Gambling addiction: what you need to know about it

Updated on November 29, 2019

Betting is a pleasurable way to spend leisure time for many people and earn money if you are lucky enough. But there are people, for who betting has become a real addiction, of which it is very difficult to get rid. 

Why do people start making bets?

There is a lot of those who really like sport and know it well among players. Betting is just a pleasurable and entertaining hobby for many, in which you can use your sports knowledge to win.

There are many of those who consider betting to be an easy and quick way to make money. A person is very attracted by the opportunity to receive a big earning, having invested a relatively small sum. Making bets, he relies mostly on own luck. At the same time, the desire to win and return money becomes stronger with every loss. He can’t realize that he slowly becomes addicted to betting.

What will the addiction lead to?

Gambling addiction makes a negative impact, first of all, on a human’s financial state. Initially, he can not feel this because he uses “free” money for bets, which he can spend on everything without serious damage to the budget.

But when a person becomes more and more addicted, his expenses grow too. When there is no “free” money, he starts using his savings, hoping to win and earn a significantly bigger sum. When savings come to an end, an addicted person can borrow, sell or pawn valuable goods and others.

Personal life is destroyed due to addiction. An addicted person is mostly interested in betting, family and friends take the second place. Due to that, arguments emerge inevitably, divorces often happen for the same reason.

Signs of addiction

One of the signs of addiction is that a person starts making bets on different sports, different players and teams without preliminary analysis of their features, potential, gaming style, without thinking about how possible the victory is. An addicted person is fully influenced by a gamble and forgets about the importance of analytics 

The addiction is reflected by the fact that a player starts making more new best after a loss, desiring to win and return money whatever it would cost. As a result, he loses even more money.

The right sign of addiction is a play in debt. A player stops evaluating his financial state clearly and thinks that he will deal with debts very quickly by earning a solid earning. Actually, ill-conceived bets are very rarely victorious.

How to help a person who is addicted to betting? The role of relatives in aid

It’s important that a person realizes that he has a gambling addiction. Unfortunately, not everyone can do that. A player can think that he fully controls his hobby and can easily stop betting when it is necessary. But he returns to bets, again and again, thinking of excuse and finding reasons to make another bet.

Relatives should not scold and shame an addicted player. Instead, they have to make him understand that he has problems, using understandable and obvious arguments. He has to realize that addiction can destroy his life if he doesn’t take measures to get rid of it. The support of friends is very important too. A person has to feel that they will be near in any case and help to overcome the addiction. It is important that a player wanted to get rid of the addiction problem because then, it will be way easier for specialists to help him.

There are clubs of anonymous players to help the addicted ones, the psychologist’s and psychotherapist’s help is necessary in many cases. The treatment is provided in specialized medical centers. Also, there are special organizations, which work on helping addicted people.

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