Topic: Poverty is the fuel for gambling addiction - page 2. (Read 418 times)

Yeah, I believe ignorance is definitely the fuel to so many problems that come of gambling and this is because poor insight to gambling can make the so called poor man think that he can actually make it through gambling and get all his heart desires which to a very high degree is impossible and such can't happen although there is a 0.1 percentage that shows people winning the jackpot but this now bring about the particular deadly thought that gambler confide and deceive themselves that it's possible to make it through gambling.

I believe poverty and hardship can, indeed, foster the drive for a quick money-making scheme, such as gambling. On the other hand, the main indicator of addiction is not an economic situation. It is the ability of the individual to discipline themselves. One could be in a tough financial condition. If they can control the desire to gamble and understand the risks, they will steer clear of addiction.

On the other hand, even much stable personalities can be hooked if they have no ability to rein in the urge to play on after victories. The keyword is self -discipline and self -control. When an individual begins to feel that they have to continue playing to pursue either victory or satisfy financial problems, then there is where problems start cropping up. Setting limits and sticking to rules in this sense is what matters most in stopping dependency, irrespective of one's economic status.

poverty may be one of the factors that people become addicted gamblers. with a little bit, they bet hoping to get a big win to meet their living needs. because that hope continues to grow so when they lose they will gamble more often. the problem is when gamblers with poor finances, but they force themselves to bet bigger. there is no prohibition for people with poor finances to gamble. but if our finances are still lacking, at least bet within our means.

poverty may be one of the factors. but I think the gambler's knowledge of gambling and its risks is the most important thing that makes them addicted. rich or poor still have the right to gamble. but be a responsible gambler.

I think that low wages do not affect the fact that people are fond of gambling. On the contrary, in rich countries they like to sit in casinos and lose huge amounts. However, the fuel for uncontrolled gambling is: boredom, desire for adrenaline, greed.
And these qualities are found in both rich and poor people. Therefore, regardless of the economic situation, it is important to work on your character.

Easy money is always much more attractive to the poor, but they don't they are playing against all odds, easy money always comes with great risk....consider that the poor don't have much choice either. The math is clear, if you only have $50 and you need $500, you have to risk a lot to make that x10. A rich man has millions, to make $1000 he risks much less...

So the little guy needs a lot of money, but all he has is just a small amount. So what he can do? If he chooses to gamble he will just dig his whole deeper than it is, but he is not aware of that because he is blinded by the lights and big wins from others.

That's why it's important to gamble just with the amount you can afford to lose, crossing that line will bring just problems and nothing else. We all know there are lucky stories about huge wins, but those things doesn't happen every day, and for sure not to all of us.

Yes, those are most of the facts that exist in the real world. Poor financial conditions force a person to do anything to meet his or her family's needs, but this is a different case.

Op does not mention the extreme financial pressure experienced by the gamblers above, but they are people who hope to make a profit from the gambling they play. Of course the money used is a month's salary, so the risk of losing and losing all that money is not worth the potential for winning. I never agree with that kind of gambling approach, of course because when they lose then they no longer have money for the next month.


Gambling is certainly an alternative for most people to make money, but that is not the real purpose of gambling. Even though I also want to win money from gambling, I know there are limits that I have to set, especially regarding the budget. Not using all of the budget is a good approach, meaning that only 10% of the existing budget can be considered safe.

In a financial stress situation I think it is usually very easy for someone to justify any means just to get money to overcome the financial problems they are experiencing, and not infrequently I also hear that one of the reasons someone steals is because they are experiencing problems in their financial life so they are desperate to commit various crimes to get something they need.

That means overall I agree with your opinion OP that experiencing financial problems can also be the main trigger for someone to make gambling an alternative to overcome their financial problems, although not all gambling scenarios with the intention and purpose are triggered by pressure from financial problems but most gamblers who come to make money are those who experience these problems with high hopes and beliefs.

this is a real interesting discussion also because has been conducted with a scientific paper (peer review - 2 IF).

I am not going to analyze the full work (it will requires a lot of time...) but I will just take conclusion for some interesting point...

As you can see this is just 1 dataset (clear there are some bias due selection).
Moreover the authors clear said "The study has some limitations such as that the dataset was only generated with a unidimensional scale, and that it was limited to undergraduate history students".
This lead to "future research will have to extend its range of sample by encompassing a more expansive sample of undergraduate students".

You can consider this just as a "description" / show of some data that it's really hard to provide evidence.
Even if you can (hypothesis) find some real evidence this is limited to a specific dataset and a specific "population".
This doesn't means that this theory is unreal or anything else, just more evidences should be provided to have some conclusion.

As pointed already by other user, even "rich western countries" have an issue with gambling addiction.
I come from Italy and I can confirm in my country there was a "gambling mania" with scratch cards, bingo and slots.
I will not point out to poverty (some people many times have also a "normal job"). Personally I explain this with strong marketing and heavy promotion (watch this ... is Italian language but images are pretty clear ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKgkYxWoZ-M ).
But I think that lack of economic / statistic / math education has created the explosive mix since people didn't realize what are the real chance of win and what are the risks related to this activity.

The gambling industry is the 3° in Italy as turnover! Here some data taken from a reputable source...
https://www.aboutpharma.com/sanita-e-politica/gioco-patologico-nessuno-sa-quanti-ne-soffrano-in-italia-dove-le-scommesse-sono-la-terza-industria-nazionale-per-fatturato/

Nope, it's just lazy and not willing to do whatever it takes to overcome the financial situation they look for something happens instantly which is like a miracle and almost never happens especially for desperate ones so provery is not the fuel the underlying cause which is greed to make.

There are still billions of people who is having financial problems but not chose gambling as a solution to them which clearly sums up its all up to the individuals.

Only lazy people are the ones who would really be thinking up this way on which it is really just that a shame that you might be able to consider up yourself on playing gambling just because you are seeing yourself being a poort. There might be some poor gamblers who do really be able to having this kind of mindset on whichit would really be something your driving for you to play even more because you do know back in mind that you could really be able to make yourself thatb eing a rich person on the time or moment that you would really be able to make yourself that being a winner in gambling. We do know in todays on condition on how
many people are really that sitting on the poverty line on which there would really be those people who would really be thinking up with possible ways and methods on making money,while others had been that
realistic approach to it.

Just as important that it should be when making up decisions because we know that once desperation kicks in, then it would really be that so damn hard to resist on the time that you
are seeing yourself making up some actions which are obviously it is really just that because you are trying out to achieve something. This is why you should really be
that careful on dealing with it because not intended for you to make money but rather you would be playing because for pure entertainment.

Everything is all about mindset. A poor person has different options to make money from, but chooses to go after gambling which can even drain him the more. A person who is not poor can also get addicted to gambling. What then could be the problem, it is all their mindsets. Their minds have been so affected that they begin to believe that there is no other way anywhere except through gambling. No person with a positive mindset will choose to consider gambling as a source of income, especially a poor person.

The sad thing to note is that, the majority of poor people who chose gambling as a source of income never got a better standard of living aside the false hope that things will get better some day.

Poverty is the fuel of gambling in most cases and this is why you can fine more gambling shops in poor people environments and fine banks and other investment institutions in rich forks environment, in most underdeveloped countries around the world, much more so it is a fact that poor forks gamble with the aim of winning that can make them excape poverty.

Rich guys gamble for the fun of gambling, and that is why you see that many rich guys are the high rollers in gambling, this also goes with rates of gambling addiction between the poor forks and the rich guys, you fine higher rate of gambling addiction in the poor environment than you also fine in the rich guys environments.

Actually, I don't think that poverty is what makes the gambler to become addicted to gamble, though if the person is poor then raising $1 alone will be hard, so why would the person gamble when he or she can not provide $1?
But what makes the gamblers to become addicted is that they have the believe that gamble can make them become wealthy, so they choose to stake higher believing that one day they will win huge money.
So, I think that the rich and the average salary earners are the people that gamble more. Let's say that the rich gambler for fun while the average salary earners gamble for profits, and having the believe that gamble can make you rich is what makes gamblers become addicted and having such believe is based on choice.

The hope of making a fortune without working hard but through gambling is one major reason for addiction and not poverty. A lot of gamblers at the beginning will always have it at the back of their minds that they want to hit the jackpot and change their lives with it, which is not true. This is what will trigger them to excessive gambling without reserve leading the to addiction. Only few gamblers will be able to understand that gambling cannot give you a guarantee of making profit and they discipline themselves due to excessiveosses. Rich and poor gets addicted to gambling, which means that addiction is for all when you lack self control and discipline.

But that should not be the case. I know most poor people are wiser than those who are rich. They can somehow budget their money for a long time even though they are paid just the minimum wage.
Because of the growth of the gambling industry, they become a gambling addict and not because of their status in life. They think they have the chance to win the jackpot because many testimonies come out that they are paid a lot in gambling.

I totally disagree with that kind of idea and I don't recommend it for every poor that is here in the forum. It's always out choice so we better think twice before we start gambling our money.
We cannot blame being poor to tell to ourselves that is the reason on why we gamble. It's just stupid.

When desperation kicks in then it would really be that hard to resist out specially if you are really that indeed need of money and we do know into our minds that gambling would really be the nearest thing
on which you could really be able to deal with so that you could possibly be able to attain up these things. As for addiction then yes it would really be that most likely that you would really be able to find yourself that getting addicted on the time or moment you would really be trying out to chase those loses or even trying out to be a winner. When money making would really be your main consideration then
you would really be that definitely be ending up on having those impulsive approach or actions that you would really be taking upon. Its one of the factors on being poor but not all would really be
ending up with this kind of approach on things and there were still who are sensible.

If this formula has worked don't you think that everyone in the third world country will start to gamble and eventually become rich ?
We do not have an ideal world where a person will gamble and win a 50$ or 100$ in a hour or in a day. Many times you will see people losing the seed money and at times, after winning some amount, lose everything in next games.

The reality is that if 100 people use this approach to get more money than their monthly income, only 10% or less may be lucky to succeed and the rest will lose all the money and become even more poorer.

We can possibly come up with many causes of gambling addiction, but there is no one reason that applies to everyone, X can go into gambling because he is poor and erroneously thinks gambling will make him rich, whilst Y can go into gambling because he has good money, but he wants to double it. Anybody who gambles because they are poor, will prolly get poorer, gambling isn't there to bring one out of poverty, it should be fun and not something your life hangs on.

Op I get the reason you are saying this however I still don't believe that poverty leads to addiction or that poor people are the highest percentage of gambling addicts. Rather I'm of the opinion that addiction leads to poverty. If you'll agree with me , there are gambling addicts out there who are rich persons still just like there are also poor people who are addicts. Addiction is simply the result of poor gambling habits and practices.

Let's logically analyse the fact that a genuinely poor person may not even have the funds to stake in gambling bets and games. Even if they do due to some nasty addiction, they is a high likelihood that they were in a better financial state previously before their addiction. My point is whether poor or rich, addiction is something that can affect any class. It's just a matter of stacked up poor habits.

Poverty could be one of the triggers for gambling addiction. But that's not the only reason for it. Have a look at the list shared by Charles-Tim. Six out of 10 countries are not poor, rather they are one of the most developed countries. So I can't agree to the statement that poverty causes gambling addiction.

There could be many other things that triggers such addiction. Even government regulations play a major role here. But this addiction is an individual mindset.