re: Spin off: Know any gambling addicts?

Yes, my little sister's best friend's dad. Was supposed to pay her tuition for an expensive high school here, and blew all of the money and skipped town in shame. Then promised to pay for her to go to college. She got everything set up for that school (dorms, scheduled, etc), and he couldn't pay because he spent all of the money. He is an engineer and makes a lot, but blows through it all on binges

If it's a negative-expectation game, you will everything if you play long enough. Anyone who plays more than small stakes for entertainment is asking for trouble. It's fricking insane to put down hundreds or thousands on a proposition that you will lose in the long run.

Horses, sports, certain card games are a different story. You can win if you have the aptitude for odds and statistics, and are willing to put in the time and effort. Most don't have the former, and are too lazy to do the latter. To be good enough to win consistently, you have to treat it like a job. Thrill seeking, hunches, guesswork, are deadly to your bottom line and must be avoided at all costs.

One of my really close friends from HS struggled with gambling addiction for a long time. I would say for about 15 years and although he had gone to rehab a few times in the past, it wasn't until about 2 yrs ago he made the decision to get help on his own and so far has been doing good.

He use to steal checks from his mother's purse, go to the grocery store and cash them. It got to the point he was going cash checks 3 to 4 times a day before his parents figured out what was going on. He actually came ask me one time to go co-sign for a payday loan for him. He kept begging so I called his parents, co-signing a payday loan for someone with a gambling addiction would be pretty fricking stupid. He stole money from his siblings, etc. One day he bought a scratch off and won $100k. After taxes I think he ended up with close to $75,000. He ended up giving his parents half to make up for the money he stole, but I think he ended up stealing from them again.

He told me that the reason he plays has nothing to do with winning, its about being in the action. If he won, that just bought him more time to keep playing, but the addiction was being in the action.

Yes
As a physician a significant part of my practice deals with addiction medicine as I am one of the few board certified addiction medicine specialists in the area I live in
Gambling doesn't get the press that drugs or etoh does but sure as hell fricks your life up sooner

Got in trouble playing blackjack in my 20s. I don't gamble now, except buying a lottery ticket whenever they hit insane jackpots.


I'm glad I learned my lesson the hard way when I was younger. I met many older people that were gambling addicts later in life and lost marriages, homes, and retirement funds because of it.

quote:

---

I've honestly never understood the appeal. I'd rather sit in a bar and have fun with other people. I'll play if someone gives me money. Otherwise, I'll chill at the bar

---

I think people are born with these traits. The guy I was referring to, his dad had a very addictive personality and it isn't something thats easy for them to just stop doing. No one wants to steal their parents blind to go sink all their money in a poker machine, but when they need to feed the addiction it happens.

I'll avoid places like Vegas and Reno. I never got addicted to gambling but I think a good 3-4 days down there and I'd probably be off the wagon(s)

quote:

---

Most people know their limits and won't lose their shirt. Then you have the people that don't have an off-switch and plunk down their rent money/mortgage trying to turn around their fortunes

---

Yeah I'd take a limit and stop when it was gone. Problem I had was not stopping when I was ahead. I dated this lady once who would take $120 or so in, and often come out with 6-8k just playing slots.

they do say addiction does have a genetic component

quote:

---

I've honestly never understood the appeal. I'd rather sit in a bar and have fun with other people. I'll play if someone gives me money. Otherwise, I'll chill at the bar

---

I'm no gambling addict, but I certainly enjoy sitting at a black jack table drinking a few beers and hopefully have a table full of decent people you can shoot the shite with.

I absolutely hate losing, so a streak of bad luck will put a sour taste in my mouth and make me want to leave. Maybe that's my saving grace. But there's always that, "gotta go win it back" thing in the back of your head. I like playing black jack because if you play reasonably well and keep your bets to a minimum, you can play for hours and hours with a few hundred bucks as long as you don't have the worst of worst luck. But like I said, I can walk in with $1k and fully expect to lose it, but if I lost $200 relatively fast, I'll get up because I'm sick of losing.