Gambling

There is no system that can outsmart the odds and increase your chances of winning. Keeping track of previous results, knowing all the rules, being a good gaming player and/or coming up with a combination. None of these methods will help you win or increase your chances of winning. The fact is the results are always random and a chance you take – fact!

This is mostly true for the majority of us. At some point probably everyone will have a gamble on something at sometime. That could be a scratch card, a friendly bet with a friend, a raffle ticket purchase, a lottery ticket or a day out with others that may involve a bet being made for example at a football match. Although this is true, and for many something that doesn’t become problematic, it can also turn into something more regular for others.

Very true. Every year people contact services such as gamblers anonymous and Beacon Counselling Trust to seek support for problematic gambling. Many of these people have developed a pathological problem. In other words they have become compulsive obsessed with their gambling becoming more persistent or habitual and causing many other problems in their life such as relationship difficulties and extreme debt problems. Gambling addiction also causes problems with parents, difficulty with studies in school or college, holding down a job, lying stealing, feeling depressed and irritable when trying to stop or chase money lost on bets...

There are many forms of gambling that many people just do not consider... the common forms such as using betting shops, fruit machines in pubs, a spin of the roulette table in a casino, betting at the horse races, poker games are all generally the first thing that comes to mind when we think of gambling. However think about it, buying a lottery ticket, having a game of bingo, two pence slot machines at the arcade that children play and more recently video games where you stand to win are all forms of gambling and all have the ability to cause problems just like the more common and familiar methods. Some believe that online football gaming where people purchase various virtual trading cards for example star football players to make up their virtual team is a form of gambling as the purchases are random and hidden. People purchase more virtual cards hoping to get the players they didn’t get previously... it’s a bit like betting on a result and it not coming in and they try again...

This is so true. Most people don’t consider gambling to be a big issue especially when they are bragging about winning. However this changes drastically when gambling becomes addictive and problematic. There are many problem gamblers who have suffered due to their gambling becoming out of control. Failed relationships, getting involved in crime, losing your job, trouble studying, arguments, losing your home, doing things you wouldn’t do normally, stealing, lying, developing huge debts, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts are all the problems that out of control gambling can lead to.