The Silent Cost of Gambling: Time, focus, and Opportunities

[Itz-prisigold]

There are always losses when gambling  and when people talk about losses, they almost always talk about money. They talk about how much was lost, how much they could have been won, or how close they were to hitting a big one. To me, money is only the visible part of the cost,  what about all the time, focus, and opportunities you have missed from chasing these bets?

1. Time is First Thing Gambling Takes

Money can sometimes be recovered. Time can’t,  One gambling session might not be that harmful, but the hours you have spent gambling over weeks and months are hours that you could have put towards learning a new skill, building a side hustle, or even taking care of yourself.

Gambling tricks people into feeling productive.  That's the biggest issue,  it tricks people into feeling like they are doing something productive.

2. Gambling Takes Attention From You and You Don’t Realize It

Even when you are not actively placing bets,  gambling is always on the back of people's minds. You think about how you could have won, you will lose and still think about how you could have played the game differently, you are always calculating your next move, this cycle of thinking creates a constant buzz in your head and takes your focus away. You will not be focus at work and doing schoolwork becomes a lot tougher, Over time, this mental exhaustion can be more damaging than the financial loss itself.

3. Missed Opportunities

This is where the cost becomes truly silent,  while time and focus are being consumed by gambling, other opportunities are lying in wait.

.Learning how to  trade or invest

.Time that you could have used to build a skill that slowly adds value to your life instead of taking from it.

.Networking or  improving one’s career

.Even investing in  Bitcoin instead of gambling.

In Crypto gambling, you are losing Bitcoin and with that, you are equally losing the potential that the Bitcoin could have in the future.

4.The Trap Of One More Bet

It's not the intention of gamblers to spend hours gambling. It usually starts with “just one bet.” Then, it becomes 20 bets. Then the order becomes factory where bet after bet after bet, it becomes a situation that you must do every single day, whether it is in the morning, the night, at lunch. It becomes so entraping that you start losing days and weeks of time that you are gambling. Ultimately you are investing time and it far outweighs the value of the outcome.

5. Why this Cost Is Hard to Measure

Casinos display account balances, big wins, and huge losses, but never display:

.Time spent

.Hours of mental frustrations

.Missing out on life

These are the things that the casino will not show or measure, and that’s why they are easily overlooked and ignored. But they are the things that are needed to differentiate someone who has an occasional gambling habit to someone who has a gambling problem that they can’t control.

Lastly:

This post is not about telling people to stop gambling,  people are free to do whatever they want. The post only explains that gambling takes more than money.  Sometimes we lose things that we do not realize are more valuable than money.

When many gamblers look back  they actually do not recall the money as much as they recall the time and mental  effort lost that could have been used to achieve something worthwhile.

What do you think is the most overlooked expense of gambling?

[masulum]

basically, time is a higher price to pay than a small win they get. Of course, big wins compensate for that time, but this don't always come to gamblers. Sports betting may be easier to manage time, but for card and slot players, they can waste more time, so taking a break may not be an option anymore for several gambler, this also become a reason for gambler to continue betting even when losing or following trap to betting more.

[Agbamoni]

Only an irresponsible gambler will be affected by what you mentioned.
It takes me no more than 5 minutes to gamble, and I'm done with it. The only thing I'll do later on is to check the result.
I dont gamble when im working. I use only my free time. So neither time, focus, nor opportunity is lost when I gamble.
Well, many gamblers have fallen short of what you mentioned because of addiction.

[DPHOR]

Whomever gambling distract from achieving what they shouldn't achieved then you must know that the person already has chosen to be an irresponsible gambler, and yes I meant it. There are people who are gambling which I know till date has never ceased to achieve what they are meant to achieved and as a matter of fact if they don't tell you they gambles you wouldn't know but they gamble but do not allow gambling to entirely take off their attention from whatever they are doing out there, and they also have business they are managing and their business is moving fine. Look, what I understood from most people is that they could only be allowed to be distracted by gambling if they had no alternative of income or survival. So, time and whatever is not for a responsible gambler as they knows when they should be stopping, exiting and or withdrawing out their winning from the gambling site without excessively being greed.

[viljy]

In terms of lost time, I can to some extent agree with OP. For example, work also takes up people's time, but the work pays. Whereas gambling does not guarantee anything, except that time will also be spent.

As for the distraction, I disagree. A person's attention is always distracted by something, and it is often impossible to assess whether it is important or not. It can be understood after some time.

Missed opportunities are not even worth mentioning. Anyone's life is filled with missed opportunities, even if they have never gambled. So I cannot agree on this point either.

[Eternad]

It’s a form of entertainment. Anyone considered they lost time, focus and opportunity doesn’t use gambling as form of entertainment because they will allocate those factor mentioned above specifically for gambling when they want to unwind and use it the way it was intended.

If you blame gambling for this losses meaning you shouldn’t gamble at all since you probably addicted or with wrong purpose on why you gamble.

Probably to make profit while this is not right.

[_act_]

Money can sometimes be recovered. Time can’t,  One gambling session might not be that harmful, but the hours you have spent gambling over weeks and months are hours that you could have put towards learning a new skill, building a side hustle, or even taking care of yourself.

Time can not be recovered but peace, discipline and moving forward in life can be recovered. The old time is not what that is important, the present and the future are what that are very important. If you are thinking of the bad past, it will only make you feel bad. Or let it be bygone and become better tomorrow because of it. Time can not be recovered but progress and good life can be recovered.

the
Gambling tricks people into feeling productive.  That's the biggest issue,  it tricks people into feeling like they are doing something productive.

I was trying to use some strategies to make money, thinking I can be able to make money from gambling, but it all failed.

[Dunamisx]

Every of our moves must be guided in gambling, if we don't want to lose time, focus and opportunities while playing, this makes it an important decision that we must take to ensure things are working good and in perfect shape, because when we fail in all these, there's no doubt that they are going to affect us from how we are going to enjoy gambling at a long term, while the cost could cause some tough and difficult situations on us.

[TypoTonic]

-snip- hours that you could have put towards learning a new skill, building a side hustle, or even taking care of yourself.

You think about how you could have won, you will lose and still think about how you could have played the game differently, you are always calculating your next move, this cycle of thinking creates a constant buzz in your head and takes your focus away. You will not be focus at work and doing schoolwork becomes a lot tougher -snip-

-snip- it becomes a situation that you must do every single day, whether it is in the morning, the night, at lunch.

These are basically the signs of gambling addiction. If you are a responsible gambler who just enjoy your time and have fun while playing, then you shouldn't see it as a loss.

3. Missed Opportunities

You can literally do all of the things you mentioned here and still gamble, it's not like you're going to play 24/7 that you won't have time to do anything else. It's all about finding the right balance and time management, which requires a lot of discipline.

[casey15]

Any thing you can cost you all if these things you pointed out gambling inclusive. But all these can be avoided .
Only an irresponsible addict will be affected by all these, gambling does not take as much time you make it out to be except of course you are an addict and you are gambling 24/7 without having a job.
The mental frustration is significant but so does it when you are at work. Most employees are mentally drained by their workplace more than anywhere else, even the home can be mentally drawing when you are not in a happy marriage. Some people even use gambling to blow of some steams and use it to relax away from real life issues.
The trap of one more bet is something's everybody must have fallen for. But overall, all these can be mitigated when you have good gambling habits like knowing when to rest and stop .

[Furball808]

This post is not about telling people to stop gambling,  people are free to do whatever they want. The post only explains that gambling takes more than money.  Sometimes we lose things that we do not realize are more valuable than money.

You are right that time is the one being wasted the most. If we think about it, time is also currency, because time is valuable. Every minute spent on unnecessary things, you are spending unnecessary currency. You gamble too much and you lose time for yourself. You can’t make yourself improve because your time is filled with gambling. You gamble too much and you lose your family. You lose your friends. You lose the time to bond with your kids. Unlike money, time can’t be replaced. Use it wisely

[bitbollo]

Are you focusing the same meanwhile you evaluate other time and hours you have fun in your Life?
I guess not... Of course gambling requires effort and one investment in time and money.
You will not complain for the fun, for nice time spent with friends, or even by winning while betting....
I cant see in general any real costo if gambling is not taking too much time and resources.
People need time for them, they cant be focused only earning money

[mirakal]

The solution is simple, be a responsible gambler.

If you gamble responsibly, you’re not really wasting time. You’re making memories. I don’t buy the idea that gambling automatically eats up our “precious time,” because the main reason we gamble is for entertainment. Having fun is still a form of quality time. Just think about it, we lose money sometimes, yet we keep coming back. That alone says a lot about how much we actually enjoy gambling.

I’m an investor myself, both in crypto and outside of it, and I still gamble regularly. I can do that because I treat gambling the same way I treat investing, with limits, discipline, and control. For me, that’s what being a responsible gambler really means.

[Royal Cap]

Every of our moves must be guided in gambling, if we don't want to lose time, focus and opportunities while playing, this makes it an important decision that we must take to ensure things are working good and in perfect shape, because when we fail in all these, there's no doubt that they are going to affect us from how we are going to enjoy gambling at a long term, while the cost could cause some tough and difficult situations on us.

I think if someone leaves gambling to luck alone, they will be disappointed most of the time. In reality as people say, it is most important to take your time and keep a cool head when gambling. Otherwise you will not even realize when the opportunity is lost, I personally think that it is necessary to decide in advance how much to play and when to stop. Because if you lose control, the fun will decrease, on the contrary, the stress and losses will increase. If you want to enjoy it for a long time, it is wise to make a little tough decision.

[Joy- maker]

This is exactly why I said that, gamblers should limit the amount of time they spend gambling in a gambling Hall, or on a gambling site. gamblers should know when to stop gambling and walk away to focus on other things. But it is funny   how some gamblers don't have limited amount of time spend gambling, they spend almost all their time in a gambling Hall or on a gambling site, and it's very wrong. And just as the OP has stated gambling is not all about wining and loosing money, you should only consider the time wasted and opportunities that pasted you by while you are in a gambling Hall,  or in a hidden place gambling on a casino platform, Gambling is not only taking the gamblers money,  it is also taking the gamblers time,  opportunities and focus from things they are suppose to pay attention to. And I have always said this thing time without number, That is why as a gambler you most have a limited time you Will spend in a gambling Hall or on a gambling site.

[Mpamaegbu]

.
What do you think is the most overlooked expense of gambling?

Time can't be quantified and I guess that's why anyone hardly mentions it when it comes to gambling. However, that's the lot of those gambling irresponsibly. If not, gamblers should be able to take cognizance of time whenever they're on gambling sites or offline betting shops. I see a lot of them offline in my vicinity. You could see them when going out and still find them on that same spot when coming back after several hours. It's a waste of productive time. Those who gamble responsibly will know how to manage time. Be swift about their engagements, do their bets and face other engagements.

Anyway, for me, besides time; I think it's discipline. It's this lack of self discipline that throws a lot of gamblers into addiction. For the parents among us, indiscipline can cost us lack of parental responsibility where one won't have enough family and spousal time.

[pawanjain]

What do you think is the most overlooked expense of gambling?

It's a well summarized post. Good job on that. You have mentioned most of the important points already.
I believe, the most overlooked expense according to me that we lose while gambling is the ability to control our emotions.
Gambling for a long term makes us lose our self control which indirectly impacts our personal life a lot.
We have seen many people posting here that gambling addiction ruined their life and its all because they couldn't control their emotions.

[Gozie51]

To me, money is only the visible part of the cost,  what about all the time, focus, and opportunities you have missed from chasing these bets?

To me, most of the things you listed will not matter if you eventually win... Hahaha. So apart from time, the most excruciating aspect of gambling is the sadness and emotional imbalance you have after losing the bet. That aspect is really the effect of gambling that is more dangerous because if you are not careful and enter into depression, it means you are going to lose much more as you will never be able to put yourself together and get on to doing what you were suppose to do.

Like I hear some gamblers complain of the time they wasted in analysing and researching on there game if they lose but most winners don't talk about time that was used. Those offline street gamblers don't complain of time because they are stationed there for gambling and winning the game is the purpose but not time use in gambling.

[demonica]

I agree to what you've listed OP. Though it will only be considered as losses of it's gambling is affecting you negatively already. Gambling in general is for entertainment, so you can't say you'll waste your time or you're wasting opportunities in gambling if it entertains you. Everyone needs something they can enjoy it will only become a loss if you already put most of your time in gambling yet you're not making any profits at all.

It all boils down if we're a responsible gambler. If we're responsible enough, we can avoid these things and we can just enjoy gambling as it is.

[freedomgo]

It all boils down if we're a responsible gambler. If we're responsible enough, we can avoid these things and we can just enjoy gambling as it is.

It’s written on every casino when we sign up, responsible gambling.
If we stick to that, we usually won’t run into problems. Once we go the other way, that’s when we experience the things OP listed.

We’re not stupid, we’re aware of the consequences. And yet, there’s always that question in my mind, why do we still have to make mistakes first before we actually learn?