Poverty is the fuel for gambling addiction

[Davidvictorson]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

[Ruttoshi]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

Thinking of using gambling as a means of income will end up bringing disappointment to that gambler because your chance of winning an amount higher than your minimum wage every month is very slim since gamble is based on luck and no one knows when will be your lucky day.

However, your minimum wage is constant and that is why it is better because at the end of service you will be given gratitude and pensions. If you want to win and make profit from gambling your road to addiction is very close and addiction will destroy your future. Gamble for fun and not for profit.

[Charles-Tim]

See the lists of top 10 countries that gamble most in the world:
https://www.analyticsinsight.net/uncategorized/10-most-popular-sports-betting-countries

India
United Kingdom
Italy
Nigeria
Canada
Brazil
Argentina
USA
Poland
Australia

The rate of poverty in countries like United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, United States, Poland and Australia are not much and they are developed countries.

[knowngunman]

What makes you think your country is poor? Is the minimum wage the basis for measuring country's poverty rate? The answer is simply No. In fact, Nigeria is among the countries that pays higher salaries and allowances to government officials. This simply means the country is not poor but suffering from bad leadership.

Going back to the topic of discussion, how about addicts who earn a decent amount on a regular basis to cater for their needs? Is poverty also their problem? I don't think so. You can not compare gambling winning with minimum wage because no matter how well you get paid, gambling makes use of multiplication and in no time it'll surpass your earning if accumulate the odds.

Addiction has to do with individual and not by what they earn or the category they belong. Sincerely speaking, most addicts are from well doing family. Of course, I'm not against your assertion but when we talk about real addiction, poverty is not the primary cause. Poverty actually makes a lot of people to gamble but Indiscipline irrespective of their class push them to addiction.

[cabron]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

In short, the reward of winning keeps the man gambling. This is true even in a country that is not poor. When the financial status of a man is not as great as a man who loves his job but continues to work because he has to earn, he will resort to something else and gambling answers it. A game of slot where you can just bet as little as $0.10 yet the thought of winning already is just a bottom away can make it addicting.  If the money can lift the poverty even just for a day, that's flowing dopamine.

[Falconer]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

Poor people seem to try their luck at gambling and they really hope that luck will accompany them. Betting all the monthly salary on slots is not one of the best options if they want to win, I mean the probability of winning on slots is very low compared to sports betting. Many successful gamblers win at sports betting, but the problem is that some of them lose because they aim to win at high odds.

The wrong mindset about gambling is when you think that just by gambling you can double your money. Gambling is no longer considered a place of fun, but gambling is to make money for them. If they continue like this, then no improvement can be expected, except more losses.

[avikz]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

Poverty could be one of the triggers for gambling addiction. But that's not the only reason for it. Have a look at the list shared by Charles-Tim. Six out of 10 countries are not poor, rather they are one of the most developed countries. So I can't agree to the statement that poverty causes gambling addiction.

There could be many other things that triggers such addiction. Even government regulations play a major role here. But this addiction is an individual mindset.

[Mia Chloe]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.
I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game.

Op I get the reason you are saying this however I still don't believe that poverty leads to addiction or that poor people are the highest percentage of gambling addicts. Rather I'm of the opinion that addiction leads to poverty. If you'll agree with me , there are gambling addicts out there who are rich persons still just like there are also poor people who are addicts. Addiction is simply the result of poor gambling habits and practices.

Let's logically analyse the fact that a genuinely poor person may not even have the funds to stake in gambling bets and games. Even if they do due to some nasty addiction, they is a high likelihood that they were in a better financial state previously before their addiction. My point is whether poor or rich, addiction is something that can affect any class. It's just a matter of stacked up poor habits.

[Coyster]

We can possibly come up with many causes of gambling addiction, but there is no one reason that applies to everyone, X can go into gambling because he is poor and erroneously thinks gambling will make him rich, whilst Y can go into gambling because he has good money, but he wants to double it. Anybody who gambles because they are poor, will prolly get poorer, gambling isn't there to bring one out of poverty, it should be fun and not something your life hangs on.

[virasog]

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

If this formula has worked don't you think that everyone in the third world country will start to gamble and eventually become rich ?
We do not have an ideal world where a person will gamble and win a 50$ or 100$ in a hour or in a day. Many times you will see people losing the seed money and at times, after winning some amount, lose everything in next games.

The reality is that if 100 people use this approach to get more money than their monthly income, only 10% or less may be lucky to succeed and the rest will lose all the money and become even more poorer.

[carlfebz2]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

When desperation kicks in then it would really be that hard to resist out specially if you are really that indeed need of money and we do know into our minds that gambling would really be the nearest thing
on which you could really be able to deal with so that you could possibly be able to attain up these things. As for addiction then yes it would really be that most likely that you would really be able to find yourself that getting addicted on the time or moment you would really be trying out to chase those loses or even trying out to be a winner. When money making would really be your main consideration then
you would really be that definitely be ending up on having those impulsive approach or actions that you would really be taking upon. Its one of the factors on being poor but not all would really be
ending up with this kind of approach on things and there were still who are sensible.

[danherbias07]

But that should not be the case. I know most poor people are wiser than those who are rich. They can somehow budget their money for a long time even though they are paid just the minimum wage.
Because of the growth of the gambling industry, they become a gambling addict and not because of their status in life. They think they have the chance to win the jackpot because many testimonies come out that they are paid a lot in gambling.

I totally disagree with that kind of idea and I don't recommend it for every poor that is here in the forum. It's always out choice so we better think twice before we start gambling our money.
We cannot blame being poor to tell to ourselves that is the reason on why we gamble. It's just stupid.

[Sim_card]

The hope of making a fortune without working hard but through gambling is one major reason for addiction and not poverty. A lot of gamblers at the beginning will always have it at the back of their minds that they want to hit the jackpot and change their lives with it, which is not true. This is what will trigger them to excessive gambling without reserve leading the to addiction. Only few gamblers will be able to understand that gambling cannot give you a guarantee of making profit and they discipline themselves due to excessiveosses. Rich and poor gets addicted to gambling, which means that addiction is for all when you lack self control and discipline.

[rachael9385]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

Actually, I don't think that poverty is what makes the gambler to become addicted to gamble, though if the person is poor then raising $1 alone will be hard, so why would the person gamble when he or she can not provide $1?
But what makes the gamblers to become addicted is that they have the believe that gamble can make them become wealthy, so they choose to stake higher believing that one day they will win huge money.
So, I think that the rich and the average salary earners are the people that gamble more. Let's say that the rich gambler for fun while the average salary earners gamble for profits, and having the believe that gamble can make you rich is what makes gamblers become addicted and having such believe is based on choice.

[Wiwo]

Poverty is the fuel of gambling in most cases and this is why you can fine more gambling shops in poor people environments and fine banks and other investment institutions in rich forks environment, in most underdeveloped countries around the world, much more so it is a fact that poor forks gamble with the aim of winning that can make them excape poverty.

Rich guys gamble for the fun of gambling, and that is why you see that many rich guys are the high rollers in gambling, this also goes with rates of gambling addiction between the poor forks and the rich guys, you fine higher rate of gambling addiction in the poor environment than you also fine in the rich guys environments.

[Zoomic]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

I live in a poor country where the minimum wage is less than $50. It is not secret that the rate if gambling is one of the highest in my country and I think this is one of the reasons. A person can win more than their monthly  which is equivalent to the minimum wage in less than one hour by playing a slot game or any other game. This leads them to think to himself that if they their monthly income in under an hour, then I need to play more often so as to make twice  or even triple to meet up with my needs which the minimum wage doesn't meet. This thought pattern is reinforced by another win, even if is just once a week, it makes the neural pathways in the brain stronger, and this lays the foundation of gambling addiction. What you guys think?

Everything is all about mindset. A poor person has different options to make money from, but chooses to go after gambling which can even drain him the more. A person who is not poor can also get addicted to gambling. What then could be the problem, it is all their mindsets. Their minds have been so affected that they begin to believe that there is no other way anywhere except through gambling. No person with a positive mindset will choose to consider gambling as a source of income, especially a poor person.

The sad thing to note is that, the majority of poor people who chose gambling as a source of income never got a better standard of living aside the false hope that things will get better some day.

[milewilda]

The hope of making a fortune without working hard but through gambling is one major reason for addiction and not poverty. A lot of gamblers at the beginning will always have it at the back of their minds that they want to hit the jackpot and change their lives with it, which is not true. This is what will trigger them to excessive gambling without reserve leading the to addiction. Only few gamblers will be able to understand that gambling cannot give you a guarantee of making profit and they discipline themselves due to excessiveosses. Rich and poor gets addicted to gambling, which means that addiction is for all when you lack self control and discipline.

Only lazy people are the ones who would really be thinking up this way on which it is really just that a shame that you might be able to consider up yourself on playing gambling just because you are seeing yourself being a poort. There might be some poor gamblers who do really be able to having this kind of mindset on whichit would really be something your driving for you to play even more because you do know back in mind that you could really be able to make yourself thatb eing a rich person on the time or moment that you would really be able to make yourself that being a winner in gambling. We do know in todays on condition on how
many people are really that sitting on the poverty line on which there would really be those people who would really be thinking up with possible ways and methods on making money,while others had been that
realistic approach to it.

Just as important that it should be when making up decisions because we know that once desperation kicks in, then it would really be that so damn hard to resist on the time that you
are seeing yourself making up some actions which are obviously it is really just that because you are trying out to achieve something. This is why you should really be
that careful on dealing with it because not intended for you to make money but rather you would be playing because for pure entertainment.

[Findingnemo]

This is one of the reasons why people become addicted to gambling.

Nope, it's just lazy and not willing to do whatever it takes to overcome the financial situation they look for something happens instantly which is like a miracle and almost never happens especially for desperate ones so provery is not the fuel the underlying cause which is greed to make.

There are still billions of people who is having financial problems but not chose gambling as a solution to them which clearly sums up its all up to the individuals.

[bitbollo]

this is a real interesting discussion also because has been conducted with a scientific paper (peer review - 2 IF).

I am not going to analyze the full work (it will requires a lot of time...) but I will just take conclusion for some interesting point...

We present the first public dataset on gambling behaviour among a sample of Nigerian history undergraduates in select public universities. We believe it is the first study to also analyze sampling adequacy, missing data, normality, and outliers in undergraduate gambling behaviour data in Nigeria. Data from the study dataset may be useful for further comparative analytic surveys on undergraduate gambling behaviour across academic disciplines in Africa. It may be necessary to examine a multivariate dataset for gambling behaviour among undergraduate history students to shed more light on this problem. The study has some limitations such as that the dataset was only generated with a unidimensional scale, and that it was limited to undergraduate history students. To provide additional insight into this problem behaviour among undergraduate students, future research will have to extend its range of sample by encompassing a more expansive sample of undergraduate students. In future research, the gambling behaviour data should be collected using multi-dimensional scale, which will allow for additional insight into the problem gambling behaviour of undergraduate history students.

As you can see this is just 1 dataset (clear there are some bias due selection).
Moreover the authors clear said "The study has some limitations such as that the dataset was only generated with a unidimensional scale, and that it was limited to undergraduate history students".
This lead to "future research will have to extend its range of sample by encompassing a more expansive sample of undergraduate students".

You can consider this just as a "description" / show of some data that it's really hard to provide evidence.
Even if you can (hypothesis) find some real evidence this is limited to a specific dataset and a specific "population".
This doesn't means that this theory is unreal or anything else, just more evidences should be provided to have some conclusion.

As pointed already by other user, even "rich western countries" have an issue with gambling addiction.
I come from Italy and I can confirm in my country there was a "gambling mania" with scratch cards, bingo and slots.
I will not point out to poverty (some people many times have also a "normal job"). Personally I explain this with strong marketing and heavy promotion (watch this ... is Italian language but images are pretty clear ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKgkYxWoZ-M ).
But I think that lack of economic / statistic / math education has created the explosive mix since people didn't realize what are the real chance of win and what are the risks related to this activity.

The gambling industry is the 3° in Italy as turnover! Here some data taken from a reputable source...
https://www.aboutpharma.com/sanita-e-politica/gioco-patologico-nessuno-sa-quanti-ne-soffrano-in-italia-dove-le-scommesse-sono-la-terza-industria-nazionale-per-fatturato/

[Dewi Aries]

In a financial stress situation I think it is usually very easy for someone to justify any means just to get money to overcome the financial problems they are experiencing, and not infrequently I also hear that one of the reasons someone steals is because they are experiencing problems in their financial life so they are desperate to commit various crimes to get something they need.

That means overall I agree with your opinion OP that experiencing financial problems can also be the main trigger for someone to make gambling an alternative to overcome their financial problems, although not all gambling scenarios with the intention and purpose are triggered by pressure from financial problems but most gamblers who come to make money are those who experience these problems with high hopes and beliefs.