QUESTIO:How to help a friend stop gambling addiction before he gets in too deep?

[Similificator]

So you see, i have a very close friend(also a neighbor) and he is obviously getting addicted into gambling online and is losing a lot of money in the process, i have posted already about what drives a gambler to still gamble even when they lost a lot already and i had a lot of great answers which led me to a conclusion that the things that drive a gambler to do such things is the thrill that the uncertainty of an outcome of a gamble can give and greed.
Now what i wanna know next is how can i stop someone getting more and more addicted to gambling? I wanna help my friend because we have been through a lot together and I don't want to just sit back and watch him ruin his life like those other people i know.

Please share your thoughts.
 thanks.

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[joebrook]

I think talking to the addicted gambler always seem to help in some cases and if that doesn't help, there are people that the addict greatly respects and it will be good to let those people know what's going on and when they talk to the him or her, they may listen  to that person.

[Golftech]

proper approach and continues guiding the person if possible not to allow him to be able to do his activity if you can always be in his side
for a while so you can monitor his activities and encourage him to divert his gambling time to a much profitable things maybe you just
need to think of other possible things to do for sparing your time.

[Similificator]

I think talking to the addicted gambler always seem to help in some cases and if that doesn't help, there are people that the addict greatly respects and it will be good to let those people know what's going on and when they talk to the him or her, they may listen  to that person.

But what kind of things should i say to him? He respects me, but I don't think I'm enough, he has a girlfriend that he really loves though, and his family. He might listen to them. But it would really help if i could be able to say the right things.

Edit:

proper approach and continues guiding the person if possible not to allow him to be able to do his activity if you can always be in his side
for a while so you can monitor his activities and encourage him to divert his gambling time to a much profitable things maybe you just
need to think of other possible things to do for sparing your time.

But I cannot be always by his side because i have lots of things to do also, i could spend time with him but not that much. I think telling his family or gf would be a nice idea. Any suggestions on what profitable things i should introduce to him??

[iram1011]

See as a friend you can't really hit his psychological level. You need to trigger his thought process which wouldn't be an easy task for you as your friend is addicted to gambling and is still playing after having a huge loss. Also, people tend to ignore or pay less attention to the advise when it comes from someone of equal age. You better consult a psychologist if situation is grave or if you are really concerned. People are doubtful of consulting a psychologist, but believe me this is the best possible step right now. If you can't meet one, then try some helpline numbers.

[mrcash02]

People can only be helped if they want to be helped... It's your friend choice if he wants to continue gambling wasting time and money or if he wants to stop gambling to do something really useful in his life. What you can do is to advice, talk to him, but the final decision will still be his.

Don't torture yourself for third's choices.

[btc-facebook]

It's depend on family support or religion to prevent things getting worse since I've my uncle who succedd run from gambling debt because he stopped gambling at all

[BitcoinSupremo]

The best help is to convince him to get help from professionals , like gamblinganonymous which helps addicted gamblers get better and totally forget about gambling. If there is no gamblinganonymous organization in your country, surely search for gambling help and it will list your options in your country from where to get help. Talking to him to quit gambling will simply not work. He needs to get special qualified help for such problem.

[tyz]

Well, in my opinion you can not do it alone. You have to gather all the family members, including parents, sisters, brothers, wife, husband etc, to convince him about how dangerous gambling could be for him. You will very likely fail if you are going to convince him by your own. I do not know how deep your friendship is but usually it is not deep enought to beat the addiction. If nothing helps I would try to force him to look for professional help.

[knightmairesaint]

The best help is to convince him to get help from professionals , like gamblinganonymous which helps addicted gamblers get better and totally forget about gambling. If there is no gamblinganonymous organization in your country, surely search for gambling help and it will list your options in your country from where to get help. Talking to him to quit gambling will simply not work. He needs to get special qualified help for such problem.

I do not know about gambling anonymous. Here in my country, we used psychological professionals and therapists as an outside person whom we can go to if gambling addiction can not be treated at home. For me, besides from helping a friend to get rid of addiction it is also very helpful if we are not going to judge him. People's judgement whom we are very close to often have a bigger and deeper affect when it come to our personal character. Moral support as well as not leaving a friend at time like this is also very helpful.

[emberbekas]

So you see, i have a very close friend(also a neighbor) and he is obviously getting addicted into gambling online and is losing a lot of money in the process, i have posted already about what drives a gambler to still gamble even when they lost a lot already and i had a lot of great answers which led me to a conclusion that the things that drive a gambler to do such things is the thrill that the uncertainty of an outcome of a gamble can give and greed.
Now what i wanna know next is how can i stop someone getting more and more addicted to gambling? I wanna help my friend because we have been through a lot together and I don't want to just sit back and watch him ruin his life like those other people i know.

Please share your thoughts.
 thanks.

You can persuade him to be active on other activities he likes. Help him until he can forget gambling and busy at his new activity. Make him feel comfortable with his new activity. It needs time and efforts!

[peter0425]

So you see, i have a very close friend(also a neighbor) and he is obviously getting addicted into gambling online and is losing a lot of money in the process, i have posted already about what drives a gambler to still gamble even when they lost a lot already and i had a lot of great answers which led me to a conclusion that the things that drive a gambler to do such things is the thrill that the uncertainty of an outcome of a gamble can give and greed.
Now what i wanna know next is how can i stop someone getting more and more addicted to gambling? I wanna help my friend because we have been through a lot together and I don't want to just sit back and watch him ruin his life like those other people i know.

Please share your thoughts.
 thanks.

Just sit down and talk to your friends. And explain all the negative things that gambling can bring to his life. Obviously, you can't be there in his side 24/7, but you can try to contact him if you fell he is going to gamble and try to persuade him not to. The only problem I'm seeing is that if your friend doesn't listen because he is already addicted and very deep in gambling. A counselor could also help like a intervention or something.

We have been in this kind of situation better, personally I reach out when I can't take my addiction anymore. I talk to my families and they are supportive on me that's why I was able to quit long time ago and just gamble for fun. Talk to his family as well maybe they can really persuade your friend to stop gambling or at least minimized it.

[JL421]

Just show him other gamblers stats who have lost in past tell him the effects if he doesn't stop how hard it is going to hit him financially and how hard it is to recover your losses when it becomes too high because of his addiction. Just be with him always and enter his into his privacy to check he isn't gambling time to time

[MinerHQ]

Just show him other gamblers stats who have lost in past tell him the effects if he doesn't stop how hard it is going to hit him financially and how hard it is to recover your losses when it becomes too high because of his addiction. Just be with him always and enter his into his privacy to check he isn't gambling time to time

Being a friend can't stay with him always. But you can just give him an advice not go gamble and its effect on people. You better involve his family members help to solve this issue because they can monitor him closely and more time than you. Ask him to involve in outdoor games to spend his free time and ask his family members always stay with him to get him involved in some activities until he forgets about gambling.

[Saidmod]

Your friend is to lucky to have a friend like you. I think you can do bring him in the places or activity that will let his mind leave the gambling games. If it works much better but if he insist to go with you maybe you can try to play with him and told him to lessen it. Explain him the possibilities and he will listen to you because your friends.

[Similificator]

Wow, I really have learned a lot from all the suggestions you guys shared. I now have thing in mind to help him stop his gambling addiction; one is to try and get some professional help from a psychologist or psychiatrist for whatever it is that might work well, another is to try and get some help from people who are closer to him and can be with him a most of the time everyday like his gf, mom, bro, sis, or anyone in his family.
Thanks for the thoughts guys. Really appreciate it. Will still be watching this thread just incase another brilliant thought is posted.

[milewilda]

So you see, i have a very close friend(also a neighbor) and he is obviously getting addicted into gambling online and is losing a lot of money in the process, i have posted already about what drives a gambler to still gamble even when they lost a lot already and i had a lot of great answers which led me to a conclusion that the things that drive a gambler to do such things is the thrill that the uncertainty of an outcome of a gamble can give and greed.
Now what i wanna know next is how can i stop someone getting more and more addicted to gambling? I wanna help my friend because we have been through a lot together and I don't want to just sit back and watch him ruin his life like those other people i know.

Please share your thoughts.
 thanks.

If he do listen to you when you are talking to him and do some actions then it would really be worth to help him but if you do see that he just neglect or reject your advices then better to stop that because you are really just wasting your saliva and stressing you out for sure. People would stop completely if they do really to do so.Its not simple  as it sounds but if a particular person is serious on quitting then i would say it wont really be a problem.

[masterwakokok7]

To be honest it would be so hard to stop it. As you said he 's not yet in the peak of his addiction. If you have a lot courage even though he gets mad at you then enroll him in a rehabillitation center in which specializes in gambling addiction. Since he will not listen to whatever you will say about gambling, let the family speak to him. I think its much better if you let the family handle this. I know his your friend but this type of problem should be address by his family.

[Intersan]

Well, this question is very interesting. I'm happy if I play gambling with my friends because it os one of taking out the stress and to relax. But much better to stop involving in gambling cause it's not profitable and not beneficial. To avoid become addicted in gambling, I choose to play some sports like basketball, chess, takraw and etc. with my friends. In this way we have alternative to gambling and it is exercise also,then if they want to play gambling I did not entertain them instead go in computer shop and play some games with my friends.

[michkima]

This is a nice topic, I think the best way to help him stop before he gets in too deep is to show him the realities of gambling. Tell him and convince him that indeed you can profit from gambling but at what cost? The profits will never out weigh the losses that you will incur by gambling and trying to profit. Losses should just remain losses, and chasing them will always be a bad idea.