Soldiers using gambling to cope with stress.

[Fiatless]

Eight Hundred years ago King Richard enacted a law that restricted his soldiers from gambling during wartime. This was because it was observed that soldiers used gambling to overcome the stress of war.

Recently Ukrainian Pavlo Petrychenko soldier put forward a petition calling on Kyiv to address concerns about gambling among its battle-worn soldiers. Online gambling and access to mobile phones have made it very easy for soldiers to engage in betting under any condition.  His concern was that soldiers were falling into debt; of gambling firms using patriotic-themed advertising and tactics to target soldiers' business, and of possible security threats from Russian casino sites.

His observation was supported by many Ukrainians who signed the petition and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saw the need to control the gambling behavior of soldiers. Ukrainian higher authorities have since ordered officials to ban soldiers from all gambling activities and to put Ukraine's gambling industry under tighter control.

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-war-soldiers-gambling-industry-1.7189835

[acroman08]

I don't think they should be restricted but they should be warned about the risks and dangers gambling has. These soldiers aren't just bored, I am certain a lot of them are suffering from mental trauma caused by the war and using gambling to cope or as a way to keep them occupied. Sadly when people use gambling as a coping mechanism there is a chance that they become dependent on it. Studies have been done and shown that people who use gambling as a coping mechanism for the issues they have has a chance of getting addicted to gambling.

[Poker Player]

I guess when you're in constant danger of death, seeing that a few of your teammates are already dead or injured you look for anything to distract you. Also common is the use of drugs, anything they can get their hands on.

The banning thing, I don't know. I imagine that if they get out alive on top of having gambling debts it could be catastrophic. Post-traumatic stress and being bankrupt can leave them with serious psychiatric problems and some with the desire to commit suicide.

It is a complex problem.

[Charles-Tim]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

Soldiers should have the freedom to do what ever they like just like the civilians. If civilians are allowed to gamble why shouldn't soldiers be gambling. What I just think is that they should start or increase gambling education among soldiers in the country. They should not ban soldiers from gambling.

But it is not easy to ban people from gambling. If they ban soldiers from gambling, some soldiers will still find one way or more ways to gamble.

[davis196]

First, I don't understand the people, who are soldiers(their life is at risk) and they spend their time....gambling. I just don't get it. They could die or get injured at any moment. Can't they spend their time in a more productive way. There are productive and healthy methods to deal with stress, like meditation and reading books, for example. Does spending money in an online casino actually relieve stress? I don't think so.
Second, the soldiers are having many bad habits to cope with stress. What about those soldiers, who get addicted to drugs and alcohol?
Isn't that a problem as well? Nobody is talking about the war veterans and their addictions.

[mindrust]

That’s an interesting take on gambling.

“Gambling makes wars less stressful again”

You know what soldiers also use to deal with stress?

Drugs and alcohol. They both work wonders. When you are high on morphine or vodka, you won’t feel a damn when a limb of you gets blown off.

It is probably one of the best ways to die in a war. As long as you don’t feel it, it shouldn’t matter, right?

[Davidvictorson]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

Does gambling reduce the stress that soldiers face? I am not a soldier however I don't think that it is gambling they need to engage it. It is highly addictive and for a soldier who may likely want to cool off, they could get carried away with the it and get addicted defeating their original purpose and interfere with their performance during combat. The rule of thumb is this don't gamble of you are in the field. When you are off duty, you can gamble.

[Cantsay]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

You said if they “gamble responsibly” but the article was referring to the rate at which soldiers are gambling excessively online.

If it was just normal gambling activity just to relieve their war stress then I don’t see anything wrong with it but if there’s a chance that they’ll become addicted or start doing it excessively therefore reducing their efficiency then there’s a need to make sure they all stop gambling.

There are several disadvantages to the issue as well as the advantages but if those in-charge feel that the disadvantage outweighs the benefit then they should do what they deem necessary.

[Marvelockg]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-war-soldiers-gambling-industry-1.7189835

one of the main reasons why some of our soldiers are aggressive with people and don't relate with people like fellow humans is due to the way they are being treated and denied access to somany life's previlages. It's true that they are soldier who are saddled with an enormous responsibility of protecting life's and properties and that they need an higher level of vigilance and concentration but should that mean that a major aspect of there lives be taken away from them?

Because of the nature of thee world, they can't go to stadiums to watch live matches and most of them aren't sure if thier life is safe in the next one hour or so, why should we now deny them the privilege of gambling if that's the only thing they do for fun? In my region, police officers and most army men and the too users of lotto and once they've finished for the day's job and are retiring back home, they branch the lotto office to check there games before retiring back to the house, if it's about how addictive it could bw for them, then it's okay to maybe restrict them to some extent but if not, I don't think that it's right to deny them full access to gambling.

[Oshosondy]

Does gambling reduce the stress that soldiers face? I am not a soldier however I don't think that it is gambling they need to engage it. It is highly addictive and for a soldier who may likely want to cool off, they could get carried away with the it and get addicted defeating their original purpose and interfere with their performance during combat. The rule of thumb is this don't gamble of you are in the field. When you are off duty, you can gamble.

Can you think of many soldiers be together, making jokes, having fun, drinking together and also likely do many things together like gambling. Have you been with like 3, 4, 5 or more friends before and gamble together? Having friends around me and gambled together has been one of the reasons I missed my school days. Those people are having fun while gambling.

[TopTort777]

I see nothing bad for soldiers to gamble. They are busy most of their time, their “work” is of a high risk. Imho they can have any legal way to relax. If someone is afraid, that soldiers will be thinking about gambling and chasing losses, when they are on duty, then I believe they wont be. Their mind is already so trained to serve (talking about professional army), that they focus only on the task they are given. Moreover, they are adult and can do whatever they want with their money.

[Frankolala]

If gambling is excessive, it most lead to addiction and addiction has its own consequences which will affect the soldiers and distract them from their purpose of fighting the war. In the military, there are all kind of people there and I believe that the addicted gamblers are causing mishaps during or after the war.

This is why I think that it is the best step for the government to take in order for them to prevent their soldiers from addiction and huge debts. It is only addicted gamblers that will have gambling debts. It is better that the soldiers switch to something else to free them from war stress and truama.

[Fiatless]

Does gambling reduce the stress that soldiers face? I am not a soldier however I don't think that it is gambling they need to engage it. It is highly addictive and for a soldier who may likely want to cool off, they could get carried away with the it and get addicted defeating their original purpose and interfere with their performance during combat. The rule of thumb is this don't gamble of you are in the field. When you are off duty, you can gamble.

According to some research, gambling offers soldiers some level of relief from boredom. I am not also a soldier but I can imagine the risks and uncertainties they face while on the battlefield. Some of them use drugs, other alcohol to reduce fear of the unknown. I don't think any sane soldiers will be placing bets or checking results while they are active on the battle line. I guess many of them gamble during their spare time or when there is no danger ahead.

You said if they “gamble responsibly” but the article was referring to the rate at which soldiers are gambling excessively online.

Yeah, Pavlo Petrychenko's concern was about the effect of excessive gambling on the soldiers. However, his concern doesn't dispute the fact that there are still responsible gamblers among these soldiers. However, I just asked a question should responsible gambling be banned among soldiers even when it helps reduce the stress of war?

[Egii Nna]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

Even though we consider gambling to reduce a bit of their risk, we still have to consider the risk that might come with it. This risk can be in various ways, and in some ways, it might be fatal. I know some might say what if they will gamble responsibly, but even though they gamble responsibly, they might get into some issues of addiction because if they will be frequently gambling, not even for addiction, they will be less focused on duties because financial issues most often arise. Then what is the use of managing stress that way? Which outcome has a greater complication than its advantages? 
 
The best solution to identify this issue is to focus on more healthy skills of management, and the military sector is responsible for that in which they will be able to manage their stress. Those ways might be more beneficial than gambling, and they will even have less mental stress because gambling develops higher mental stress. 

[Hatchy]

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

For soldiers are already undergoing so many traumatic stress, people who sees death coming everyday of their life, why shouldn't they be allowed to have fun. At least these is amongst of of the good things gambling can help out with. Soldier as we know pits their life on the line for the better good of the country so I really dont know why the government would place such restrictions on them as to gamble. They should be allowed to relieve stress, play games, gamble and have fun anytime they have chance or not on the war front. The only thing they should be restricted from is spending too much on it for those who has families back home and are bread winners, the government can help control how much they put into gambling and prevent wastage due to excessive gambling.

[GreatArkansas]

(....)
Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

Gambling can be considered as a leisure activity and yes, you can use it if you are bored - but the problem here is it involves money and could lead to addiction.
I am not against gambling because I can see is there are benefits and risks to it.
For example, some people may benefit from stress relief or recreation. Risks could be addiction, financial problems, and mental health.

So for me, take for example you are a soldier like them and you put your self in their situation, it's really difficult but financial problems are more important than stress or boredom so for me, if authority will have some regulations about addiction to gambling of their soldiers, then it's much better.

[Jawhead999]

This is hard since soldiers get funded by government and they work for government, if they gamble excessively, they will drain up the government's money and they will ask more money because they have no money to buy monthly need.

I think they need to check all the soldiers and if they find soldiers that are gambling addicts, the professional need to drag them to rehabilitation in order to cure their addiction. Become soldiers not only need to have military skills, but they need to have good character and attitude too.

[Lida93]

Because they are soldiers doesn't make them superhumans that the wouldn't want to involve with what every other civilians are in order to beat boredom and the troubling memories of what transpired in the battlefield.

 The concerns shouldn't be one of a denial but should be one directed to their not becoming addicted to gambling. In other words, knowing when it's appropriate to gamble and when not to gamble...

 Let what makes soldiers to be shortly happy not abruptly be taken away from them in as much as it doesn't violate human rights it should just be regulated or with a mechanism of moderation applied.

[Wiwo]

I don't see banning of soldiers from gambling as a good approach and a source of any positive progress in the quest to keep them live and update,  because solders at war front are already going through alot of demotivating thing and for that whatever will keep the distracted from the realities and pain of war is welcome and gambling is one big source pf past time for solders.

Unless is the gambling involvement becomes an addictions to limit them from the main goal of being in the front line because that is the only time it becomes a risk allowing soldiers to gamble,  so for that government can regulate they access to cell phone when order is given and war is on, but after battle they should be allowed to have fun a few time.

[Questat]

I don't think anyone should be limited from gambling; it's our right to gamble regardless of our job. Unless we are living in a dictatorship where we don't have the freedom to choose, the problem is not gambling but individuals who are not responsible in dealing with it.

Please don't tell me that because of gambling, a large number of soldiers fall into debt and can't focus on their jobs. People assuming are just delusional. Maybe they need to investigate thoroughly before making such a conclusion.