When I started gambling a few years ago, I won a pretty big amount of money and that opened new doors for me to pursue new business ventures. Some of these ideas panned out and some flopped miserably, but I still managed to generate some money from the the ventures that were successful.
I now have something that can generate some "passive" income and something that needs a lot of my time and attention, but overall it improved my quality of living and it encouraged me to follow my dreams.
I still gamble, but not as much as I did before... because time management has become an issue. This will not secure my retirement, but it gives me some freedom to experiment with more ideas. (I still need to work between 8 to 10 hours per day.... and weekends, but I have something to fall back on, if something bad happens)
Hope your big wins, did not just go back into the casinos.
I've never won a big prize, and I believe the reason for that is because I'm too cautious with games.
I only bet what I need to have fun, and sometimes $10 is enough for that, believe me!!!
In addition to not placing very large bets, I also tend to withdraw the amounts when I manage to multiply them, so I always go back to placing bets with the value of the initial contribution... so the fact that I don't risk an exponential profit bet ends up reducing my profits earnings.
Ultimately, I can say that I am financially successful, as there is nothing I lack (even though the desire to always have more is common) and that is why I do not look to gambling as a way to achieve goals greater than fun.
But, I'm happy that the game changed your life, it's much better to read stories like this than other sad cases that some gamblers report here.