Have you ever struggled or known someone who struggled with a Gambling Addiction?

[Madison]

Today was the last day. After a year without gambling, I jumped back in and lost a significant amount of me. I dont fully understand what made me go back, but its too strong for it to ever happen again. Thats the last time Im ever going to bet, hopefully ever.

Its really hard because gambling has many mechanisms to make it seem less bad. And they all work until the second your money is being gambled away.

Im trying to absorb that I lost a big amount of money in order for the thought to stick if I ever feel like going back again. Im trying to find any mechanisms that help me stay away forever. I have other family members that have struggled with this before. Not saying that it means that im not responsible for my own actions but...fuck, why are we like this?

Have you had difficulties with gambling before? Or a family member or a friend? I like reading about other stories because I feel like I can somewhat relate.

 

[Squarehard]

My mother's side, lots of Uncles.

She's usually the one that has to go get them to go home because they refuse to leave.

 

[I am a Bird]

We used to know a guy who every month would fly to Vegas and gamble all his money away. He did it every month for a long time. I'm not sure what happened to him. He had passed away when I was young. I think he ended up losing everything and got fired from his job. He was never able to go back to Vegas after that.

 

[DarthWalden]

Best friend is addicted to gambling.

Its a huge bummer. He's mostly out of it now but those addictive behaviours just translated to buying ultimate team packs.

 

[Spiritreaver]

I have a friend with gambling addiction that manifested through gacha games. He jumps from gacha to gacha spending hundreds of dollars per paycheck, sometimes more when things get bad. He's gotten better over the past year or so, but still a large chunk of his paycheck goes towards these games. He has a much better job today, so I don't think he's strapped for money, but I worry about him spending more.

 

[Kill3r7]

I enjoy gambling (craps, blackjack and poker) but usually limit myself to $1K or less. It's been nearly a year since I set foot in a casino. Life has been really busy these last few years and my gambling stash has been decreasing.

 

[AdmiralAdmiral]

I use to spend a lot of time alone as a kid because my dad was at a casino. He always made sure I ate something or we had some food to eat though. He won a lot of money, but as with most gamblers you don't like to talk about all the money you actually lost. I think he only recently cut that vice out of his life. Now that I am an adult I despise casinos and I much prefer the practice of saving money.

 

[NeverWas]

My mom went hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from gambling. Family had to bail her out multiple times. Almost lost the family home.

I'm... not a big fan of gambling.

 

[subpar spatula]

I know lots of people. Some are well over a million, some over well over 5 million in debt. They still grind each day, though. I have a feeling a few are going to wind up on a missing list eventually.

 

[Conciliator]

Another kind of addiction is almost ubiquitous in my family especially on my mom's side, but interestingly I don't think any of us have ever been gambling addicts

 

[Surface of Me]

Buddy of mine loves to gamble, and has described it as an addiction. He seems to have it mostly under control these days.

Addictions are strange, OP. You shouldn't beat yourself up over too much over a relapse as long as you are still looking ahead and trying to make progress. I say this as an alcoholic.

 

[Kill3r7]

I know lots of people. Some are well over a million, some over well over 5 million in debt. They still grind each day, though. I have a feeling a few are going to wind up on a missing list eventually.

Click to shrink...

I hear the side action at your level of play is insane.

 

[smoothj]

I used to valet at a casino when I was younger.

I'd see the same cars week in and week out. Some wouldn't even pick up their car until a few days later. Personally I know a few friends that like to bet on sports pretty often but not to the level of a problem... yet lol.

 

[Allforce]

My mom went hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from gambling. Family had to bail her out multiple times. Almost lost the family home.

I'm... not a big fan of gambling.

Click to shrink...

Just curious, like I am with most people posting that they have experiences, but what type of gambling put her hundreds of thousands in debt?

I feel like "problem gambler" is such a broad term, is it casino games, sports, mobile games, etc?

 

[subpar spatula]

Just curious, like I am with most people posting that they have experiences, but what type of gambling put her hundreds of thousands in debt?

I feel like "problem gambler" is such a broad term, is it casino games, sports, mobile games, etc?

Click to shrink...

It's most likely casino games and most likely slots.

 

[Deleted member 8561]

Today was the last day. After a year without gambling, I jumped back in and lost a significant amount of me. I dont fully understand what made me go back, but its too strong for it to ever happen again. Thats the last time Im ever going to bet, hopefully ever.

Its really hard because gambling has many mechanisms to make it seem less bad. And they all work until the second your money is being gambled away.

Im trying to absorb that I lost a big amount of money in order for the thought to stick if I ever feel like going back again. Im trying to find any mechanisms that help me stay away forever. I have other family members that have struggled with this before. Not saying that it means that im not responsible for my own actions but...fuck, why are we like this?

Have you had difficulties with gambling before? Or a family member or a friend? I like reading about other stories because I feel like I can somewhat relate.

Click to shrink...

I know that feel OP, I've done the game, the highs are insane but the lows can also be addicting in a sick sort of way.

Just how our brains function, there is a reason why casinos make money, our brains run on the risk and get flooded with good and bad sensations that make us hooked on the feeling. There is obviously the aspect of self control where people own up to their own choices, but the actual mechanisms of why people get the rush is boiled down to general biology.

If you need to vent or talk about anything you can hit me up

Just curious, like I am with most people posting that they have experiences, but what type of gambling put her hundreds of thousands in debt?

I feel like "problem gambler" is such a broad term, is it casino games, sports, mobile games, etc?

Click to shrink...

Table games where you can get high roller tables with 10K limits per hand and such.

But honestly, most people acquire that debt over time and many years at normal tables and general gambling. It's very easy to lose a few thousand here and there every other night on slots, blackjack or other table games.

 

[VeryHighlander]

I know I definitely had an addiction to losing money in poker at one point. There was never an amount I could leave the table where I felt satisfied so I would just move to higher stakes and start playing crazy just donating to people. I was able to curb that addiction pretty easily though. The feeling of driving home from a bad loss. Oh my god. Dark dark thoughts.

I knew a guy in high school who became a "professional gambler" and his game was roulette. Legend has it he took his pot dealer to a night out at the casino(pot dealer had fronted the Hero large amounts of bud prior but was totally okay with the dude spending money in front of him gambling). Hero ends up racking up to over $200,000 in roulette and decided to give his boy that cash he owes him and some money on top. They went and had dinner inside the casino. Pot dealer urged his friend to cash out and leave because he was ordering a taxi and dipping out.To cut to the chase, this story ends with a phone call from hero to pot dealer "Is there any way you can give me back that cash I gave you? I busted"

I still think about that story constantly imagine how that guy feels. Huge yikes. Last I heard he was a total junkie working a highway toll.

 

[syth]

Yeh, but I assume most people in Aus kno someone.

our top 4 grossing games on the play store are pokermachines.

countries fucked

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

It only kicks in when I'm there. That's why I only bring the amount I'm willing to lose and leave everything else behind. In the end I win or lose and then I lose all the money I made while I was ahead. In the end it's money "I never really had." Other than that, Casinos don't exist if I don't see them. I've pretty much got a handle on it.

 

[FlashChopCoffee]

A former classmate of mine opened up about his addiction after graduation. He got help, started a blog to break the taboo and motivate other addicts to get help as well, and started working out more and made healthy living his hobby.

He's a really good guy, and I'm very happy for him and his girlfriend.

 

[Hierophant]

Worked on the dealers side, I've seen so many ruined by it.
Every win is a future loss, especially a big win.
You will chase the feeling of that big win forever until you eventually run off a cliff.

A good method I found to mitigate gambling losses is to start a notebook, what you came in with and what you left with. You'll quickly see the total gambled going more and more negative, this can be an important motivator in itself to quit.

 

[SephiZack]

I know two cases:

1st: Uncle owns a bar where you can buy lotto tickets (that ran every 10 minutes). It was too easy for him to be tempted, and he lost something like 200k euro over a month, 100k of which on a single night. That happened days before they had to pay their bank their monthly credit. (So they had to pay 200k soon. My father (his brother in law) ended up paying for it because they didn't have enough savings.
Other than this misstep, he's one of the nicest people I know. It's been a few years and I think he repaid all his debt + got his life back on track without any issues, so the story has a positive end.

2nd case: Another uncle (my mother's youngest brother). This one is one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever known in my life. He wasted the majority of his life on alcohol and gambling, is full of debts and constantly losing jobs (someone losing jobs while working for his siblings or friends) due to more alcohol and gambling. Add wife beater to that list.
His daughter made the mistake of inviting him to her wedding. My uncle had the balls to show up and steal the wedding gifts to pay some of his debts. My oldest aunt (another crazy one) keeps defending his actions because he's her youngest little bro).
Luckily his kids (my cousins) ended up becoming good people. I feel bad for my cousin. He's a smart and hard working person. He's now in college after working his ass off to pay for it and he could have done so much more if he had better parents.

 

[Tbro777]

My brother is a gambling addict, doesn't matter what it is. He does casinos, horse racing, lottery tickets basically if you can gamble he's probably done it. He would always borrow money then never pay it back or steal money from his own family. No one in my family talks with him anymore, the last straw was he organized a charity golf tournament to raise money for my niece who was paralyzed in a car accident, after the tournament he took the money and split, we assume he gambled it away.

 

[MidweekCoyote]

I don't know how it's in the rest of the world, but here most "neighborhood bums" and "chads" are very much addicted to association football bets. Casinos are prevalent, but I don't hear of them being that much of a problem. The betters, though, mostly look like wrecks, hoping to score 10x the invested amount and always cursing referees and "the one team that fucked me over by conceding in the last 5 minutes". Yikes.

Luckily, I don't think anyone in our family or friend group is affected much. We usually drop by a casino for fun once a year, but I think we do it very smartly. All of us invest no more than the equivalent of 5€ on a slot machine and we drink the free juice they offer. In other words, we pay 5€ to drink, talk and play around.

Thank to this (and some luck) I think I've made over 100€ of clean profit in all of these years, but it never gripped me at all. Funny, considering my addictive personality for a lot of different things.

Edit: Btw. OP, I really, truly wish you the best!

 

[Deleted member 13328]

Yes, one of my best friends was an addict, played everything away and commited suicide.

 

[Deleted member 30395]

Yes, one of my best friends was an addict, played everything away and commited suicide.

Click to shrink...

same thing happened to one of my close childhood friends. Hadn't seen him for a few years but couldn't believe it had got to that point. R.I.P.

 

[SprachBrooks]

OP, do you have anyone with whom to talk in the event you do feel like jumping in? You don't have to just rely on yourself to stop gambling — other people can offer some perspective and that's what's most important.

 

[gimmmick]

Living in Vegas, you will run into people that are addicts to the slots, sports betting or card games.

The only one that I have ever known that had a problem was an old co worker. Dude straight up would always gamble every night after work and was raising a family as well. Haven't talk to a little over 6 months but he seems like he is doing well.

I count my lucky stars I never had the itch to ever gamble. I will put a parlay here and there for shits and giggle during football season, but nothing too over board.

 

[Deleted member 13328]

same thing happened to one of my close childhood friends. Hadn't seen him for a few years but couldn't believe it had got to that point. R.I.P.

Click to shrink...

It's so sad, my friend didn't want any help when he moved to another appartment, of course we thought that was weird, but we thought he had other people helping him. But when he died he had a tv, something to sleep on and nothing else. Had no idea that it had gone that far.

 

[DarthSpider]

I use to spend a lot of time alone as a kid because my dad was at a casino. He always made sure I ate something or we had some food to eat though.

Click to shrink...

Me too. So many hours alone in casino lobbies. I would usually just do my homework or read comics to pass the time. My mom would come bring me a slice of pizza or a Coke every few hours. My aunts are also addicts, and they are worse than my mom. My mom isn't as bad as she used to be, but she plays slot machine games at home on her computer every night, and she still goes to Hard Rock Casinos and casino cruises whenever she can.

As for me, I've probably dropped a couple thousand on various mobiles games. Mostly Hearthstone and Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, but I'm done with that shit.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

My dad and his side of the family in general are susceptible to it. I control it for him by limiting him to £20 a week that I put in his account. He doesn't play fruit machines any more.

I don't have the bug and can happily stick a few quid on every week without needing to do more. It's a social thing for me only.

 

[NeverWas]

Just curious, like I am with most people posting that they have experiences, but what type of gambling put her hundreds of thousands in debt?

Click to shrink...

It's most likely casino games and most likely slots.

Click to shrink...

subpar nailed it.

 

[Ecotic]

I've traded stocks relentlessly for like 7 years, putting tens and tens of thousands of dollars at play with every trade. I had nearly 1,000 trades altogether last year. In a sense it dulls the sensation of regular work and life. Nothing's really fun anymore unless your ass is on the line. But, I do this because I want to be fantastically wealthy and there's no other way to do that as reliably or as fast than to become a master at trading. There's entrepreneurship, but even if you find an unsolved problem you have less than a 10% chance at being successful. So yeah, someone could reasonably say I have a problem, but I have five years of business education and a finance degree as well, so I know what I'm doing and experienced at it.