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The concept of gambling as a form of mental sports refers to the deployment of mental strength in some skill-based games and without physical display of strength or fitness.

Games like Chess, Blackjack, poker and even Sports betting fits in this criterion since professionals employ some good strategies, calculations and even critical analysis before taking the decision on your next line of action. These mental involvements stretch your mind and success in them is a product of strategy, constant practice, psychology and accurate decision under pressure.

There are yet other similarities between these mind sports and physical sports activities like

• Tournaments: Poker tournaments like WSOP features professional poker gamblers who assemble to compete against themselves and take away a big reward
• Rankings Most professional gamblers are ranked in terms of earnings, recognition and achievements
• Viewership Poker tournaments have some great viewership when televised and this shows it's value and entertainment prospects. Locally when professionals play Chess or drafts, they always assemble a little to semi-big audiences showing it has spectators
• Mental discipline: Such as analytical thinking, emotional control, decision made under pressure and even training programs since professional gamblers spend time to refine their skills by constant practices and experience just as athletes

You’re talking about games that are skill-based, and yeah, with those it’s possible to win in the long run. But it’s not for everyone because the sports betting industry is very profitable, which also means most bettors are losing money.

Even so, a lot of people still stick with sports betting because it’s more challenging, and they keep hoping that one day they’ll reach the level where they can actually be profitable - just like me.

If someone wants to train their mind, they can still go for other mind games that doesn't actually require them to gambling with real money, some people can feel convinced that gambling can train their mind but once they dive in, it becomes a different story entirely. I don't disagree with you that gambling is a mental sport but in the way you described it, it's result will be different for every individual, it can only be used like that and would prove positive result in some individuals but for many people, you will get an opposite result since they would have a biased thought, not to stretch their mind again but to make money from what ever game it is.

Except on the big difference that gambling involved money so mostly you are playing for the sake of winning your bet rather than the simple glory of winning the game on sports.

Also, skill based gambling usually still have some lack factor to win the game because analysis can’t be 100% accurate unlike games like chess that result can be calculated.

With your definition, that means sports betting isn’t based on luck alone. I mentioned this because out of all the gambling options, this is the most popular worldwide. Some people say it’s impossible to win in sports betting long term since it’s all about luck, but that’s not true. I just hope they educate themselves instead of making conclusions without even trying to gamble for profit.

Sports betting is like a mental sport, it’s a game for the smart bettors.
If we’re not sharp enough, then we belong to the majority who keep losing money.

It sounds cool and positive, but in reality most gambling causes more mental damage than health benefits. You have to try this consistently, especially when money is involved, so it's quite difficult when something is at stake and you also have to engage your mind.

Some might argue that Chess might not be considered as a sports, just saying. It's not still recognized by IOC as part of the Olympics games.

Nevertheless, with regards to those, it could be mental game, but if you look at it, just a small portion of gamblers are focusing on this game. And I will say that it's not that famous are compare to most games that we have in casinos.

Again, I'm not against this so called mental sports, but if someone will have to play with it, still involved money and still gambling per se. So we can't really deny that there are still positive and negative effects of it.

Mental strength.
Mind games.
Mental health.

All these belongs to somewhere quiet, physically, emotionally and spiritually healing, you think you can heal your mental health by getting involved with gambling? You will ruin your mental health even more.

Don't you remember that to gamble you need money? Since I've been gambling there is no research that's ever said that gambling helped with mental health of anybody, stop this nonsense already.

Since you have to drop money from your pocket your mental health is at greater risk than going to a garden and start playing with children.

I absolutely agree that poker is one of the hardest ways to make money. Even though the rewards are extremely extremely big.
I believe that no one can just take and understand poker, learn all the combinations. Like, for example, it is done in chess.
Poker requires from a poker player not only quick decision skills and selection of behavior in the current moment. Well, and incredible analytical knowledge that will allow him to calculate the odds quickly, literally in seconds.

I like those poker tournaments, and sure, I may call them mental sports.

That game is not for newbies, and deep learning about it should be considered before entering a tournament. I joined poker tournaments before, but it was just a small unit. It's specially made for the patrons of the poker room, and if I remember correctly, there were only 40+ of us.

Truly, you can see those who are really good at that game and know how to read their opponents to determine if they are bluffing or not. Then, there are also players who are good at predicting the hands of their opponents.

i agree that these sports especially Sports betting  and Chess which I know very well lies on your ability to use your cognition to analyze and make decisions that either brings success or failure and these strategies are built over time and yes people might want to point out that money is involved, hence possibilities of it acting against mental health and these are why we are advised to gamble with amounts we are ready to loose.


If you can successfully manage your emotions in gambling, you are being a professional in it, You can partake in these games as much as you want and not get addicted if you have learned how to set a budget with a discipline not to go above your stipulated budget. The more you engage in skill-based gambling activities, the more you sharpen your mind and also it doesn't consume funds as quick as luck based games since a session can last several minutes or more and you have real fun trying out your skills

I can disagree with you OP. Sports betting is really a form of mental exercise, in fact all game that requires you to run analysis and think outside of the box for you thing is a mental game. And it sure helps the brain. But the real mental games are puzzle, chess, because the outcome of the game is influence by your moves during the game. While in sports games on the other hand, no matter how good your analysis is, you cant control what actually happens in the match. You must be lucky before you win.

Anyone who say sports betting is practically based on luck don't know what they are talking about and they probably haven't been playing sports betting. Sports betting requires you to involve your mental efforts. You have to put in the mental efforts and engage your mind. Your ability to analyse the best possible outcome come of a game is not an easy job. Sports betting fits in very well as a mental sports, for those who play UK weekend pool will understand the kind of mental efforts that are put in to come up with 3 or games that will play draws. You will need to forecast very well, engage you mind before you can get those draws that will give you winnings. If you leave it on luck alone, you will spend years without winning.

One could argue that gambling deserves recognition as a form of mental sport because, much like chess or esports, it demands strategy, emotional control, and the ability to make decisions under pressure. Professional players don’t rely on luck alone they refine skills through practice, study patterns, and apply psychology against opponents. However, critics may counter that chance plays too large a role compared to established mind sports, making gambling less consistent in measuring skill.

This particular topic lies in whether the strategic and psychological demands outweigh the element of luck for such gambling games in my opinion.

I will not suggest you use gambling to train your mental. That can make you stressed especially when you lose. Your emotions become high and you can lose control and making it difficult to manage your funds and emotions. You can playing gambling without hard feelings and don't think much about the losses so you can enjoy your gambling activity. You will not recover your losses because you realize the risks and the consequences so you will let it be. You can learn more about gambling games based on the skills but you don't have to use your emotions inside the games. Just learn and practice without thinking much.

I would not consider it as a mental sports, they just incorporate gambling into sports so that it might sounds like you are like playing the game, but in reality, its just a mind conditioning and the main purpose is to lure people to gamble on players that we have no control of what he can do, its still a luck game, where you need luck to exactly guess what a player will do.

If there were a game I would use to train my mind, I would choose chess. I like it. It's strategic, requires good thinking and concentration. I don't think there's a better game for that. But I see the rest more as a fun event. Gambling is always better when it comes to having fun. If you lose, you don't get frustrated, since you treat it as nothing more than leisure.

The other gambling games you mention, although they require a strategic foundation, still depend on luck. Chess, on the other hand, depends 100% on one's skills, and if you lose, it's only due to poor tactics or mistakes, not luck.

Cmon, here only chess more difficult than sport betting. You have to develop strategy, analyze information, search information, modify your strategy, etc.
It`s the huge volume of information and a great volume of everyday work. If you want to get profit of course. Betting for common gambler is just blind bets: why do bet this team? because.

knowing that gambling should be seen only as entertainment, which means that people should not spend too much time gambling and should not look at it as a way to make money, so in my opinion people who are betting on sports or poker or other skill-based gambling games have not spent many hours playing if they are aware of playing for entertainment, so they will not be improving their skills, they will simply be playing for fun.

The cause for mental damage in gambling is how you understand gambling. Gambling can be very emotional and as s gambler if you don't work on this, it can be serious problem to the mental health.  If you don't want gambling to really affect your mental health , it is very important to first understand gambling first as a game of uncertainty,  you need to be prepare for the outcome of gambling which you can't really tell.

Understand how greed can be dangerous in gambling and also know you don't even need to be worried about your lose that is why you don't even need to gamble with what you can't afford, with this you don't even need to be worried in gambling.  The main thing about mental health in gambling is understanding and gambling responsibly,  then it had nothing to do with your mental health.

I don’t know why we have to discuss professional gamblers in this topic. If they indeed practice to hone their gameplay strategies like chess athletes, do most gamblers nowadays also do the same? I think gamblers hone their skills from direct gambling experience. Not many would think too seriously about studying it, except for those who really want to dedicate gambling as an income.

I think as a gamblers, trying to align with the concept of gambling will do us much good and help us to practice gambling in its healthy way, extreme gambling can be emotional damaging but what are they causes of this emotional stress called extreme gambling, it is caused by habit that leads to individual gambler feeling that they can actually get everything they want through gambling which is impossible as we know.

Gambling should be seen as unforseen circumstances, since we can't determine the outcome of gambling, I think that alone should help us think twice before getting stucked with those emotional feelings, if you say gambling is understanding, I think you are right but what if you derail from this understanding as a gambler what then happens, that's to say it will definitely affect our mental health, hope you get the point.

Of course, gambling should be viewed and treated as entertainment. In my opinion, gambling doesn't require you to hone your skills and constantly search for winning strategies. This is simply a waste of time and can potentially damage your mental and emotional health if taken too seriously, distracting you from more important and rewarding things. If you take your skills and strategies too seriously, the percentage of losses will always be greater than the percentage of wins, because no gambling game offers consistent wins, no matter how good you are.
It's better to develop skills and strategies for a business or other activity that can actually generate income, so that when you're stressed or need to fill your free time, you can have fun and relax by gambling.

Sports betting also include some mental strategies but there is also the factor of luck and there are factors that are out of our control like how an athlete plays and there are even more factors that affect how an athlete plays. So it is not completely skill based, sports betting that is. But it can be close which means you can still play and not waste all your money.

It benefits both the players and the bettors involved in sports betting. For players, having a well-trained and disciplined mind is essential to beat their opponents, and for bettors, it is crucial to analyze which team or player has the best chance of winning against the other.
We can also apply this to casino games if we want to, although they are games of chance. We can still focus and try to analyze the pattern, although it’s not guaranteed to predict the game. However, it also stretches your mind and exercises your focus.

This is true but I may say a risky type of mental sports, considering the number of players that didn't managed the mental stress. A lot of people really goes to the other side, they lose all what they have, destroys their family and managed to do, not so good things. There's really a benefit for gambling if you managed to use it right or if you are mentally ready or mature enough, however it's also a double edge that if you can't handle the stress or control your emotion, it may go back against you and lose yourself.

Ultimately, it's just an illusion, because they believe that luck can be derived from other people's mistakes in poker or from luck in slots.

I don't understand why they take this so seriously, when simply gambling responsibly, limiting ourselves from excessive spending, allows us to have fun without worry.

Ethical behavior is formed from mental preparedness and the fortitude to accept defeat.

I think gambling can only help you improve your mental strength if you play for fun or entertainment, because you are really focused on winning but rather to improve yourself mentally. Gambling has to do with critical analysis, calculations etc just have you have mentioned and if you engage in this thing,  it will definitely help you improve yourself mentally.
Those that gamble to make money or sees it a source to get rich will not be able to improve their mental strength, because they are mainly concentrated on winning rather than improving their mental strength. So gambling can either act positive or negative on your mental strength,  based on how you gamble and see gambling.

With those who consider gambling as a source of income, this does not strengthen their mentality but will destroy themselves, including their mentality. Now many people are addicted to gambling and even become stressed because of excessive gambling and this is because they see gambling as a way to make money, while winning in gambling is uncertain.

Gambling is really a mental game. Here a person not only loses his money but also suffers from mental stress. When a bet is placed with excitement and is confident to win but when that bet is lost, it hurts the emotions. Which makes a gambler very emotional. This happens a lot in the case of sports betting. Because based on the performance of the player, many matches can be placed with confidence but in the last stage of the match, the winning site changes. It is very painful to see these and they hurt the emotions a lot. Gambling means financial risk and mental stress

I agree with you. Initially, when I started playing skilled based games like poker and cheese games, my performance was very good and that made me feel like a pro. Whenever, I stake on the game, I hardly win it because it messes up with my emotions and I don't concentrate properly compared to when money isn't involved.

It happened several times, I stopped betting and only play the for fun. Some people are also like this, they don't have a settled mind when they bet money on the game that they are involved in directly. I prefer sportbet because it doesn't involve you playing on the pitch.

Gambling is all mental, this includes games that involve luck, the reason why I say this is because losing and winning has a huge deal to do with your mental capacity. The reason why most people chase losses after losing is because they can't really tackle the psychological aspects of gambling. Mental games like chess, sports and poker are great with making you think fast, it's good to also gamble to challenge your intellect and not for profit only

I’m a chess player, and to win in tournaments and against your opponents, you need to be highly disciplined. Sports betting for players is highly exhaustive; it requires years of training, as well as good focus and concentration.
For bettors, it is essential to be skilled in data analysis and have a good memory of players’ performances. Sports betting can be considered a mental sport for both practitioners and bettors.
But part of participation in sports betting is the discipline not to become addicted to gambling, not because you are disciplined in your analysis, that you will allow yourself to become addicted.
You only succeed in becoming a disciplined bettor if you have control over how you bet.

Based on my observations,gambling is not a sports,and I don't think gambling can be seen as a mental sports.There're other varieties of activities that serve as mental sports games too but for Gambling,it's definitely going to be the reverse because gambling naturally has it's effects on one's mental health.

Skill based games like particularly chess or any other game that you compete with another person requires you to employ your cognitive ability. It is not mental strength. In my estimation, mental strength has to do more with perseverance in the face of hardship or a challenging situation and not in the context in which it is used. You are able to develop your cognitive skills which includes strategy, during a game of chess. Being able to make a quick and correct decision on the spot is another feature that comes out from skill based games.

Sport betting is quite different from the regular gambling. It requires your skills combined with luck to make good predictions. I've seen a lot of people who are good in sport betting and they say same thing that, in sport betting, you have an edge in way because you literally can make analysis of which and what team might merge winners using their stats.

Unlike our regular gambling which is based solely on algorithms, we barely have an edge. We depend only on luck and experience. It might not seem like luck is in play, but it works in ways we don't understand. 

Gambling stimulates your mental abilities and bring out your capacities to light because gambling involves you taking rational decisions that are very important and critical because gambling involves you choosing between two choices and you are left with only two options too which is either you win or lose so any one gambling always brings out the best in himself.


I am of the view that anyone who is not in the right mental state of mind can't engage in gambling because gambling is about mental evaluation

Gambling has lot to impact on us, it has taught many gamblers different things that have helped developed their mental and physical behaviors because it's so fun to do and you have to also think more of being logical in playing any bet, gambling has been a source of mental exercise to some, because it also helps develop their psychological reasonings, when we play to an extent, we are going to see the impact of all these.

Of course, gambling is a form of mental sports, especially the examples you gave, but Sports betting is actually a doubt to me.
Yeah, i agree that they all require skills and proper understanding, but sport betting uses a large percentage of luck considering the fact that you as a bettor don't necessary influence the game, which is unlike Chess, Blackjack and Poker that you can influence the game more with your skill and level of thinking. You can actually be a master at Chess, Blackjack and Poker, and dominate for a very long time, but sports betting isn't like that even if you have that mental skill to make your own analysis.

I personally respect those that are very good at Chess and Poker games. I see them as extraordinary individuals, because of course, it takes good mental skill to outclass others in a 1v1 game, which is unlike sports betting.

Every aspect of gambling is a form of mental sport, when you gamble and you lose at this point you start thinking of that next step to think, either to chase your losses or to just opt out completely...this is a critical thinking because it is going to affect the outcome you get...Gambling games on the other hand are of different types and some gamblers prefer to bet on games that requires the use of skill and intelligence because the chances of winning are high

You’ve made a very good point here and if the OP can also view it from your own perspective, he’ll understand that mind games are not better played in gambling spaces but other places where money won’t be involved. As long as that money is involved, you will at a point feel that your mind is stressed out and your mind will actually make you to think about nothing but the money. When it reaches this stage, your focus will make you make many mistakes and from trying to want to correct the mistakes or get back at the market, more mistakes are made and you may find yourself addicted in the end. Different people may observe it differently, but in the long run, an obstruction will come to divert one from the main objective of the whole thing.

Honing one's mental discipline is not only limited to professional gambler, infact it is highly encourage that all gambler should hone their mental discipline so that they can avoid unwanted gambling  addiction to engulf their being.


I think this is just half of it.  Gamblers also learn from reading and analyzing other experiences.  Actually, other gamblers' experiences give more important information than the gambler's experience alone.  Those who wanted to have a higher chance of winning will always do this kind of stuff even if it is just their leisure activity.

Mental discipline is important when we gamble. Because that is the reason why we're becoming emotional.
When we know how disciplined we are mentally, we're far from being emotional.
And so, if we have to do it right away, we should do it. Not all gamblers know how to discipline themselves mentally and in the end, they become emotional.

Identify the difference between gambling and gaming firstly OP, because what you're talking about is totally about gaming and not gambling, those you mentioned are totally skilled based games and are equally as other titles of sports and  lt gambling. If you say gambling it is when some amount or anything is staked in this skilled based game on who and what will win any of the games so, if you mean gaming as a form of mental Sports yeah I agree with you and not gambling. probably change the words for better comprehension.

Any games that requires the use of mental strategies can be classified under this category, casinos are never a strategic based games and does not need mental exercise to execute. Sport betting is very good at stressing the brain to putting into work, expanding knowledge and gets a gambler to study hard. It also boost self confidence if predictions go as planned and makes you hieve a sigh of relief sometimes.

This is the fact; mostly, many newcomers will only gamble online because they are tempted by advertised promises of easy jackpot wins. They win at first, then become addicted and continue to gamble until their fortune is completely wiped out. And this is what happens now to most gamblers, newcomers.

This will certainly be different for professional gamblers or gamblers like us who already understand the risks and gamble for fun, or who have wise and controlled emotions and bankroll management so we can truly control ourselves, stop at the limits, and be consistent throughout, without immediately exceeding the limits we have set.

With mind games you get to take things even more critical than you do with the regular gambling because as you are playing against someone you are very much going to be focused on winning because at every slightest chance your opponent get they will want to use to get the most from it. The similarities you shared are actually very true and correct about both games but mostly the mind ones comes with so much to invest in it to get the best of results playing.

Calling it a mental sport is inferior to calling it a game of strategy in my opinion. I think the term mental sport could be taking it a step further i mean let's call a spade a spade here. But hey that's just me, I dont really have a ton to say about this here other than

Yes, It is important to maintain mental discipline while gambling, many times gamblers lose while gambling and then they cannot control their emotions. So instead of being emotional, controlling yourself is a responsible gambler. It is certain that you will face losses in gambling or in any business, that is why it is very important to have self-control first and keep your mental balance in a normal state. If we cannot control our emotions, then of course we are unable to be a responsible gambler, so it is important to always control ourselves to maintain mental discipline.

Though gambling might be referred as a mental sport that may involve the mind on certain games, but actually depends on individuals. As for me, certain game play or sport betting could just be for the fun irrespective of the fact that real money was used to stake them. I personally think that certain games is a big time fun whether they are mental sport or a form of gambling, it may be irrelevant in my opinion.

You mentioned chess, can I know which betting site offer chess? it should be accept cryptocurrency because we're on Bitcoin forum. I mean betting on chess where the bettor is the one who play the game, not betting on someone who play on a tournament.

I don't think so.

Playing mind games without gambling is more about improve your skill because you're not under pressure.

But, if you play mind games and gambling, it make you play with a pressure because if you lose, you will lose your money, this will affect your mental.

Why do you put chess in the gambling games category? ;D
What kind of strategies can you apply when playing Blackjack? Blackjack is a pretty simple luck based game, I don't know about any Blackjack strategies, that are actually working. I agree with your point about poker and sports betting being closely related to self-control and mental stability. Offline poker is more about "playing against the player" instead of "playing the game". You have to read your opponent's moves in poker. This is the most important skill in offline poker. This doesn't fit in the "strategy" type of thinking. This is more tied to psychology and emotional control.

afaik Poker was formally added to IMSA's list of mind sports last year, & it is currently ranked alongside Go - chess & bridge.  It is legitimate worldwide, it is not just emotional...

you know Poker tournaments are even part of the Mind Sports Olympiad, no physical prowess is needed just a lot of mental toughness & perseverance under duress.

The elements that make mind sports authentic include strategy, competitions, rankings & mental toughness.  Poker is a cerebral game, bro, it is not just cards & luck.

Yeah, gambling can be considered somewhat a "sport". But if you want be profitable you need to be "trained" and "fit".
This is not easy at all with gambling because you need to continue to collect, evaluate and analyze an amount impossible of data.
Unless you start to be focused only in a specific field you will never be able to remains profitable.
Likewise, a good gambler without current details in a tournament will continue to lose... Even the top players in ATP could be completely different after few years.
So yes, this can be considered a "sport" but this requires a specific training/effort.

Skill based games are good for the mind, when you are analyzing you are building your ability to calculate probabilities of an event occuring. But the negative aspect is that it gets boring and tiresome when you are on a losing streak after all your efforts it will seem like you are a failure, you can become discouraged to put in so much into it. Except for professional gamblers I think that the rest of us should try enjoy gambling as much as we can, analyze what we can without putting ourselves under too much pressure. In skill based gambling we can apply our best skills but we shouldn't forgot to use amount that we can afford to loose.

Sport itself implies competition, training, and, as a result of this training, victory. Can all this be attributed to gambling? It is possible to admit that there is competition in gambling, but still, with whom do the players compete? Moreover, training without regular positive results ceases to have this meaning, and ultimately, victory must be mandatory. Does everything coincide with these criteria? I would say otherwise; those people who are successful in chess, or even in poker, have greater chances in gambling, which requires attention and analytics, but it is difficult to call it a sport. Rarely do real athletes achieve success solely through luck, though there are exceptions; they earn all their accolades through diligent effort. Have you seen a player who has persistently achieved victory in gambling? Rather, I would call him an addicted person.

I feel like some reasoning feels forced. Gambling is also too general as an umbrella; I'd rather focus on one or two games where calculation and whatnot can be replicable easily. Especially when every game involves money. I can't see how someone who predicts sports betting as someone playing Chess (not betting on who will win a match, but playing it) or something similar.

The main purpose of gambling is entertainment, gambling for the purpose of making quick money or getting rich is not at all the right decision. People get bored with their jobs or businesses and need entertainment to get back to their normal lives. The excitement or entertainment that comes with gambling is not found in any other game. When we gamble for entertainment, it will not turn into an addiction in our lives, in fact, we get entertainment from there. So I think gambling is mainly good for mental peace or entertainment, it is not right to expect anything more from gambling.

I may be wrong, but the only intellectual sports are chess, bridge, checkers, and Go.  But not poker, betting, or blackjack. Of course, there are poker tournaments, but this is not an official sport. Moreover, sports betting is not an intellectual sport. There is a large element of chance in these gambling games, so it is incorrect to classify them as sports. Although they certainly develop intelligence to some extent.

You are right. If someone is using gambling to have fun, set just very small amount of money aside for it and using it to only gamble, that is enough to help the person's mental health regardless of the games the person chose. The person my not like card games and sport but like roulettes and slots. They can also help the person mental health than playing skill games and be losing all the time, getting into addiction and depression.

Yes, gambling is indeed a form of mental sport because it not only depends on physical attributes, but it also involves using one's thinking faculty to do some calculations and draw up strategies to make sure they win games and other sports that they deem fit to get involved with. However, gambling is not the only form of mental sport; others, such as games we play online and with people, also help to build our thinking faculty. Have you ever asked yourself why kids who play games a lot are very sharp and smart? That is one of the attributes of playing games, the more they play, the more they put their brain into exercise and it keeps them thinking very fast on the next move to make so that they will be on the safe side which they also apply in other activities they get themselves involved in.

Remember that the idea of this is still to strain our mind a little or should I say the essence of it is to quicken our mind and not to put it under a bad pressure of losing money. Whether you gamble with real money or not, there are still some mind games you will play and you will get that same desire of exercising your mental state, you don't have to stake with a real money first before you feel that you have exercised your mind.

Like you said that if we play with real money, it makes us be in pressure because of the lose of money, that doesn't only work with money. Try playing chess, try playing some video games against your friends, try playing some word puzzle games that has a few minutes or few seconds timer and you will feel that urgency to win and not to be defeated.

Often those people who are good at mental sports or in professions that involve high levels of thinking, such as IT or engineering, are overconfident and very arrogant.
They see that they are really smarter than most people, and so they start to think that they are right about everything and do not listen to advice even when they bring their behavior to the point of absurdity. And, of course, I am now talking about excessive love for barracks games or sports betting.

Well, I think you are forgetting about the luck factor that will always be present in any form of gambling, and this is actually part of the mental discipline you mentioned, because we know that mistakes can happen when this is not fully formed, and make it lucky for the winner, while for the loser it is unlucky. Apart from that, I feel that all types of betting or gambling are part of mental sports, only with different portions of luck and skill factors, because I feel that even luck-based games are not entirely about luck, while skill-based games are also not entirely about skill. I hope you understand what I mean, because I feel it all depends on each person's perspective.

Maybe I don't want to say that gambling can be equated with "mental exercise" the reason in all gambling activities there is a mental encouragement Called a psychiatric condition or enhancing the mood that occurs in an atmosphere when we face pressure in gambling games.

I can only say that gambling can be said to be mental sports caused by improving mood, it happens when doing gambling activities, especially the game there is a chance of winning such as increasing neurotransmitter levels in language The medical or common language that we often mention is "happy hormone" of course when winning the jackpot it can improve mood or often we say that is a feeling of prosperity.

A gambler never gambles just to feel good or to have fun because there are many other ways to feel good. If you really want to feel good, I think every gambler should choose other forms of entertainment instead of gambling. Money is directly involved in gambling, so if a gambler comes here for entertainment or just to feel good, then it will be seen that if the result goes against him, he will be financially affected, which can later become the cause of his financial problems. What I mean is that we should take gambling seriously and not gamble for fun or to feel good. We should gamble in such a way that the result does not go against us. I hope every gambler gambles for such a purpose and they take gambling seriously.

I agree that games like poker require some mental exercise to win. A good sports bettor should be skillful in analyzing games which includes identifying the strengths, and weaknesses of players and teams. But sports betting involves some level of luck because the outcome of some of these sports events is unpredictable.

Also, with the popularity of prediction sites and artificial intelligence tools, sports bettors are not engaging in strenuous mental activities because they want to forecast games. Just a click can give you a perfect analysis of two teams within a few seconds.         

Most of the games that you mentioned require skill as a precondition to do well especially chess which is not in itself gambling.

Regardless, however, gambling is by itself a stressful venture especially if your purpose primarily revolves in profit. Without that factor in mind, it could be considered as a form of mental sports like what you mentioned OP.


I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Chess, checkers and other board games are skill-based games that require tremendous amount of knowledge in order to perform significantly better against your opponents. As opposed to blackjack and poker, which are still considered as "skill-based" games in the realm of gambling, those two (2) platforms are incompatible within the same comparison.

truly gambling is a kind of mental sport... It is less about physical strength and more about strategy, calculation and critical thinking. Take for instance games like chess, poker, blackjack and even sports betting fit into this because pros in the field rely on practice, experience and making smart choices under any given pressure...same way physical sports have tournaments and rankings, gambling also has that too!!! you see events like the world series of Poker pulling massive audiences and even local chess or drafts games gather people to watch what makes it really close to sports is the mental discipline, staying calm, thinking fast and knowing how to act when the pressure is high. at the end of the day!! it is not just luck but more about preparation, consistency & skill!! which is why i see it as a true contest of the mind! just like athletes competing on the field.

Although it becomes hazy to compare gaming to gambling as a mental sport, it is true that gaming helps us develop our mental faculties. you know sometimes video games particularly action games that improve multitasking & visual skills, also occasionally improve working memory, impulse control, attention & problem solving abilities.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/08/29/UZeyj3.jpeg
https://www.nih.gov (https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/video-gaming-may-be-associated-better-cognitive-performance-children)
Look at this, Children who played video games for three hours or more a day performed exceptionally well on tests of working memory & impulse control. Even board games like Scrabble & chess improve cognitive function & reduce the risk of dementia

If you talk about gambling then i have to be bias...  i will say it has more to do with dopamine driven biases like chasing losses or random chance than it does with developing skills.  So yeah playing video games could help you think more quickly & clearly where gambling is less about strategy and more about hurry."

It's about the mental gymnastics that people engage in, making themselves feel like they are doing good, but in reality, it's a loss. I think there are a lot of problems that could come from gambling.

If it's possible, try to create something that would teach the "mental training" that someone could have.

We cannot be a good and responsible gambler if we can't control our emotions. A good gambler knows their limit and they know how to manage their emotional being.
But once it is gone, it's also a sign that you cannot become a responsible one because it's part of the factors on how to be.
Keeping yourself in control and in all aspects of it when you gamble must be maintained. Because if not, you know where you should be picked next if most of it cannot be found in you.

Games like chess are not advisable to be featured on casinos or for gambling because it's strict on levels, they'll never be a way a player whose Elo is 1300 would win against an opponent with an Elo of 2000, unless they'll find a way to match gamers with approximately same Elo, skilled players will always lie about their rating just to win huge money. It happens in tournaments too, they're players who claim to have 700 Elo but did it just to take first position, while in real sense their playing rating is close to 1500.

It was as a result of how many have been taking gambling extremely on a wrong approach that makes them to have much stress about their metal reasoning's and what they don't know is that the way they have been straining on their emotions and mental reasoning's also have to do with how they gambling and live their lives, playing bets in gambling is exercising to the rain and not that we take it wrongly for pressuring our own self being anxious for nothing.

For me, I will just take it easy, because I know in the end, even I won, I got nothing, if I lose, I lost nothing too.

It could be a mental game if I'm known as skillful person on the sport I played, then in the middle game, my friend/opponent is leading. At that time, it would affect my mental and I will try to win the game.

Well, isn't it same to poker? people need to understand the game and how to play better in order to win. If they only know the game, but not have a high knowledge, they will be beaten by skilled players.

Emotional control is one thing that every good gambler should give attention to because one thing about gambling addiction is allowing their emotions to override their senses so they are always thinking about gambling even though that they are losing money

There is a problem though... Sports require some degree of skill and ability inorder to stand up among the regular people, and obviously, there is no skill or ability to be used in gambling, it is literally just to push a button and hope for the best, while at the same time managing ones bankroll in the best way possible, in order to minimize losses in the short term.
If you look at some mental sports like chess or even MoBA games like League or legends, you would also notice all matches are between two players which have equal conditions at the beginning of the game, in the case of casino games, there is already an existing advantage in favor of the house as soon as you start your session.

Because of those reasons, I would not classify gambling as a mental sport.

I am curious to know how gambling with a small amount of money helps one to heal from mental stress, because at some point we still have health and healings to work on and not our budget to shape, if someone have mental issues hospital is the right place to get help amd not going to gambke with whatever amount wether small amount or big it doesn't matter.

People addicted to gambling do not know how to control their emotions. They are dependent on luck and their overall focus is only on making money. A gambler literally has to be mentally strong because they are involved in an uncertain industry where they entertain themselves by converting losing chances into winnings, although they tend to consider losing money as a secondary consideration.

You a right absolutely, but we can't say that gambling in general is not a mental sports, some games in gambling definitely can be refered to as a mental sports like poker which usually deals with two or more contenders if I'm not mistaken, maybe there are other gambling games that also fall in this category as well but definitely not sports betting, casino games and slot games, I don't really know about blackjack since I've never played this game before and I am yet to understand it's mechanics.

But when it comes to games like chess and other games where there are two or more contenders and winning the game is based on logic and the ability to think deep, calculate well and take the right decision, such games are indeed a mental sports game because in deep thinking, our brain becomes sharper and could be active for a very long time even when we our body becomes old.

It’s interesting to look at gambling as a kind of mind sport, but we shouldn’t mix things up. Chess or professional poker really develop strategic thinking, attention to details, and the ability to predict an opponent’s moves.
As for blackjack or sports betting, I believe they challenge a different set of skills and require a combination of discipline, experience, and quick decision-making under pressure.
It's all training in some sense, but it also comes with risks.

Sports betting can never be based on luck alone, I used to think it was but after being more involved in it, I see that your skills in analyzing these games can improve over time and the more you spend time observing teams play, you can carefully be seeing some repeated pattens in their play that can form a selection for you. There are other selections you might want to explore like corner kicks which Chelsea and Manchester city play well, So I am going to be predicting them to play at least 8 corners in their respective matches. Although we can never totally remove the luck factor from the games, but your skill contributes to a very high extent which qualifies it as a mental sports since you spend a good deal of time analyzing and predicting.

No, Chess is exclusively not related to poker, no single form of luck exists in chess, unless a blunder is commited. In Poker whoever doesn't understand the game wouldn't win against a skilled player, yes, but with a couple good hands like a straight flush, they stand a chance of winning, unless proven otherwise. Like I said earlier, chess is strictly on rating, luck won't help anybody in 1500 Elo win against a player in 2200 Elo in a blitz game, a low rated player can only stand a chance in a slow game. That is why it'll not be a nice way for gambling.

Gambling has been a motivation to some gamblers and also contributed to their mental performance, because each day they are into play bets they got to exercise their brain while playing and planning effectively to the suitable condition as they are gambling, you cant play some games without applying your mental support, because you have to reason and calculate well for the game even before playing it, which has really helped some positively.

As long as the gambler can play gambling within his control, it will be fun for him. But whenever gambling is taken wrongly, gambling will continue to have negative effects. If gambling is taken wrongly, it will create more stress on the person. That is why gambling should be taken easily. If the money that can be lost or the gambler does not have to be excited or face any financial crisis if he loses, then the gambler can easily enjoy gambling. When the gambler gambles wrongly, gambling will not be enjoyable for him.

Even though poker tournaments don't gather as many thousands of fans in the stands as football or hockey, poker is still always really interesting to watch because we see the passions running high between the players.
And, of course, I always look forward to the stage of the full disclosure of cards, because in the end, no matter how the players bluff or calculate the chance, the outcome of the game depends on the coincidence of combinations, and this is always very exciting.
And of course, this explains why many people play poker just for fun, because the game itself is very exciting.

That was my point, it can be an exercise for the mental health If not handled wrongly, there are some people that can not actually handle gambling casually without being anxious and mentally stress and that's because it involves playing with their money, if such person can not catch up with it, there is always room to play other games that doesn't require playing with money but they are still games that can help stir up one's brain.

You cannot play these games without exerting effort with your mind and body, so it's considered a mental sport,  and every mental sport can become a form of gambling if casinos decide to include it in their platform and offer it to gamblers, even if the game is of a physical type, there is also an exertion of the mind, so every sports is considered a mental sports and it need discipline to become the top of this game.

Gamblers lose money and win money, they create such an attitude that they continue to bet even after losing. Gamblers are mainly sports betting. More and more gamblers are losing money, but still they are placing sports betting bets again and again.
They participate in betting for a long time in the hope of getting big wins and every gambler bets with the aim of winning. Someday they will forget all the failures of the past by getting big wins, people who are more skilled love to take big risks.

Gambling is a kind of risk you are willing to let go like part of your self so if you want to play a risk its still considered as a gambling. Now with the the listed kind of games they arent a form of gambling they are just keeping their selves more skilled and knowledgeable with the game so they are become of the top players. But in tournaments and ranking most likely its an official game and I dont think so the players are using their money to that game instead they are using a paper money of the game itself but of course its different story if its an outside of the ev ent like the total ranks of the gamblers in the leaderboard of the casino. With the combination skills, knowledge and experience gamblers becomes more efficient to play now its up to them how they will use this to dominate the world of gambling.

I think I will disagree on this, I really don't know what's up with all the goodie goodie image that gamblers or some not even gamblers in the first place paint gambling as some sort of activity thats they can get good with , for me I think they are probably better and way safer options when it comes to the mind training and I believe gambling is an exact opposite of this all as it will ruin your mind rather than even develop it.

And they can't help themselves from moving on because they're dealt to stick in the past and that's what they're doing.
Being emotional won't push you to become a better gambler but will only give you some regrets that you should have learned before you become one.
While those experiences give you an idea on how to act properly after you have dealt with those losses, it won't guarantee you still that you won't become addicted.

That is strong case which is showing some gambling activities like poker and chess should be seen as mental sports. And yes  these games require mental strength and strategy and critical thinking to make smart decisions under pressure much like traditional sports. You also explained good similarities such as having tournaments and professional rankings and audience which show they are competitive events. I agree that both athletes and professional gamblers need discipline because with this they control their emotions and constantly practice to improve their skills and perform well when it matters.

Cheese do we consider that as a gambling game also, yes I think so but a high skill based game that it takes expertise to defeat an opponent and as a matter of fact those that gamble on this only do that based on the confidence their have in the players and how skillful their have proven to be over time, so for that reason the players have some mental engagement and calculations to come out as winners.

Mental stress varies and not all of them requires that same approach, they are some people that would definitely need to see a therapist or a doctor but there are others that just need to engage in a fun activity not necessarily gambling but if the individual finds gambling with small amounts of money exciting this can help release a chemical in the body called endorphins, this reduces stress levels and helps to elevate a person's mood

It is just like when you consider how being a regular gamer affects owners thought process. you tend to see that playing games too frequently most especially the ones that requires you to do a lot of critical thinking has a way of increasing your problem solving skills. gambling in general also has it own advantage regarding how it builds ones mental faculty as long as you are engaging in the aspect of gambling that allows you to do a lot of thinking and researches. speak to a regular gambler that is into sports betting about countries of the world and you find him being more detailed about it than someone that does geography in school. that is part of the positive side of gambling that helps boost a gamblers intellect.
 

The problem is that players usually want to place more and more bets to test themselves out of curiosity, until the stakes become too high and the game is no longer about money management, but simply on emotional swings and the probable result of which will be a complete loss. Of course, in gambling it is interesting to compete with other players, for example, I liked poker the most, in which you could use your mental abilities, in particular mathematics, to calculate the odds of the bank or the probability of certain combinations, and also try to read the psychology of players and possible bluffs.

Ok, maybe i don't get what you are talking about, because that doesn't really sound like mental strength to me.

Wouldn't that term "mental sports" be better suited to apply to any job where you need actual mental strength?

I mean with gambling, it's only your money you are dealing with, and it's easy to adjust the level of your skin in the game. So there's not much real consequences, other then losing the money, that you were ready to lose anyway. Otherwise you wouldn't have bet it.

And in comparison, consider jobs where you are responsible of life and death and moments of hesitations or a miscalculation can cost lives. Those require actual mental strength, because you are not playing. It's real life.

Even the most pragmatic gamblers begin to believe that they are the chosen ones when they win three times in a row. Especially if these lucky coincidences bring him some truly significant amount of winnings.
That's why many gamblers often say that their addiction began with one Lucky Win, which sometimes doubles the bet, and it blows the minds of these guys, completely devaluing money in their understanding. And because of this, their constant work seems unfair to them.

Yesterday, I was enjoying the story of a sport gambler who got famous after winning multiple times in a row, to an extent people waited for him whenever he closes from work, to ask for his predictions. But after the fourth or fifth win, the losses began to rain down. He had his lucky days, but players around him started seeing him as a player with predicting cheat codes. Sport gamblers won't stop amusing me with their tasty quest for winning cheats.

Yes, of course, self-control or emotional control is a crucial aspect of gambling, as it's what will save a gambler from significant financial losses. However, before you consider self-control, I think there's one thing you should address first: ensure you only gamble with money you can afford to lose.

Rationally, I believe it all starts with your ability to let go of the money. Simply put, if you're willing to lose the money from the start, self-control will be easier to implement.

Self-control is basically through controlling your emotions. And emotions come from your weak and panicky thoughts. And the one who can control emotions has the ability to control everything, not just financial matters, he can take every important decision in his life very well. When you can control your emotions, then you must think with your conscience how much money you can afford to lose and how much maximum budget you should keep for gambling. And in this way you can manage everything normally. But if you cannot control your emotions, then you will not be able to manage anything normally. And by thinking abnormally, you will keep spending more money on gambling than necessary.

It exercises, trains and stretches the mind, right? Then it is a form of sports. Every challenge that involves some mental skills has a way of developing the cognitive rating of the mind, it makes it sharper, more attentive to details and having a higher degree of accurate decision making. These skill-based games does the magic, especially when you are consistent in it, overtime you tend to build professionalism on them and the more you get better in them, the more critically you tend to reason and the better you get at decision making which validates your excellence in those games.