When should you consider yourself an addict

[Karl_3000]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

He is not affected by gambling but I do not like the way he is losing money on gambling but he said he is not using more than 50% of his monthly salary to gamble and my mouth was wide opened when I heard it.

[Findingnemo]

Spending 30 or even 50% of the earnings can be considered as reckless, but when the person realizes that he is spending more money than he should and he tries stopping it but he just can't break his habit that is why we can consider him as an addict.

[_act_]

Spending 30 or even 50% of the earnings can be considered as reckless, but when the person realizes that he is spending more money than he should and he tries stopping it but he just can't break his habit that is why we can consider him as an addict.

Gambling addiction is more than that, some people are addicted to gambling but they will still argue with you that they are not addicted. Only when they will realized that they are actually addicted to gambling is when they lost huge amount of money like their parents money that was kept with them or a company's money where they are working. There are many people that ignor gambling addiction as a disease and they may not know they are affected until they started to see the negative effect on their lives. Recommended percentage to gamble with is 1% of your weekly monthly income.

[Ruttoshi]

You should consider yourself an addict, the moment you cannot do without gambling. If you haven't gamble in  the day you wouldn't be satisfied. However, if you start gambling for profit, you can also be considered an addict because it must lead to addiction since most of the addicted gamblers were playing for profit and continue to chase their losses.

When you start borrowing money to gamble, you are already addicted. Don't gamble when you don't have money and stop gambling after you have reached your limit. You are to only use your part of your discretionary money to gamble. Addicts don't accept that they're addicted. That's the trick.

[Hatchy]

He is not affected by gambling but I do not like the way he is losing money on gambling but he said he is not using more than 50% of his monthly salary to gamble and my mouth was wide opened when I heard it.

Addiction comes in different ways. Sometimes we don't even know we are addicted and just see it as something we normally do. But if we go by how addiction is defined, it's something that we normally can't do without even if it's not necessary. So many people find their self in this category and say to them self that they aren't. For your friend here, to me he's already heading that way. Why spend so much of your earnings gambling? What about your family needs or other things which would require funds? Don't gamble with money you cannot afford to lose that's something that should be at the midnight of every gambler.

[Apocollapse]

Why do you trying to control his life?

It's more about you don't like his decision over respect what he choose, since he said he didn't affected by his gambling addict, there's no need to limit or suggest him to do what you want.

People should consider if they're an addict if gambling cause a problem or harm to their personal life.

[Findingnemo]

Spending 30 or even 50% of the earnings can be considered as reckless, but when the person realizes that he is spending more money than he should and he tries stopping it but he just can't break his habit that is why we can consider him as an addict.

Gambling addiction is more than that, some people are addicted to gambling but they will still argue with you that they are not addicted. Only when they will realized that they are actually addicted to gambling is when they lost huge amount of money like their parents money that was kept with them or a company's money where they are working. There are many people that ignor gambling addiction as a disease and they may not know they are affected until they started to see the negative effect on their lives. Recommended percentage to gamble with is 1% of your weekly monthly income.

But how often people give any value to what others saying about our actions that is why the best indicator or symptom will be when the user force himself to stop but can't which is a strong sign that he is already deeply addicted. But yeah I agree with that budget part which is fair if someone kept it less than 5% and anything more can leads to issues or might triggers the greed and everything just follows.

[YOSHIE]

When should you consider yourself an addict

I consider myself a loser where the games or bets I place and play never win, I always lose when fighting bookies, there is no chance of winning for me, I often think of myself as a loser.

We have experienced defeat every day, almost every day we lose, there is no chance of winning, for me it annoys more than me personally, for that reason losing a lot is also something that someone normally considers losers or incompetents, can only spend, but never put in money or memories.

[Floxynice]

Let's get something straight. Addiction is not determined by how much you lose, but how much time you spend on something. I can lose a very huge amount on gambling in just few minutes and I may still not be addicted. I was just careless to have lost a huge amount of money.

Talking about me knowing when I would say "oh yeah, I am addicted ", that would be if I notice that I cannot go a day without gambling. I suddenly become restless when I am unable to gamble. To make matters worst, I start receiving complaints from my workplace, family, friends and some social networks I belong to on my sudden change of attitude and inability to complete tasks. I would know immediately that something is wrong.

[LogitechMouse]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

He is not affected by gambling but I do not like the way he is losing money on gambling but he said he is not using more than 50% of his monthly salary to gamble and my mouth was wide opened when I heard it.

30% of his monthly income on gambling is your basis if a gambler is addicted or not? Well, it's your preference, but for me, that's not how I look at somebody on whether they're addicted into gambling or not.

If he continues to gamble despite losing too much money then that can be considered an addicted one.
If gambling is affected him negatively already, but he can't stop himself then that could be another sign of an addicted gambler.

There are many more, but these are the 2 things that I'm looking. Most of the addicted gamblers will do negative things just to sustain their hobby or maybe recover their lost capital. Some of them are getting depressed or getting stressed out as well because of losses that they can't afford to lose unfortunately. An addicted gambler will have a hard time stopping and if they don't have money anymore, they'll find a way to have one. When will I consider myself an addicted gambler? I don't know if that time will come because after all, I can control myself, and I'm not overspending on gambling as well.

[Pandu Geddon]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

He is not affected by gambling but I do not like the way he is losing money on gambling but he said he is not using more than 50% of his monthly salary to gamble and my mouth was wide opened when I heard it.

You might not know that half of his remaining monthly salary is enough to cover his financial needs for a month. Or it could be that he doesn't need a lot of money for his needs. 
I see that spending more money on gambling is not the main reason someone becomes addicted to gambling. When you start forcing yourself to gamble when you actually don't need to, you are actually at the doorway of addiction.

[Finebone]

Spending 30 or even 50% of the earnings can be considered as reckless, but when the person realizes that he is spending more money than he should and he tries stopping it but he just can't break his habit that is why we can consider him as an addict.

30 to 50% of one's income seems too high to gamble with, but I still don't think that it's enough to categorize such person as an addict, since some gamblers are used to taking higher risk.
Where I will start seeing a gambler as an addict is when the gambler start having that mindset of he can't do without it, that's the mental state that addiction sets in, they feels like their lives is tied to gambling, so they can't stay for a day without gambling, that's what addiction is all about.

[Agbe]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

I don't think that is an addiction. The 30% you mentioned can be used at once and the if the remaining balance is capable of sustaining him again to the next month then it is not addiction. Addiction is when a gambler frequently visit the casinos and gamble without a control. But from your story, your friend can control himself and probably he has a budget of gambling a month so he is not an addicted gambler.

[Crypt0Gore]

Too focused on winning that you are winning to throw any amount into it, no risk management in place, some gamblers will strive all the time to get some money and they will take small amount for their own sake like food money and waste the rest on gambling, they have this mind that the more they gamble the likely they would win.

Gambling doesn't deserves more than a percent of total income or maximum of 2%, anyone that risks more than this is already becoming a addicted gambler.

[bitzizzix]

It all depends on your monthly income, but in my opinion, spending 30% of your monthly income on gambling still constitutes compulsive gambling or a gambling addiction.
Because I believe there's no balance between basic needs, savings or investments, and bills, if any, and these are the things that should be prioritized. And if your income can't cover everything, you'll run into problems. You should set aside funds for gambling after prioritizing more important things and using money you can afford to lose. If this continues, I believe it will often negatively impact or even cause problems in your ability to meet basic needs and other expenses, especially when your gambling activity isn't profitable.

[Maus0728]

In regards to what OP's friend have said, I have to disagree because not everyone has the levels of self-awareness to be able to accept the fact that they are addicted to something, remember that there is a stigma on addicts in our society so it is a difficult thing to also admit no matter how aware you are of your current situation and another thing, most of us have a really bad gauge of how much we are doing or what our current situation is, we might overestimate and/or underestimate ourselves on this particular strength and/or weakness so I cannot say for sure that there is an accuracy on how someone see themselves.

If we were to put aside that part that we are bad at estimations of ourselves probably the best thing to do is look outwards, towards the people that are affected by your actions, understand how you affect them with your habit, and if you are lucky enough, the people around you are going to tell you that you are having a problem already.

I love that you are concerned about your friend but I have to advice you that these people are going to be in denial most of the time about their addiction, these people saying that they can control what they are doing is probably something that they have come up as an excuse so people around them are in relief that they can stop whenever they want, that friend of yours is probably addicted already, and he or she might be the worst kind of addict, the closeted kind. Maybe an intervention can help but that is a difficult thing to do for this type of addict but efforts will bear fruit hopefully.

[danherbias07]

That's a lot of money if he is spending 30 percent of his monthly salary. I will probably be punched by my wife if I do that.

The problem with gambling addicts is that they won't admit it, and that is why it is difficult to help them. They will keep on telling themselves that they are okay and they are in control, but the fact is that they just cannot be true to themselves.
I won't force it if he is not accepting any of your advice. Just let him be and pray that soon he will realize that you are right.

[xenomorfo]

Why do you trying to control his life?

It's more about you don't like his decision over respect what he choose, since he said he didn't affected by his gambling addict, there's no need to limit or suggest him to do what you want.

People should consider if they're an addict if gambling cause a problem or harm to their personal life.

Well done Apocollapse, we were born free and we must remain free
No one or anything, state, religion or anything else should take the right to decide for us
the important thing is to take responsibility for what you do, like adults

otherwise it doesn't make much sense

[Bitcoin.com97]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

He is not affected by gambling but I do not like the way he is losing money on gambling but he said he is not using more than 50% of his monthly salary to gamble and my mouth was wide opened when I heard it.

The moment you don’t have self control over betting ,you should be considered as an addict , investing over 30 to 50% of your income is a real addiction because at the moment even your valuables  can be used to bet , there are people who even barely step out because they are focused on predictions and placing bet , so  investing so much time on gambling is also an addiction, too focused on winning to a point you don’t think about your losses but you only based on winning big , these are the things I considered as addiction.

[Dunamisx]

A friend of mine was in an argument with me about when someone should consider himself as an addict, I said if anyone is losing 30 percent or more of his monthly income on gambling, that he is an addict but my friend said no.

From our monthly earnings, we can decide to assign a portion of it into gambling base on what we can afford, then if we truly believe that gambling is for fun and entertainment, then we wouldn't mind losing all that has been set aside for gambling in catching the fun, except we are gambling for money sake, losing does not make addiction, continuous play only suggest more interest in having fun and not a displeasure for losing, neither does it ensures for addiction.