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

[Alphakilo]

It's true about the opportunity cost involved in gambling activities besides resources and time that is being wasted. It is more of a psychological and analytical point of view.
Gambling is distraction if one has to do some important work but spend time online gambling due to ease at which gambling platforms has become a thing in this current age.

Those who still manage to make it besides their gambling habits have become well disciplined and studios of their gambling habits and have found a way to not make it interfer with their real focus and goals.

[Mpamaegbu]

~

I’m a parent as well, and I’ve never experienced gambling causing problems in my family. I can still put food on the table and send my children to a good school. So even though I gamble, I don’t see it as a threat that could ruin my financial standing.

I wasn't talking about finances there or ability to provide but of spending quality time with family. A lot of gamblers dread their homes. They seem to find succour in gambling.

Maybe that’s the difference when you don’t treat gambling as a way out of poverty.
 

Yes, that's right. It's because you don't and you may not even be expecting to hit a jackpot from it. I'm sure you don't fund your gambling habit from what you win from it, right? You aren't under any pressure. Those who are under pressure, definitely, are the ones who feel the desperation because they see it as their hope for survival.

[Mia Chloe]

Another thing is that after they are losing, some people will not blame it on tlhemselves but be blaming it on the gambling sites. It is innate for humans to know that gambling is extremely risky.

It's very common actually for humans to pass blames very easily and same goes for gambling plus the fact that money is involved , you should actually expect that. Again I've come across countless articles that strongly suggests that the casino has and edge which they refer to as house edge.

If a gambler strongly has this in mind then there's a high chance he's gonna think this way. That aside a gambler is very much likely to believe this also if he's probably lost more than he can afford to lose.

[ZeroVinsonN]

Another thing is that after they are losing, some people will not blame it on tlhemselves but be blaming it on the gambling sites. It is innate for humans to know that gambling is extremely risky.

It's very common actually for humans to pass blames very easily and same goes for gambling plus the fact that money is involved , you should actually expect that. Again I've come across countless articles that strongly suggests that the casino has and edge which they refer to as house edge.

If a gambler strongly has this in mind then there's a high chance he's gonna think this way. That aside a gambler is very much likely to believe this also if he's probably lost more than he can afford to lose.

The truth is that this is actually just human nature, people never want to attribute their own losses to themselves instead they try to blame them on others, it denial at its finest and this is even more noticeable in gambling when people start losing way more than they expected themselves to lose, they claim that the system is rigged against them and that's why they can manage to win anything, this ideology is wrong but it's just how we are as human beings.

[Fortify]

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

3. Missed Opportunities

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

Most of your list could potentially apply to any entertainment activities that people do in their free social time, it is not exclusive to gambling but you should not judge the games that people choose to play. Many people work hard all week and after paying bills have a bit of spare cash around that they're free to spend on whatever they like. When you consider that many people wouldn't have anything else to do with their free time, besides things like watching TV shows, films or playing other games - they just want to switch off and not have to think too hard. Work can be busy and stressful, but these sort of pursuits can bring calmness if approached in the right way. As long as you don't expect to get rich, but occasionally be ready to walk away from a session with more than you started, that seems like a fine trade off.

[DiMarxist]

Gambling is actually energy, time and even money consuming in nature, gambling is costly so any one coming into gambling should be able to manage themselves because gambling steals your time resources and drains your energy without you knowing. Because there are people who are taken away by gambling activities that they don't even realize themselves that, they have other things to do. Gambling can mayone to lose focus because for those gambling addiction all that they are thinking is just making it big in gambling.

[Findingnemo]

I agree with that theory of losing our time but are we really that productive? Spending an hour in a week is going to cost our opportunties that decide our fate? No way, we are just lazy and just use gambling as an excuse for not progressing in our life.

[Fiatless]

It's true about the opportunity cost involved in gambling activities besides resources and time that is being wasted. It is more of a psychological and analytical point of view.
Gambling is distraction if one has to do some important work but spend time online gambling due to ease at which gambling platforms has become a thing in this current age.

Those who still manage to make it besides their gambling habits have become well disciplined and studios of their gambling habits and have found a way to not make it interfer with their real focus and goals.

Online gambling has contributed to the reason gamblers misuse their time. With access to gambling sites, gamblers at work can easily place bets and monitor it. I have been in a government establishment and the official that was supposed to attend to my was busy gambling on his phone.  He didn't care even there is a long queue of people waiting for him. Some private organisations have sacked workers who were caught gambling secretly during work hours.

[swogerino]

Regarding the first thing that most people claim is the most important one I agree only to a certain degree with that statement that time is the first thing gambling takes. The reason is if I win during those let's say many hours of gambling I do not give the slightest damn about how many hours I lost gambling as the end result is what I desired before gambling, so in such context it made a desire of mine become true, now when you lose money in such context it is true the statement that gambling takes time as you could have spent those hours playing in a more productive way, so the first statement is relative to my end result. For the other statements I agree with them as attention is focused only there in gambling making you miss what could have been other better opportunities.

[robelneo]

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.

Those who have this mindset should never gamble at all, because they prioritize gambling more than anything else. Gambling is something you do to enjoy and leave it. and never regretting that you did it.
You never look at or think of what you lose in terms of money, time, and mental effort. It is when you look at gambling as an opportunity that you will regret it, not when you have fun doing it.
You don't blame something that you enjoy doing.

[OgNasty]

This thread brings up a great point about losing out on opportunities.  Opportunity cost is something that most investors don't consider.  They think that making or losing money is the end of the line and don't worry about things like inflation.  In reality, the rest of the world goes by a hurdle rate, which is considered the return on the S&P 500.  If the S&P 500 is outperforming you, you aren't creating any value, even if you think you are making money.  The S&P 500 has doubled in recent years.  That means if your net worth didn't, you are falling behind.

[Orpichukwu]

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.

Gambling doesn't occupy my mind this way, and this is also another reason why they say anyone who is schooling should not be focusing on gambling, as it will distract them from participating in school activities, and those who are mostly affected by gambling are those who put too much attention on it. As for those who gamble only once in a while, I don't see the danger in that as long as they know how to manage their time and finances properly.

[Charles-Tim]

I agree with that theory of losing our time but are we really that productive? Spending an hour in a week is going to cost our opportunties that decide our fate? No way, we are just lazy and just use gambling as an excuse for not progressing in our life.

I think he is talking more about people that are addicted to gambling, but if not that, he is very wrong. There are some weeks that I spend less than 20 minutes on betting. I just visit casinos at times to try to hit 3x with small amount of money and which can be within 2 minutes. Also there are days that I just visit Stake.com to bet on a single match that will not take more more than 3 to 5 minutes. This should not be for people to that gamble responsibly.

[Su-asa]

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?

Am just lazy to check for the comments that I have deliberately been saying that time is the most important thing in gamble, by the way you are right ok your first point when you said that time is very important. Yes it is true, time is very important because sometimes it favours you while sometimes it doesn't. Why I said so is because if it's your lucky day/time you are going to win the bet, but if it is not your lucky day/time you are going to lose. So time is important, if it is even possible to know the time we are going to win, I'm very much sure that we all will keep track of the time and bet when it is the right time. Just like you have said on the quote above that we only talk about how much we have lost and forget about the time we spend trying to figure out the bets odds or predictions to play. We talk more of money because we believe money is a bit difficult to get. And to be honest, we can check our account balance but we can not check to know how much time we have left. So that makes almost all gamblers to think that they have a lot of time.

[Sammye3]

Time is one important thing that gambling kills, it distracts you from your life goals and focuses on mere temporary oppotunistic hope that would only turn futile after multiple attempts.

This actually depends on the individual and how they manage their time, because one with a stable job and other productive activities would not take gambling as the focus but learn to diversify.

It only becomes worse when you're glued to your phone gambling as it becomes a source of income rather than a side hustle that should be done with caution. To kill such idea, discipline should be practiced with scrutiny.

[Findingnemo]

I agree with that theory of losing our time but are we really that productive? Spending an hour in a week is going to cost our opportunties that decide our fate? No way, we are just lazy and just use gambling as an excuse for not progressing in our life.

I think he is talking more about people that are addicted to gambling, but if not that, he is very wrong. There are some weeks that I spend less than 20 minutes on betting. I just visit casinos at times to try to hit 3x with small amount of money and which can be within 2 minutes. Also there are days that I just visit Stake.com to bet on a single match that will not take more more than 3 to 5 minutes. This should not be for people to that gamble responsibly.

I don't see the word addicted in the post and also he is talking about anyone who gamble in the long term irrespective of they manage to be responsible or addicted to it. I get that for someone who is doing a lot of work like Elon and if he missed few hours then it might cost few millions but I am not elon and I can go on without doing what I am supposed to do still lose zero money.

Gambling will really help with the productivity of an individual if they do it in the right way.

[Joeboy]

OP you should have indicated in the title that you where drafting your write up for gambling addicts, coz  someone that isn't an addict doesn't need to bother about most of what you wrote.....And for your information OP, when folks gamble responsible, gambling will take just the amount of time and attention or even lesser than what any skill, or work will take... Am sure there are lot of folks on this forum that don't even spend up to 30- 40 minutes gambling....... AAnd then I already know that gambling is a game of luck so when I place my bet and I lose, I go on with my other activities, infact I don't even think I have the time to start pondering over my losses if I get any...

[uneng]

Time can't be recovered, but at same time, we never know how much time we still have left. So, maybe you still have a plenty of time available which can be used wisely and more effectively from now on. If you stop to regret and think on previous losses, you will waste even more time, so it's definitely not a good deal.

Opportunities will also appear anytime soon once again. The best you can do is to prepare yourself for them once they become available. That is where focus joins the scene. You have to improve your focus and ability to dedicate yourself to something solid and worthy on long run. Gambling is ephemeral and just useful as a mean to cool down your head and have some fun. It should correspond to a minor part of someone's life. That is the healthy way to deal with this.

[red4slash]

Actually for me when it comes to time it's not just gambling that's damaging but when we start to get into a habit with something in the end it can also make opportunities slip away.
When I was young, I was a game enthusiast and spent almost every day watching movies and it made me lose a lot of time which indirectly made my opportunities to be productive disappear which made me lose my best moments at a young age.

This proves that in the end, certain habits are not only about gambling, when done in unnatural conditions it will make us eliminate many choices that should be done.
This also happens for gambling but this also depends on ourselves because as long as we can control ourselves in responsibility about expenses, time limits in playing and not making this a habit so that we forget time then I think gambling can still be done.

[promise444c5]

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.

You can still lose it outside gambling.. It doesn’t necessarily have to be gambling, it could be anything even what you think is worth your time at the moment .

But then no one is encouraging gambling when you ought to be doing something important, right? So anyone who’s actually doing the opposite and spending most on gambling clearly has no plan and just wants to gamble it all. Right there, you can now consider those factors you listed.