Topic: Letting the cat out of the bag - page 5. (Read 622 times)

This opening up about gambling addiction from the gamblers is not an easy a task to do as it may seem. Most gamblers won't tell anyone (including their near and dear ones) that they are involved in gambling as they won't get a positive reaction from the other side. Most of the time, their family members will start questioning them about how much money he has wasted in order to fulfil their gambling desire.
There may be some serious reaction from the family and the person who was already gambling addicted may find himself in another problem, making his life even more miserable.

This is the bad & sad aspect of our society that instead of helping and solving the problems, we get furious about our money loss. Maybe in such cases, the family may not care much about the person who is addicted but care more about the money that he had lost.

This is not true. They are addicted because they can’t control their gambling activities by themselves or else they will not suffer addiction. Addiction is not simple to cure since you will never notice it by yourself alone that’s why therapy is needed for those who badly addicted because they can’t stop their mind on thinking about it.

But I will do the same to yours on not interfering since it’s very to deal with this kind of person because there sense of reasoning is not normal.

Honestly, I'm not great at giving advice on gambling problems because I've personally struggled with addiction. From my experience, I realized that I was the only one who could solve my problem. I don't actively approach people even if I sense they might be addicted to gambling. Out of respect, I let them come to me if they want to share their problems, and I'm always willing to listen. I prefer not to intrude into their personal lives; I value privacy, and emotionally, I can be a bit fragile. If they're hurting, it affects me too.

I've never helped anyone who was addicted in gambling to stop his addiction and I don't think I can even help anyone do it because as far as I'm concerned, the only person who can stop a gambling addict from his addiction is the affected person. I've been a victim of gambling addiction before and no one was able to help me out of it until when I decided to help myself.

But how a person can afford to gamble when they are financially weak?

If they are taking debt to satisfy their gambling urge then the situation will become trichy and the situation will turn based on who is addicted and who has the authority to the assets. But if there is the possibility to lend money for gambling then in my opinion it is possible to get financial help to help the addicted person medically.

If I have a friend who a gambling addict, I will stay away against them and might cut off our relationship. Why? no one can change except themselves, if they're a good people they wouldn't become a gambling addict, as simple as that. So having a relationship with them might drag myself to become them or they will keep asking money because they already lose it for gambling.

It is another case and very difficult to go out of addiction when all those that will help you out are also addicts. You will keep going deeper in addition because everyone is still expecting that they will win and get bigger. Getting bigger is always the aspiration of addicts and that is why they find it difficult to get out by themselves. An addict need someone that is outside gambling to be rescued , in such case where you don't need have an insider to know what is happening to you, then it is destiny that can bring someone to help.

When we really enjoy doing something, whatever that may be (good or bad), and our brain feels good about that and that makes us feel happy we will keep doing that activity, and we will want to do it more and more, it's addiction in some way.

And I guess it's all good as long as we can control it, as long as that activity doesn't hurt us and the people around us. Too much of anything is not good, and people who take it too far will feel the consequences. So before that happens, try to enjoy whatever you are doing and always try to have some control, and if you feel that control is sleeping take a break and chill... because if you don't control your addiction it will control you and you will be eaten by it eventually.

I have opposite experience of what you've said, I grew up having a family members being addicted in any type of gambling, Being in a lower class family, it's difficult to give an advice to seek professional help due to shortage of money and that's the main reason why their gambling addiction developed, in the hope that they will win and get money. Knowing them, it's hard to speak and give an advice because in the end they will take what I have to say badly.

Hopefully, gambling addicts can find suitable people to discuss their problems with so that they can immediately cure their gambling addiction. But so far, perhaps only a few gambling addicts are willing to be open with other people, especially people who are close to them, and talk about their gambling addiction. Moreover, they keep their gambling addiction to themselves without wanting to tell people about it and that makes them deeper into gambling and it becomes difficult to cure their gambling addiction. I don't think I have found anyone who is truly addicted to gambling and then comes to me and tells me about his situation. But maybe, if I remember correctly, some complain about their gambling problems, especially when they experience a lot of losses. But they don't seem to have a serious gambling addiction. Maybe it's just the beginning of a gambling addiction and fortunately, they are aware of their situation and are willing to change their gambling habits. Hence, they really reduce their gambling activities. Some of them can completely give up gambling and even if he is invited to gamble again, he just smiles and says I don't gamble anymore.

This problem of gambling addiction can spread if it is not treated seriously. Those who initially just gambled for fun but in the end, they couldn't control themselves and got deeper into gambling until they finally experienced a gambling addiction and many ended up with a serious gambling addiction. This really requires serious attention from gamblers to really be able to reduce their gambling activities so that they don't become excessive.

It's easier said than done, based on my own experience I prefer to keep it to myself because I don't want to be judged by people around me they have respected me, and by letting them know about my addiction they might look down on me, I cured my addiction without people around me that I become addicted to gambling, if you're going to tell about your addiction it necessary to people who are close to you, you should tell this to people who can understand you and who can lead you to the right path to recovery it's better to people who deal with addiction, preferably to professional because they understand your feeling and will not easily judge you.
It's ok to ask for help but help that will not betray your trust and knows how to help you get cured from your addiction.

I don't know, even though I know a lot of gamblers that become addicted, I haven't had the chance to change their ways.


Yeah, with the proliferation of online gambling, maybe there are persons that you really don't expect to be gambling addict because they are all playing at the comfort of their home or in their bedroom for privacy. Specially during the pandemic years, 2020-2021, there could be a lot that turn into gambling and become addicted.


It's good that you help someone, and for sure if feels good. Hopefully there could be other that will reach out, not necessarily from this community or what. But someone who realized what is going on, called a help line and talk to someone before it's too late.

Luckily, I have never been in that situation of being extremely addicted because I know my moves and despite that I was an active gambler before, I know my limitations. And I think having enough budget to gamble also helped me to control myself because I don't have that much before and even until now, I always get to limit myself and only gamble with few.

Many of them are not willing to talk about it because they are scared of being talked about as a gambler. That's one taboo that's still in our society and that's why instead of getting some help, they don't want to because of that reaction that they'll get from the people that they'll talk about their gambling addiction. The good part today is that we've got helplines globally and they can be anonymous asking for some help and find someone to talk with on how they're going to overcome with that problem.

It is important to be open and honest with the people closest to us, especially family, because only they can help us get out of gambling addiction, at least their presence by our side will certainly give us the enthusiasm to get rid of the bad habit of gambling or reduce gambling activities. , I know that it is not easy to recover from gambling addiction because many out there always end tragically in the end.

But I think we should never try to be alone and feel lonely because that will increase the severity of gambling addiction and become more difficult, therefore always listen to anyone's advice from family or friends, whatever it is that makes us feel uncomfortable, believe that it is their step. to make us not too deep into gambling addicts and they try to help us to recover.

I've never had a chance to help anybody yet but I have seen a close friend who I think is on the brink of gambling addiction. There's a problem though, we see each other so occasionally like once a year only and this year I never got to see him.
I knew that he was near that kind of problem when he kept on asking for digital cash from me although he was paying it with cash, he just didn't have the means to put it in digital cash so he had to buy some from me. Twice I deposited money in his account $10 each in our currency which is a lot of money for an average family.
First, I didn't know what he was up to but when I saw him not talking to anybody and his eyes were attached to his phone the whole day, that was when I tried to talk to him. But he just said he and his wife were both doing it and sometimes they win. It's sad to see a friend go that way but it's also difficult to say anything that would not hurt his feelings.
I think that's the hard part of being a good friend, there's a chance you will be misunderstood and they will cut your friendship just because of it.

Here, where I live is country that prohibits gambling, but there are lots of gamblers from all walks of life and at any age, they actually gamble anywhere they feel can provide security and comfort, even alcohol and drugs are serious problem that always happens in every city.

Well, this is what usually happens in society especially in urban areas, they tend not to care about each other, whether someone is addicted to gambling or any other addiction is never problem because they are busy with their own personal interests.
But things like this are really sad because our fellow humans should be able to help and benefit each other, this is social life where not everyone will care about us.

That is true, I guess everyone is right when saying that addicted gambler keep everything inside, because maybe they know that people around them will not understand why they become addicted in the first place or maybe they know the person but they are all surprised that he is turning to be an addict.

I haven't help anyone though, but in my case, I will say that I have been addicted like 7 years ago. Only thing that change and made a U-turn is suddenly I lost the means to make money as I lost my job and with no money coming in, then I have to stop it until I get a job again. But this time I learned my lessons already and so I minimized by gambling activities or even quit for a year or so.

I can’t really change people who have an addiction of any kind. They should accept the fact that they have a problem first and it is almost impossible to make them admit that they have a problem. If they realize their situation, then the rest of the solution will follow quickly. The biggest challenge here is, they will never accept that they are sick. To them, gambling is the way of life just like drinking water. If I tell somebody to stop drinking water, he will call me crazy. That is exactly how an addict sees gambling.

These people have serious mental problems which should be treated by serious professionals. Common people like us can’t do anything about it sadly.

But the thing is that gamblers are not going to admit to themselves that they addicted, hence it's going to be very hard for them to open up to someone unless it's too late or a family member notice it and then have to give him or her the advise to quit gambling as it is not doing any good for him and the consequences are worst that the gambler can imagine.

So it's really a dilemma for someone who wanted to help a gambler. And it takes a lot of guts for the gambler to admit and to reach out to someone before it's too late. Hopefully this will be the case, someone out there, that is really losing big sum of money and reaching out before they hit rock bottom and waste everything because of gambling.

This is going to be weird to you OP but this solution of opening up to them is the most out of touch advice that I've heard before, addicts hide their addictions or habit from people that they love for a reason that only those addicts know, what you're saying in all of this stuff is pretty easy for you to type because you're not an addict yourself although I could be wrong about it because there are some reformed addicts out there that will do the same advice but I got to say, you are leaning too much on being an out of touch with your advice. Of course they want to do that, but they can never do that unless they do it themselves, remember that if someone wants to get some help that they need to help themselves first because outside help be useless when the person is not willing or wants the help.