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One can assume that people differ regarding what they can be more addicted to, and probably it's a decent assumption, but from what I know, online games are more addictive and people spend much more time playing them then non-addicted gamblers usually spend on gambling. It's up to you to decide what is better, to lose $1-$2 while gambling for 1-2 hours, or lose zero money but spend 5-6 hours playing online games. I prefer the former scenario because, as they say, "time is money", you know, and I definitely don't want to lose so much time.
I've never met a regular gambler who only spends $2 in gambling, really. It's going to blow up overtime and the time spent in gambling will also increase especially once the person has started to use gambling as a way to cope with problems and avoid facing his suppressed emotions.
But I haven't just invented those numbers for the sake of a witty remark. That's how I've been playing for 2 years, if not more. Also, I enjoy chatting with various people on gambling sites, and that's what I've learned from them too. I mean, in some cases it's less than $2 and in others the amount is greater than that, but what is important is that it is always an insignificant amount compared to what they earn daily with their jobs.
On the other hand, you can also spend money in online games and honestly it makes gaming a lot better. You might start buying better graphics card for higher resolution and higher frame rate. You might also buy an IPS monitor with high resolution and high frame rate to match the graphics card with. What I'm trying to say is that we really can't say that one thing is better than the other because both have the tendency to eat your money and time when you get hooked on it. It really depends on the person, his environment, his issues, his stress level, lifestyle, and the coping mechanisms that he developed.
Yep, but if we compare the amount of time one spends on healthy/moderate gambling with that spent on gaming by an average gamer, I think the latter will be greater. Some of my friends consider it a normal thing to spend almost all night playing through a game, while similar behaviour of a gambler would almost certainly attract fierce criticism of him/her as an addicted gambler.
Plus, based on your judgment, you had a priority of time while others might have a priority of money. Pretty much it's subjective, is the better word. What's good for you might not look good for others and vice versa.
Actually, earning money is a priority for me too, as it is for most people. I just meant that one could be spending his/her time on earning money (which includes learning) instead of spending it on playing video games.