When does gambling turn from entertainment to addiction?

[ZeroVinsonN]

Addiction is an illness, and an illness that anyone can have. In the case of gambling, people don't become addicted simply by playing; they become addicted because they gamble excessively. When they gamble excessively, they become unable to live without gambling. This can also happen when someone works excessively, spending most of their time solely on work. That person can become addicted to working. Similarly, when someone spends hours coding, no longer doing anything else besides coding, that person will become addicted to coding and won't be able to stay away from the computer.

True, and this is also about losing control, some gamblers don't have the energy to control their emotions, they allow it to make decisions for them and leads them to what will destroy their lives and if they give room to it, it won't only destroy their lives but their family lives will also be affected. So keep everything in balanced both the way they gamble, is the option that a gambler needs to decide as it will keep their lives at rest.

When people start to get desperate they start to lose their sense of control making them unable to keep their compulsive urges in check, it's pushes them to make decisions that ultimately lead to them becoming addicted to gambling and once this happens it takes an incredible amount of focus to be able to bring themselves out of the addiction and over time everyone around them gets affected by their addiction as well.

[bubilas]

In the first instance, many gamblers gamble only for entertainment, while there are some gamblers who gamble only with friends on various issues, and there are some gamblers who gamble in the hope of making small profits. However, these issues only become problematic when a gambler loses control and the issue is no longer limited to entertainment, but gradually becomes an addiction.

As long as a gambler is in control of his gambling and accepts the benefits and losses as normal, things are fine, but the situation is different when a gambler tries his best to recover his lost money and gambles aggressively. If the obsession to recover the lost money arises in the mind of a gambler, then he uses more money and gambles aggressively, but the money he uses later loses the money, as a result of which he is no longer able to make good decisions in gambling. This type of gambling is usually called "chasing losses" and these things are usually the main signs of addiction to the game.

The right decision in gambling depends a lot on the mental state of the gambler. If a gambler cannot control his emotions and if the gambler is under excessive tension or if the gambler is in a state of mental distress and if the gambler decides to gamble in the midst of these, then he will not be able to make the right decision at that time, as a result of which he will become more excited and lose more money due to the successive results going against him, which will lead him to gambling addiction.

I think the most important thing for a responsible gambler is to be aware of his limits. That is, a gambler should determine in advance how much money he will gamble with in his free time or on a specific day, and if he loses that amount of money gambling, he should refrain from gambling for that day and wait for the next day.
If a gambler loses in more than one gamble, he should take a break and try to find out the reasons why he lost, so that he does not lose again for the same reason in the future.

I think many gamblers would like to be able to rewind time. After all, many of them often lose unrealistically huge amounts of money at the moment when they lose control, because for example, if a decent gambler came and lost all the initial money that he wanted to allocate specifically to the casino, then he can ignite excitement inside and start spending too much, borrowing money from someone to lose it too. From that moment on, he wants to win everything back faster and invests money in the casino over and over again, and at that moment, most likely, he dreams of going back. It will never be done. He should have been careful beforehand.

[Zadicar]

Addiction is an illness, and an illness that anyone can have. In the case of gambling, people don't become addicted simply by playing; they become addicted because they gamble excessively. When they gamble excessively, they become unable to live without gambling. This can also happen when someone works excessively, spending most of their time solely on work. That person can become addicted to working. Similarly, when someone spends hours coding, no longer doing anything else besides coding, that person will become addicted to coding and won't be able to stay away from the computer.

True, and this is also about losing control, some gamblers don't have the energy to control their emotions, they allow it to make decisions for them and leads them to what will destroy their lives and if they give room to it, it won't only destroy their lives but their family lives will also be affected. So keep everything in balanced both the way they gamble, is the option that a gambler needs to decide as it will keep their lives at rest.

When people start to get desperate they start to lose their sense of control making them unable to keep their compulsive urges in check, it's pushes them to make decisions that ultimately lead to them becoming addicted to gambling and once this happens it takes an incredible amount of focus to be able to bring themselves out of the addiction and over time everyone around them gets affected by their addiction as well.

Once you do lose that control and moderation then you would really be ending up on having issue because once you would be losing up that control then it would definitely make you impulsive and once that it do happens then that entertainment thing would be going to addiction and thats something commonly happen on most gamblers. Then it would be that up to you on how you would be having the control on your actions specially when you are already on the situation on where you are experiencing consecutive loses then this is where things becomes shit. Whenever you do deal up with gambling then make it sure that you are only spending into the amount that you can afford to lose and never ever go beyond your limits because once it happens then its already a solid sign that you are already get addicted to gambling and thats something you do need up to watch out for. Usually people do become addicted because you will having a hard time on recovery.

[LastKiss]

I think many gamblers would like to be able to rewind time. After all, many of them often lose unrealistically huge amounts of money at the moment when they lose control, because for example, if a decent gambler came and lost all the initial money that he wanted to allocate specifically to the casino, then he can ignite excitement inside and start spending too much, borrowing money from someone to lose it too. From that moment on, he wants to win everything back faster and invests money in the casino over and over again, and at that moment, most likely, he dreams of going back. It will never be done. He should have been careful beforehand.

Regret always comes when the result isn’t what they wanted but imagine if they went greedy and won the bet  they wouldn’t think about turning back time. But when they lose, they start thinking that the decision they made was a bad one and they regret not being able to control their emotion at that time. We know it’s hard to move on from the effects of addiction, but in reality we need to move on and learn from our mistakes.

[Outhue]

Gambling feels better when you have the money for having some fun, relaxing and having a good time is what gambling should be, in fact we shouldn't be discussing about it anymore because many people have enough proof that gambling is not a short cut to getting rich, it always wrecked people up.

If this is not true many people will be flexing their wins online already, many won't be coming here creating topics about how they have lost alot of money through gambling, some are even calling the online casinos unreliable because they felt cheated, it's only a fool soul that will want to use gambling as their way of escaping 9-5 jobs.

[Jostern]

If a gambler loses in more than one gamble, he should take a break and try to find out the reasons why he lost, so that he does not lose again for the same reason in the future.

Looking for a reason why a bet is lost is just another characteristic of a gambler that he is an addict, they are the one that will gamble and lose and be looking for the reason he lost so that he can amend it with a better strategy, a strategy that can not work. The best is to have a gambling budget which is very small and no need to be looking for the reason you lost but just have fun.

But as a gambler I think it’s not wrong to analyze your mistakes and try to know where you got it wrong then you can go again, I think gambling is all about strategy when you gamble and make mistake is just better to find where you eventually got it wrong and try and set things right next time to win the gambling, most especially when I’m predicting game on soccer, and football matches, sometimes checking the head to head is always important and you can possibly make a mistake when you don’t properly go through there previous results and get to understand the strengths of both teams it can cause some reasons for the loose and you start kicking yourself why you didn’t do the necessary research.

[Charles-Tim]

But as a gambler I think it’s not wrong to analyze your mistakes and try to know where you got it wrong then you can go again, I think gambling is all about strategy when you gamble and make mistake is just better to find where you eventually got it wrong and try and set things right next time to win the gambling, most especially when I’m predicting game on soccer, and football matches, sometimes checking the head to head is always important and you can possibly make a mistake when you don’t properly go through there previous results and get to understand the strengths of both teams it can cause some reasons for the loose and you start kicking yourself why you didn’t do the necessary research.

I am only posting from experience because I know much about gambling addiction. Those that look for mistakes and want to correct it are just those that later become more addicted to gambling. The only mistake a gambler should correct is simple and which is the money they are using to gamble. Some gamblers will continue to use high amount of money to gamble and thinking they are correcting mistakes which I am very sure that they will still lose in long term.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

I think many gamblers would like to be able to rewind time. After all, many of them often lose unrealistically huge amounts of money at the moment when they lose control, because for example, if a decent gambler came and lost all the initial money that he wanted to allocate specifically to the casino, then he can ignite excitement inside and start spending too much, borrowing money from someone to lose it too. From that moment on, he wants to win everything back faster and invests money in the casino over and over again, and at that moment, most likely, he dreams of going back. It will never be done. He should have been careful beforehand.

Wanting to rewind time is still living in fiction and not reality, life isn't Nollywood, Hollywood or Bollywood. The reality is that those funds have been lost and there's need to move on from there and do better by quitting gambling first, and having a very serious inventory about yourself, recognize what you've lost, if you're in debt, you strategize how to pay back those debts from your earned money and not return to gambling until you're financially even, so you don't get frustrated again and start chasing money to settle your debts through gambling.
You only need to return to gambling when your debts are cleared and you've put up some strict principles to follow when gambling as well as have an accountability partner to checkmate your excesses as you return if possible, or you may decide to keep your new peace and never gamble again.

[tygeade]

Gambling is not for the weak, it's as simple as that. Someone who knows that they are not very strong mentally, they are emotionally vulnerable, and can't control their emotions and have the ability to force themselves to not do something, then they should stay far away from gambling, they shouldn't even gamble for fun or entertainment, because even fun can turn into addiction for such people, because if you are not mentally strong and lack patience, you won't be able to stop gambling when you have to stop, and you won't be able to follow a routine or a budget that you might have set for yourself.

Only those who are patient enough to set a budget and then follow it without any hesitation or going beyond the limit they've set are the ones who can stay responsible gamblers and would never face problems in gambling, and those who don't have these qualities will eventually end up losing significant amounts of money and then will spend the rest of their lives trying to chase their losses.

Such people will spend every dime they get on gambling only with the hope that maybe in one of these days they are going to hit big and recover everything they've lost. Too many gamblers gamble with this thought only.

[gracreavix]

Gambling stops being entertainment when you start losing your boundaries, or when you don’t even have any boundaries at all anymore.
Once gambling start affecting your finances, your emotions or your peace of mind, then it’s already turning into something else, that is deeper than just fun. And a lot of people start gambling for enjoyment, but as time goes on that fun do slowly become addiction without them noticing it. That’s why people really need to be careful and know when to step back.

[Woodie]

Lets put in the facts, if you aren't making money or at the least breaking even, then surely you are chasing losses and the longer this goes on this could turn to gambling addiction as what you have at the back of your head is gamble to win back but this never happens!

Gambling stops being entertainment when you start losing your boundaries, or when you don’t even have any boundaries at all anymore.
Once gambling start affecting your finances, your emotions or your peace of mind, then it’s already turning into something else, that is deeper than just fun. And a lot of people start gambling for enjoyment, but as time goes on that fun do slowly become addiction without them noticing it. That’s why people really need to be careful and know when to step back.

This is a mature way of putting.. "losing your boundaries" pretty sums it up  .. the second you are out of bounds then you are in the red zone for sure.

[Asiska02]

I think the most important thing for a responsible gambler is to be aware of his limits. That is, a gambler should determine in advance how much money he will gamble with in his free time or on a specific day, and if he loses that amount of money gambling, he should refrain from gambling for that day and wait for the next day.
If a gambler loses in more than one gamble, he should take a break and try to find out the reasons why he lost, so that he does not lose again for the same reason in the future.

Reasons why a gambler lost a game, I don’t think that’s even going to work out because gambling is a game of luck and not a game of advanced knowledge and strategy that maybe if you keep repeating it you’ll get it right and be profitable. Once a gambler loses a game, they should not go back into the market trying to chase their loss in order to recover what they’ve lost, that’s one way they can fall victim of liquidation and have their bankroll emptied. Gambling addiction is very bad, don’t allow yourself to reach that state before you’ll want to control it, because it’s very hard to leave it than for it to get into you the first time, getting use to it.

[Su-asa]

I think the most important thing for a responsible gambler is to be aware of his limits. That is, a gambler should determine in advance how much money he will gamble with in his free time or on a specific day, and if he loses that amount of money gambling, he should refrain from gambling for that day and wait for the next day.
If a gambler loses in more than one gamble, he should take a break and try to find out the reasons why he lost, so that he does not lose again for the same reason in the future.

Reasons why a gambler lost a game, I don’t think that’s even going to work out because gambling is a game of luck and not a game of advanced knowledge and strategy that maybe if you keep repeating it you’ll get it right and be profitable. Once a gambler loses a game, they should not go back into the market trying to chase their loss in order to recover what they’ve lost, that’s one way they can fall victim of liquidation and have their bankroll emptied. Gambling addiction is very bad, don’t allow yourself to reach that state before you’ll want to control it, because it’s very hard to leave it than for it to get into you the first time, getting use to it.

Only luck can determine if the gambler will be a winner or a loser. We can't outsmart the gambling system which is why we should gamble responsibly by staking with the amount of money that we can afford to lose. If a gambler try to chase his losses, the truth is that the gambler will lose more than he had already lost. Any gambler that chases after his losses, is chasing it out of greed because someone who understands the risks in gamble will not be greedy to chase their losses.

[TedMosby]

IMO, there's 3 steps of gamblers. Gambling for fun, then it becomes an obsession, then the next level becomes addicted to it.

Gambling for fun, you only do it on occasion. Nothing to do, then you gamble. Or your favorite sports team has a match, you bet on it.

The more you gamble, you start thinking you probably can make money from it. You start betting on more games, even gambling on games you never tried before, betting on different teams, registering and trying different websites. You keep playing, the desire to win is rising. You really want to have a positive balance. However, you can still control yourself when you get distractions, like from family, work, life, etc. On this level, gambling becomes your obession.

Next level, you lose control, you start getting addicted to gambling. You don't care about your life, family, work, etc. Or at least the priority is lower than your gambling activity. Even when your money is not enough for gambling, you start finding a way to get money instantly to fulfill your addiction. In the worst case, you start doing illegal things.

So addiction starts when you begin losing your control, when you can't be distracted anymore by your life, family, work, etc.

[Dunamisx]

When a gambler turns to have nothing to do with his life than gambling everyday without being responsible for himself or people around him, then we can see of him to be addicted in gambling because lot of things are falling apart for him as a result of gambling, to gamble is not the offense here, but being able to manage a responsible life is what many find so difficult to achieve as the Gamble and transcend to addiction.

[tech30338]

When a gambler turns to have nothing to do with his life than gambling everyday without being responsible for himself or people around him, then we can see of him to be addicted in gambling because lot of things are falling apart for him as a result of gambling, to gamble is not the offense here, but being able to manage a responsible life is what many find so difficult to achieve as the Gamble and transcend to addiction.

Entertainment is when he gambles and play just for fun after a few small bets leaves and go home, but when he gambles then lose goes back and play again that is addiction, some people really can't control their emotion in gamble, they might be having fun in the start but when they realized they can get money , they try to do it again, from the start its okay, but time goes by, and he still continue to gamble even he is losing that is now addiction that he can't control,

[Nheer]

Only luck can determine if the gambler will be a winner or a loser. We can't outsmart the gambling system which is why we should gamble responsibly by staking with the amount of money that we can afford to lose. If a gambler try to chase his losses, the truth is that the gambler will lose more than he had already lost. Any gambler that chases after his losses, is chasing it out of greed because someone who understands the risks in gamble will not be greedy to chase their losses.

The outcome of a staked game depends on luck that true because in gambling luck plays the whole 95% of role while our analysis and little knowledge plays the 5% that remains. Gambling irresponsibly will lead to regrets and loss of resources so as a gambler for that not to happen let apply responsibility to our gambling activities and make sure we don’t go chasing after our losses when we know how it always ends up when a gambler goes chasing their losses.

Let not be greedy, stay responsible while gambling and stake with the amount of money we can afford to loss so not to chase after our losses. We chase after our losses as soon as we lose money we can’t afford to loss because emotions triggers and we get disturbed.

[GreatArkansas]

Lets put in the facts, if you aren't making money or at the least breaking even, then surely you are chasing losses and the longer this goes on this could turn to gambling addiction as what you have at the back of your head is gamble to win back but this never happens!

Gambling stops being entertainment when you start losing your boundaries, or when you don’t even have any boundaries at all anymore.
Once gambling start affecting your finances, your emotions or your peace of mind, then it’s already turning into something else, that is deeper than just fun. And a lot of people start gambling for enjoyment, but as time goes on that fun do slowly become addiction without them noticing it. That’s why people really need to be careful and know when to step back.

This is a mature way of putting.. "losing your boundaries" pretty sums it up  .. the second you are out of bounds then you are in the red zone for sure.

That’s the part a lot of people don't notice at first, it slowly stops being just for fun and turns into chasing back what was already lost. The moment gambling starts making your decisions for you instead of you staying in control, that’s when it starts becoming a real addiction.
We should also consider people even they are losing money and even they can affort it, there's still addiction on it, but on other aspect.

[liasbaa]

Addiction is an illness, and an illness that anyone can have. In the case of gambling, people don't become addicted simply by playing; they become addicted because they gamble excessively. When they gamble excessively, they become unable to live without gambling. This can also happen when someone works excessively, spending most of their time solely on work. That person can become addicted to working. Similarly, when someone spends hours coding, no longer doing anything else besides coding, that person will become addicted to coding and won't be able to stay away from the computer.

True, and this is also about losing control, some gamblers don't have the energy to control their emotions, they allow it to make decisions for them and leads them to what will destroy their lives and if they give room to it, it won't only destroy their lives but their family lives will also be affected. So keep everything in balanced both the way they gamble, is the option that a gambler needs to decide as it will keep their lives at rest.

When people start to get desperate they start to lose their sense of control making them unable to keep their compulsive urges in check, it's pushes them to make decisions that ultimately lead to them becoming addicted to gambling and once this happens it takes an incredible amount of focus to be able to bring themselves out of the addiction and over time everyone around them gets affected by their addiction as well.

If the gambler's depression is caused by excessive losses, the only way to escape from that situation is to stop gambling. It is not easy to establish control over yourself if you have available funds and they are enough to continue gambling. Most gamblers in the stage of losing control over themselves do not realize that they are addicted. If they could admit or realize it, it would be easier for them to stop gambling. To get out of addiction, you have to surrender to yourself that you are addicted. The next step is to reduce the amount of money you spend on gambling and limit the time you spend gambling and maintain discipline in gambling.