Gambling Addiction discussion

[love2winalot]

Hiya: Thanks for making this thread. imhop, losing the rent money gambling is, in it self, not an addiction. It becomes an addiction when the person either/and, loses control over the ability to walk away, or stay away. This then becomes worse, when they can not learn their lesson, and make the needed changes, to be able to still Gamble, but to it responsibly.

The worse thing i ever saw here in Vegas was at Casino Royale, several years ago. The Guy was from Asia, and playing BJ. He has never been to Las Vegas before, and except for a friday night playing poker with friends in Japan, had never gambled before. I was at the table with him.

After about 1/2 hour, he was about even. He then started pressing his bets. He started loosing. His wife came over, and he yelled at her to give him money out of her purse. She Did. He lost it in 2 hands. I left the table. On my way out, i heard crying. The Man was trying to take the purse away from the wife, while she was clinging onto it laying on the floor, and crying/begging for him to stop..........................................

Now, this was of course not the way they had planned to spend their Vacation in Las Vegas. He did not come to Las Vegas to break the bank, or to try to turn $500 in $500,000. They came to visit, take pictures, gamble a little, have fun, and go home happy.

So, what went wrong?

Whenever you enter an envirement you have not been in before, and have little to no expierience in, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW AHEAD OF TIME HOW IT WILL AFFECT YOU. Not just Gambling, but anything.

Don't steal from me............................

No one likes to have things taken away from. It was yours, you worked hard to get it, and it makes you sick if you walk out of the store, and your bike is gone. You walk into your house, and it has been looted. You go to leave for work, and your car is up on blocks, and all the Rims/tires are gone, and so on.

You are just gonna gamble at little bit. Fine, i only lost $50. Hey, it is only $50 more to try to win it back......................$100 gone. No.....no......no.....ATM Machine withdraw of $200, and i will get back what i lost, and make a profit..................$300 gone. WTF?

You had no intention of risking anything close to $300. Yor $700 in rent is due today, but now you only have $600 left in the bank. What to do?

Sample Plan:
Get paid
Pay the rent
Pay the power/phone/cable bill
Buy food to last until next payday.
Then, after this, go gamble. Even if you lose all the rest, you have a roof over your head, and food to eat.

Gambling Plan:
Write down all the different times you lost a lot of money.
Write down what game you were playing.
Write down what happened in that game that caused you to lose.
NEVER LET THAT SAME THING HAPPEN AGAIN.

Example.
Lost $500 in BJ.
Lost 12 hands in a row.

Lost $1000 in Roulette
#'s together on the wheel, 0-26-32, went 104 spins in a row with no hits.

Lost $700 at Sic Bo.
Dice total of 4 or 17, went 168 rolls in a row without coming up.
..........and so on........................

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For me, i made the above mentioned adjustments, stopped chasing bets into infinity and beyound, stopped letting what is not normal be what beats be.

I will tell you this. Outside of Winning, there is no better feeling at a Table, than to lose a few bets in a row, drop down to the table Min bet, and bet that until the loosing streak ends. Look up and saw that you just lost 14 times in a row, and look down at your chips, AND MOST OF THEM ARE STILL THERE...........

[dominique]

According to the national council on problem gambling 85% of the US population have gambled or do gamble, and around 1% become addicted.

In comparison, alcohol addiction information states that 66% of the population in the United States consumes alcohol and 9.6% are alcoholics.

I was not surprised by the difference in addiction percentages, but that 85% gamble or have gambled and only 66% drink alcohol surprised me.

[JHV]

According to the national council on problem gambling 85% of the US population have gambled or do gamble, and around 1% become addicted.

In comparison, alcohol addiction information states that 66% of the population in the United States consumes alcohol and 9.6% are alcoholics.

I was not surprised by the difference in addiction percentages, but that 85% gamble or have gambled and only 66% drink alcohol surprised me.

I call shenanigans on that 1% figure. If 85% are gambling, I'll bet my net worth plus 1mil that more than 1% are addicted. Come on...

[dominique]

Don't shoot the messenger, shoot the National Council on Gambling Addiction if you don't believe the figures - I just copied it straight from their site.

[lots0]

I call shenanigans on that 1% figure. If 85% are gambling, I'll bet my net worth plus 1mil that more than 1% are addicted. Come on...

Often times when you are overly exposed to one segment of society (addicted Gamblers) it seems like the whole world is part of that unfortunate population... when in fact it really is just a very very small percentage of the total population.

As far as the dealers being "Zombies"... Well, I think any job where you see hundreds of different faces a day, thousands of faces a week... all the faces start to look alike after a year or two.

Maybe if you had went up to your old co-workers and said, "Hey remember me?"... you might have had a very different response.

[cpdnd31]

I am truly sorry that you have such horrid memories when working in your casino. I too have worked in casinos for many years. I started as a dealer moved up to supervisor and eventually was training. I truly believe this job is not for everyone. You have to be able to laugh, cry, and hold your breath quite a bit. I too saw sad things, but I also have many wonderful memories. I learned as a dealer that I was their physcologist , their friend, their family when they had no one. I never cried harder than the 82 year old telling me on christmas how he had 8 kids and not one of them called or invited him over. He may have been a bastard to them I don't know but he was nice to me. Every holiday I worked he was their until the day he died. I gave advice, learned new things, watched couples meet as well as break up. I truly enjoyed working for my casinos. I miss it much, why don't I still work for them, almost 2 years ago I fell broke my neck in 2 spots, out of all the things to lose, I lost the feeling in my fingers, cant cut cheuques, and left arm. Can't deal, can't train can't supervise a lifetime of work over in a moment. But I'm not dead and I'm not quadrapegic, I now enjoy every moment with my kids. I miss the casino life for the face paced envoirement, for the friends and for the family that I met and made over the years. One I my favorite memories I had was when the WII first came out and you couldnt find it anywhere, I was telling different customers from different towns that if they see any stores with wii to let me know it was the only thing my son wanted for xmas. Do you know we had 5 WIIs sent to my pit within a weeks time. I thanked my customers tried to pay for them they said no, wouldnt take a dime. Got their permission and donated them to different charaties for christmas. So yes casinos have loosers big time in them and people with some major problems but they also have some of the most kind hearted considerate people. Thats what I miss the most.

[slotheadlizard]

My best friend from high school, Tanya Huff, went on to become a successful novelist, but she worked hard to get there. Joined writer's groups, attended fan conventions, learnt to write "spec" scripts for Hollywood, etc. etc. It was not until the advance for her third novel, nevermind the short fiction she published, that she acheived the financial freedom to just write, and even then, her partner helped with household income.

She's doing very well these days however. Those familiar with the television series Blood Ties will know her characters; she's also worked as creative consultant on some of the scripts.

You can even find me as a minor thief character in the novel Sing the Four Quarters!

I wish you well Scooter. The only real way to write is to write, but I think joining authors' groups are a very useful tool for those who are serious about their writing.



BTW, my ex-husband was an award winning short fiction author, and even got a Canada Council grant that allowed him six months of living in poverty to pursue his dream. He failed to achieve financial success, but my daughter tells me he is still writing.

That's really cool about your old chum, and your ex. I agree, just write, write write. I love writing, but mainly for therapy-journals etc. I love reading, and listening (audiobooks) even more, have read hundreds of novels, in all genres. In college I helped teach creative writing for extra credit, and quickly found that I simply love stories. I can probably find merritt in any piece of work.

I can tell Sooter knows his authors, but is clearly not ready to jump write in. Besides who the heck am I to give career advice. For me to talk about writing and fiction would so derail this thread!

I would encourage anyone to just write, many will not achieve financial success, who cares. Put it on paper, you never know.

PS I'm gonna try to find some of those Blood Books in the US, look very interesting!

[slotheadlizard]

I am truly sorry that you have such horrid memories when working in your casino. I too have worked in casinos for many years. I started as a dealer moved up to supervisor and eventually was training. I truly believe this job is not for everyone. You have to be able to laugh, cry, and hold your breath quite a bit. I too saw sad things, but I also have many wonderful memories. I learned as a dealer that I was their physcologist , their friend, their family when they had no one. I never cried harder than the 82 year old telling me on christmas how he had 8 kids and not one of them called or invited him over. He may have been a bastard to them I don't know but he was nice to me. Every holiday I worked he was their until the day he died. I gave advice, learned new things, watched couples meet as well as break up. I truly enjoyed working for my casinos. I miss it much, why don't I still work for them, almost 2 years ago I fell broke my neck in 2 spots, out of all the things to lose, I lost the feeling in my fingers, cant cut cheuques, and left arm. Can't deal, can't train can't supervise a lifetime of work over in a moment. But I'm not dead and I'm not quadrapegic, I now enjoy every moment with my kids. I miss the casino life for the face paced envoirement, for the friends and for the family that I met and made over the years. One I my favorite memories I had was when the WII first came out and you couldnt find it anywhere, I was telling different customers from different towns that if they see any stores with wii to let me know it was the only thing my son wanted for xmas. Do you know we had 5 WIIs sent to my pit within a weeks time. I thanked my customers tried to pay for them they said no, wouldnt take a dime. Got their permission and donated them to different charaties for christmas. So yes casinos have loosers big time in them and people with some major problems but they also have some of the most kind hearted considerate people. Thats what I miss the most.

Thanks for you take on your work experience. I'm sorry about your accident, but glad you are otherwise OK. I truly believe that everyone who has worked in a casino will walk away with very diverse opinions and experiences. I just like hearing about the industry, good or bad.

The best caught on tape shows to me are when someone tries to take a casino, some get away with it, but they usually get caught. I have some friends who work at the new Hollywood Casino in IN. Most of them enjoy their job, one is a dealer. He shares some pretty wild stories, some are eye opening like Scooter's, and some touching like yours. He once got a 200 tip on a 200 bet. He was sooo happy! I think he had to share it though.

Then there is the great story in the book Double Down about two brothers who were thrown out of a casino for suspected cheating in cahoots with a dealer. I won't spoil the story in case someone wants to ever read it. Its a good book and non fiction.

Thanks for your input

[JHV]

Often times when you are overly exposed to one segment of society (addicted Gamblers) it seems like the whole world is part of that unfortunate population... when in fact it really is just a very very small percentage of the total population.

After almost 2 million poker hands played in the last 5 yrs, I say without arrogance and with great humility that I'm somewhat certain I've been exposed to the concept of 'perception bias'.

But I'm telling you that of the 200 mil or w/e and the 13 mil or w/e adults in US and Aust, that the % of those people addicted to gambling is much higher than 1%.

Obviously, the true % will depend on how you define 'addiction' - but no matter how you define it (within logic), that number will be a lot higher than 1%.

[JHV]

I can tell Sooter knows his authors, but is clearly not ready to jump write in. Besides who the heck am I to give career advice. For me to talk about writing and fiction would so derail this thread!

I would encourage anyone to just write, many will not achieve financial success, who cares. Put it on paper, you never know.

I'm fairly skilled at being able to objectively analyse my own limitations, and am very much a realist. One would have to be a deluded fool or gifted genius to believe they could create 'art' with no serious training. I am neither.

Also, I'm acquainted with some semi-successful authors, and they don't make much at all. Were I to take a more serious attitude to my writing, it would not be with the plan to make serious money from it. I would be incredibly satisfied just to get something published that I was 'moderately' satisfied with.