Gambling Problem
skibum609
Massachusetts
Has anyone else come to that moment in their life when they accepted the fact they have a gambling problem? Florida Golf Trip with cash payouts, but of course we had side action all day. After dinner, two tables of 6 for a poker game. Then one table of 8 for a poker game. Soports betting on TV. Then 4 people playing a hold em tournament. At 3:00, 4 hours before the next time my roommate and I are betting $20.00 a game and when he yelled yahtze, I had lost $20.00 on the game, accepting the fact I had a serious problem.
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He won 1.3 million one year. He also lost 1.3 million that year. Not sure how it works with taxes (I forgot how my lawyer friend explained it to me, you gamblers would know better than me), but it was something about how much gambled money, both winning and losing, that you can claim on your taxes... he either lost a little more than 1.3M, or gained a little more than 1.3M. Either way, it ended up pretty even.
But his lucky ass also hit for over 300K on his FIRST SPIN in the high roller room a while back. I would have walked away after that, and stayed away from casinos for a while.
Proper bankroll management for gambling is a fairly established science. i.e. if have X bankroll $ how much should I risk gambling Y due to the variance of losing. Most people are not disciplined about it or just sloppy but long term pros use it which is how they survive the long haul.
From my perspective its really only a "problem" if it is negatively affecting other parts of your life. This can be spending too much time doing it or coming up short on life funds. Short on life funds means you are either not using proper bankroll management or have been very very unlucky and need to take a long break to reload (or quit).
If you are enjoying it, and you aren’t putting your life savings at risk, and it’s not taking over your every waking hour - then is it a problem - or an expensive hobby?
You are married, with no kids, so if your wife is ok with your gambling, maybe it’s not that bad?
I’m not making light of your problem. I’m trying to look at it from a different perspective - from where it might be a bit less dire.
When it starts to seriously impact other areas of your life then it's a problem.
I've searched the Internet for that clue or article that turns it all around for me, but majority stance is to quit gambling completely. I on the other hand probably will never quit entirely and believe it can be enjoyed with moderation, despite how gambling is usually stereotyped.
He suggests going to local Indian casino and trying to win it playing blackjack. If that doesn’t work, he can get it from his parents. I had some extra cash so figure, what the hell. I ended up winning $500 and he proceeded to get the shit kicked out of him at the tables. It was one of the worst gambling experiences I’ve ever seen. On the drive out there he called his dad and asked if could borrow some money if he needed to. His dad agreed to enough to cover rent, and no extra. So we walk out to the car and I have an $500, and he’s broke. I think to myself, I wouldn’t have come out here if he hadn’t suggested it, I’m going to be a nice guy. I give him $100 so he can have gas money till our next payday. His eyes light up and he says let’s go back and win his money back. We go back and forth about how stupid that idea is. The final straw comes when he says, obviously I’m lucky so I should play it for him. At this point I say FUCK IT, let’s go. If he doesn’t want gas money, oh well. I get four hands of Blackjack. It ended up being three and out, I doubled down on the first hand which was an eleven. That was when I realized he had a huge problem.