves, and hence what they really need to get out of the problem is the love and support of their families and friends. Considering it as a taboo and hiding the problem can never be a solution to it. Sincere efforts to overcome the problem has to be made by him, only then will the addiction to gambling by nipped in the bud.