Gambling addiction is one of the many problems of the 21st century. While the gambling industry is contributing millions and billions to the world economy, it is doing so from the tears of many other gamblers who have lost their money- money and the sanity and mental stability of some gamblers. That’s when the topic of the importance of responsible gambling comes up. When it comes to a sport like gambling, being responsible is more than half of the trouble. It’s much easier to fall into addiction than to come out of it. And the only way to avoid this curse is to be responsible at every step of the process. In this article, we will take a deeper look into this matter.
How can you get addicted to gambling?
Gambling addiction is a different experience for different people, but the root cause of it is ultimately the same things: greed and poverty. Here are some of the ways you might be leading yourself towards addiction:
- Playing for long hours at a stretch: You might be finding yourself glancing at the clock repeatedly and telling yourself, I better stop right now. But in the end, you still keep playing, telling yourself, Just a bit more. That is usually the first sign of addiction: the inability to control your own actions and desires.
- Chasing losses: You have lost a fairly big amount, an amount more than what you can afford. Now you have a little money left, so you decide to try and win it all back by continuing to play. While there is a chance you might succeed, there is also a chance of you losing what you’ve left as well. This ultimately leads to even more gambling sessions.
- Neglecting daily life tasks because of it: You’ve been playing for so long that you’re not replying to that text message, not getting up to eat, not taking a shower. Or you’re staying up for most of the night though you have to go to work the next morning. This is the stage when your addiction is getting on a much serious level.
- Spending all savings behind it: After losing all the money you kept aside for gambling, you find yourself slipping out the money you kept aside for your kids’ college fees or maybe for repaying some loans. Once you have more money at hand, you will want to gamble more. You won’t be able to stop, which is what addiction’s all about.
- Desire to feel the adrenaline constantly: If things in your life aren’t going too well for whatever reasons, you might find yourself seeking comfort in gambling. Most casino games, especially slot games, are really fun to play and designed to boost your mood psychologically. So if you start to feel like gambling is becoming your only source of happiness lately, you’re on your way to addiction.
What are the consequences of gambling addiction?
Now that you know how you might be falling under the net of gambling addiction, let’s take a look at all the various consequences of it:
- Financial instability: 95% of the time, gambling addiction will lead to an empty bank account. After all, people who have good luck in gambling don’t find themselves playing at all times. But since you’re playing too much, and you’re also losing a lot of money, you might end up using all the money you need for your daily life tasks like paying rent and utility bills. This can lead to extreme financial instability and indebtedness.
- Destructive behavior: If you can’t find any money for gambling, or you’re having extremely bad luck, you might start showing destructive behavior towards yourself and those around you to release all your frustrations. You might go to others for money, and if they refuse, you might get violent with them. It will especially affect your close family members. If you have kids, your addiction can ruin their entire lives because of the traumatic experiences they’ll get from you.
- Other addictions: The frustration from being unable to gamble or having bad luck with it can lead you to pick up alcohol or drugs to forget the pain. Since these frustrations will be frequent, you will also find yourself drinking or substance-abusing on a regular basis. That will multiply all the problems you already have by a hundred-fold.
- Mental illness and isolation: You can end up developing depression as a result of your addiction(s). Your destructive behavior will undoubtedly take a toll on your mental health as well. It can lead to self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Moreover, you will start to lose all the people you cared about and ultimately find yourself all alone because of your behavior. This will only further decelerate your mental condition.
How to be a responsible gambler
The above consequences should have given you enough insight into why you should be a responsible gambler. Now that you have an understanding of that, let’s take a look at how you can gamble responsibly:
- Don’t bet more than you can afford: Don’t be too greedy. It’s better to be safe than sorry. The wisest way to gamble is to slowly build up your small amount of money to something satisfactory.
- Play only for a specific amount of time: Keep a certain period of the day allotted only for gambling, and don’t play it any other time of the day no matter how much you get the urge to.
- Gamble from the money you don’t need: Only use the excess money you have (as in the one that won’t go into paying for necessities but will go into luxury) for gambling. Never take a single penny from another’s savings.
- Set a lower and upper limit: After you reach the lower limit, you’ll have lost the amount of money you can afford to lose, and it’s time to stop completely. If you reach the upper limit, you’ve won enough for the day, and it’s time to stop completely.
- Don’t neglect what’s important: Gambling is only a form of entertainment, and it should remain that way. There are mandatory activities in your life. For instance, like doing an actual job and spending time with the people who love you. Never let something like gambling take that away from you.
- If you’re addicted already, join a support group: You might not like the idea of a support group, but that’s the first step to getting better. You will need support—you can’t do it yourself, and that’s okay. Humans are all dependent on each other, after all.
In conclusion, if you’re a gambler, there is nothing more important than being a responsible one. Only when you’re playing responsibly will you truly enjoy the game and, not to mention, get the most out of it only at EpicWin8. Good luck and stay safe in these trying times of Covid pandemic!
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