Gamble It All Away

August 24th, 2010 | Add a Comment

Greed: one of the seven deadly sins, which is an excessive desire to acquire or hold more than one needs or deserves, especially financially. In a society of competition to always be the best and at the top of the totem pole, how can one not be greedy in at least one area of their life?

There is no problem wanting to succeed and do the best you can, but when greed comes into play, many people hinder their want of making it to the top. You hear stories about people losing their business, committing crimes, and even becoming homeless due to greed.

Gambling is one of the most popular tricks of earning fast money. Every night casinos make millions of dollars from people trying to win money. Gambling is a fun hobby for some and an addiction for others. Some do it to get some petty cash and others do it to get even more money than the millions they already have, either way, if it becomes a habit most of the time they end up broke and depressed.

Gambling affects the individual and the people in their life just like drug addiction and alcoholism. At times the gambler is aware of the problems their gambling is causing, but he can’t stop, “just one more time, this will be the winner.” Other times an individual might not even think they have a problem, no matter the circumstance most of the time they need help from outsiders to stop.

Gambling is just like drinking in drugging in the fact that once a gambler, always a gambler; you can’t make an addictive gambler into a social gambler.

The person has to want to stop doing what they are doing and when that decision is made there are some things the family can do to help the addict.

To help keep the addict in reality someone can show an account of how much money they have really lost due to their gambling. Many times when they see the realities of their problem they might go into a depressive state. The addict needs a support system, a group of people who can help, that understands and believes in him. This support group can also help manage the person’s money and talk them through a new budget. Gambling probably took up a lot of the person’s time so they need to find other activities to fill their time. Something like exercising, reading or meditation are good options because they don’t cost a lot of money, which is the main source of the problem in the first place. It is a long process that has to be worked on for a lifetime, but the results of a happy fulfilling life is worth it for many.

There are many treatment places that help with gambling addiction. A free of charge option is twelve step meetings, they have helped many and they start a good foundation for a person.