The "Hidden Cost" of Gambling: It’s not the Money, it’s the Time and Memories lo

[danherbias07]

Luckily, I have not yet missed any important things in my life. I was there when my kid got an award, and I was there for their important life celebrations.

Still, there are moments when I feel like I wasted a lot of time starting out playing slots. It's time-consuming, that's a fact. There will be some things that we are not able to do anymore because our eyes are either on chasing losses or getting greedy to win more.
The feeling will get to you, and gambling will feel like it's wrecking our lives. This is why I minimized my time playing slots and just focused on sports. It's not time-consuming, and you are not on your computer or your phone the whole time. Just watching the games on TV like a normal sports fan, although you have bets that are already set.

[maydna]

As far as I remembered, I am not lost important life event and ruined special day because of gambling. I am not gamble if I am on a family event as we want to gather, talk with other, and have fun together. We don't have much free time so gathering with all family is important so all family will follow.

We have other people around us so we should not interfere that with gambling. That can cause our mood changes badly and ruins the situations so you should not repeat the same mistake if you are on family event and just focus with them.

[WhoYouCantKill]

For some gambler (like yourself) this is very true, but you need to understand that not all gamblers are the same, there are gamblers whom their biggest loss is nothing but the money they've lost, and for some, it's the time they should be using for other productive things. each gambler has what gambling robs them, but the truth is that gambling shouldn't have to be so, and if a gambler ever starts feeling robbed, or deprived of something then it's a clear indicator that they are approaching gambling the wrong way, gambling is meant to help relief stress and not to add to it. 

[hedgeh0g]

Luckily, I have not yet missed any important things in my life. I was there when my kid got an award, and I was there for their important life celebrations.

Still, there are moments when I feel like I wasted a lot of time starting out playing slots. It's time-consuming, that's a fact. There will be some things that we are not able to do anymore because our eyes are either on chasing losses or getting greedy to win more.
The feeling will get to you, and gambling will feel like it's wrecking our lives. This is why I minimized my time playing slots and just focused on sports. It's not time-consuming, and you are not on your computer or your phone the whole time. Just watching the games on TV like a normal sports fan, although you have bets that are already set.

I'll never regret playing because I see even my losses as part of my life and won't deny them or hate them. They're with me, they're my experience. Of course, I could have spent my time better, more productively, doing something, building a house, improving my physical condition, but for me, it's all about experience. Thanks to this experience, I'm where I'm supposed to be, and today I still play, but rarely. My focus has shifted from the game to other, more important things, and only after I've accomplished everything I can play a little and for small stakes. Today, I don't want more; I give the game a very small place in my life, and that's how it should be.

[Achalugo BTC]

Its just essential for one to teach themselves how to control their minds and  also how to sustain fixed budget because most people have this habit of just letting their guard down by allowing their emotions to make decisions for them, so learning and teaching themselves the things that they know its good and important to do, can actually be what you will set you free and lead you to be more disciplined and focus on treating gambling as a game of entertainment, as most of them are the victims of addiction and more losses is that they fail to gamble with a clear intention.

[Cointxz]

It seems to me that greatest illusion about gambling is that gambling makes you poor, but it makes you go absent in your own life.

Have you ever lost some important life event and ruined special day being too concentrated on some live bet?

That’s why it should be done for entertainment purposes. You don’t need to place bet if you have family gathering even if it’s just a simple meal since you can have fun and enjoy your time with them instead of risking your money for your own different source of entertainment.

It’s sad to experience this but you can always correct yourself by spending more time with them and lessen your gambling time.

Having a realization is a good sign that you knew already what’s wrong before addiction takes over.

[nara1892]

I understand how it feels if I were in your situation OP, money can be returned but rare opportunities do not come twice, family gatherings are included in the category of important events and so far I have never forced myself to gamble when I have family gatherings, in fact I don't like to force myself just to gamble when I have other activities in my life because I have experienced where my feelings are destroyed and I become lazy to do any activity, even though the activity is very important, so now I prefer prevention rather than cure, I only gamble when for example I have free time.

[swogerino]

It was family dinner and I was there few months ago. It was great celebration, everybody was laughing and telling jokes. But I was not really "there." Almost all time my phone was under table and I was continually refreshing live score that I had placed parlay bet on. In 80th minute when team conceded a goal my mood had totally crashed. Rest of night I remained quiet, annoyed and distant. My younger brother inquired me about what had gone wrong and I just screamed at him.

Then later that night, I found that I could not remember even single word of any of the conversations I overheard that dinner. I had exchanged beautiful family memory with pressure of $100 bet. I will be able to earn it back but I will never enjoy such dinner with my family.

It seems to me that greatest illusion about gambling is that gambling makes you poor, but it makes you go absent in your own life.

Have you ever lost some important life event and ruined special day being too concentrated on some live bet?

I have been in such situations a lot of times especially when I was out with my family I was physically with them but my mind was not there at all, this is the worse feeling a person can have which also impacts other people and make them feel bad, some time they feel guilty with no reason because of such behavior. Gambling if done compulsively can really have a bad impact on your overall health and everything related to you from family to job and social circle.

[Rockstarguy]

Then later that night, I found that I could not remember even single word of any of the conversations I overheard that dinner. I had exchanged beautiful family memory with pressure of $100 bet. I will be able to earn it back but I will never enjoy such dinner with my family.

It seems to me that greatest illusion about gambling is that gambling makes you poor, but it makes you go absent in your own life.

Have you ever lost some important life event and ruined special day being too concentrated on some live bet?

The truth is that when you are gambling it can just cause you to have lose of attention and i think the reason for the total concentration in gambling is because of the money involved because the target while gambling is ti make sure at the end of the game one is able to achieve a better result and this is the only reason their is an absolute concentration when gambling.

Sometimes the reason for the concentration could be not doing in at the right time and the right place, and gambling needs proper attention and concentration which you need to focus and to forget every other thing that is going on.

[Donk1]

Well to me as a gambler if you can’t control your emotions, then your emotions will eventually control you. Basically gambling can make someone lose their mind Like the experience you went through was most likely because of concentration keeping your mind at a state of no peace because you already knew you lost the bet Psychologically, in moments of tension, your brain reacts not because it wants to but because it has to; that moment, you eventually had to release the unsatisfied motion of loss you just went through.....

​That said everyone gambles for the win but not everyone ends up winning. Still that’s why at times we might tell ourselves that we are just gambling for fun but the mind is actually saying something entirely different. So yeah losing is inevitable, so as winning, and emotions can be irrational at times, so as luck. So the best thing to do is keep a schedule on whatever you are doing. Like basically it was a family dinner so you could have rescheduled or placed the bet and forgotten it. Well that’s all I can say.....

[Porfirii]

I agree with you that these hidden costs can be more valuable that the money spent in gambling itself. And not only time and memories, but mire directly attention, since that's what builds someone's valuable memories. Anyway, this is not the gambling platforms' monopoly, since the same can be said about many other entertainments. Think about the time and memories lost to tv, social media, etc.

[Ever-young]

I agree with you that these hidden costs can be more valuable that the money spent in gambling itself. And not only time and memories, but mire directly attention, since that's what builds someone's valuable memories. Anyway, this is not the gambling platforms' monopoly, since the same can be said about many other entertainments. Think about the time and memories lost to tv, social media, etc.

The truth is that anyone who really understands gambling very well, as well as the best way to approach it, doesn't really have to worry about losing too much in gambling. Because a gambler who really understands the rules of gambling would definitely understand the importance of moderation, and that the game isn't something one cannot do without, and this helps them make better choices when they gamble, that way they wouldn't have to spend too much money, or too much time, or even let gambling deprive them of anything valuable.

[LastKiss]

~snip~

Have you ever lost some important life event and ruined special day being too concentrated on some live bet?

Fortunately, never happened to myself. I really avoid gambling when I’m with my family or when there’s an important event because I’m afraid my gambling habit will become known especially to my family. The urge to gamble sometimes appears but the feeling of fear is much stronger, so I can control it when I’m with them. When you get angry because your bet loses, it’s probably because you used an amount of money you can’t afford to lose. So when you lose, you feel very upset, start overthinking and your emotions become hard to control. Or maybe it’s because you placed a parlay and almost won your bet?

[Yablee0]

Bro, I can feel your pain and literally all what you're talking about but it fine that you have learn and figured a better way around it. Though following up life scores when ever someone place a bet is still part of the whole fun because it keep you updated and to know if you are actually moving forward or not. But one thing I dislike about it is that it can quickly make one to be emotional and to set you in an unnecessary pressure.

And again, their is one thing we aren't doing right as a gambler, we shouldn't be mixing up gamble time with time that would have be use to address other important things. However, for everything in life their is time and season for it so for we not have similar  issues like this and to get things complicated, it is crucial everything you do including gambling is been done accordingly to avoiding missing out other important activities.

[Bitcoin.com97]

Well the fact that I gamble doesn’t mean I won’t cherish such family moment, I only gamble in my quiet time them whenever I’m stepping out for different activities I don’t focus on betting again, that is why it’s good to have self discipline, if you were disciplined enough trust me gamble won’t have taken such attention from you , after all said and done in the dinner , imagine start asking your family what was said while you were present  there, gamble is for fun while also chasing the money we should try to avoid distractions especially on special events.

[Su-asa]

There were times that I was absent minded due to the losses that I incurred and also when I was expecting too much and ended up getting disappointed. But I learnt a valuable lessons during those times and that is the fact that gambling isn't something you should rely on or think of getting money from because anything can happen. You can combine a total of 30 games on a bet slip and end up losing just one game, that's not a surprise because that's what betting is all about. Reduce your expectations and avoid getting too emotional.

[Jubilee58]

Gambling can leave you in distress, and make you loose focus more especially when you loose a bet, and this is what most gamblers suffer secretly. Don't let your losses in gambling to interfere into your family affairs or relationship, because it will be so unfair to allow such thing happen to you.
Each time I loose a bet, I use to be very unhappy, and distressed, but I don't allow it affect my family or my dealings with other people or even allow it affect other of my activities.
In gambling, we don't win all the time, and every gambler should bear this in mind should in case your bet is against your prediction, so that you can handle it with ease.

[Hatchy]

Have you ever lost some important life event and ruined special day being too concentrated on some live bet?

Of course, when you don't separate your gambling activities form your real life, you might end up missing out on some important happenings In your life. No matter how interesting or fun gambling might be or become, when it comes to family or moments like this you should leave all form of gambling and enjoy these moments.. one thing losing money does to you, is that it ruins you emotions. Even when you know that you are fine with the losses or you will be able to get the money you lost back, for that particular period of time your mood would be ruined. So it's best to separate these moments to avoid putting on sad or angry emotions in front of those you love or those who cares about you..

[purple_sparkles]

Well the fact that I gamble doesn’t mean I won’t cherish such family moment, I only gamble in my quiet time them whenever I’m stepping out for different activities I don’t focus on betting again, that is why it’s good to have self discipline, if you were disciplined enough trust me gamble won’t have taken such attention from you , after all said and done in the dinner , imagine start asking your family what was said while you were present  there, gamble is for fun while also chasing the money we should try to avoid distractions especially on special events.

I think it’s important to learn to stay present and not get distracted by unrelated things. If we take a family situation as an example, just because someone is gambling during shared time doesn’t mean that, without gambling, they wouldn’t be distracted by something else, like scrolling social media, playing online games, or consuming other types of content.What really matters is noticing when you start to get carried away and being able to tell yourself Stop in time. Otherwise, you risk losing not only money but also your relationship.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

This is not a hidden cost, it's a visible cost that is ignored by most bettors who is at the verge of becoming addicted or people who are already addicted, this thing doesn't just happen all of a sudden, it takes a gradual process until the individual is not able to control their own habits anymore. After that big lose has ruined their mood or have made them lost an opportunity or a family meeting, them will use the anger to bet on more games trying to recover the lose so that they can prove to themselves, that the opportunity they missed was not equal to what they have gained in gambling.