Gambling is okay and in some cases very, VERY fun. You go out drinking with your buddies and decide to go to the casino, or, you're just at home relaxing and figure $10 into slots on your phone isn't a bad idea; it's always there.
Gambling is exactly what it is:
You are gambling (or betting) your money that a certain outcome will happen to either a specific number on a card or roulette table, or a specific line of symbols on the machine. If you bet right- which in most cases your guessing or testing your luck- you get a payout... a reward if you will for your "strategic desicion".
If you lose, well you lose.
If you lose, then you want to try to get the lost coins back and play another hand or a spin.
THAT.
THAT RIGHT THERE is why gambling can be deadly. It's what the world of gamble wants, for people to put money down and lose, so then you'll bet again in hopes that good will come out of it; sometimes you bet bigger in hopes of a bigger payout.
We as a human race have little to no self control- especially when it comes to [easy] money.
I moved down to where I am now (Woodstock) and after getting a job, I realized all my bills were paid to date and I had some extra cash on hand.
So I decided to test myself to see if I had a hand of luck. I went to an online slot game website and deposited the bare minimum required amount:
$10
I played through it and was happy with the experience but gained nothing out of it.
{side note: of course too, with these online sites when or if you deposit, they give you a "casino bonus" a match bonus on the amount deposited up to a certain percentage. Which gives you more of an incentive to play, free money right?}
I waited a couple weeks and tried again, I won and got a car out of my winnings.
I should have stopped there.
But, with a new hope and excitement that I could possibly win more, I deposited a larger amount and received a bigger match bonus. cool!
Until I lost all of it and deposited more, in hopes of aging my lost bank back and hopefully more.
Bad idea.
I lost again.
By this time I thought of an "AWESOME" idea:
Get a loan, win money and pay back the loan and have some left over. Done.
$2,000 later with an interest rate of 17% I invested it, not in school or photography or any other hobby, but all into gambling.
It was a horrible, stupid, moronic idea, and I think I DID initially think that, but then greed kicked in and I wanted to cash out BIG.
I, of course, lost it ALL. I was severely devestated, not only did I lose $2,000 for no reason, I lost a loan worth $2,000 for no reason.
I worked harder then I should've if I didn't gamble to pay off the loan, 4 months later (because of other bills and such) I payed back nearly $2400 and interest on top of that due to some missed/late payments. So in the end I think I payed $3,100 overall.
Because of me working all the time, I lost my personal life, my friends lost interest in me as I was always too tired to go out, my girlfriend left me because I paid too little attention to her- and in the time I was trying to pay off other loans I took out to gamble with. Addictions are a bitch!
I was about $7,500 in the hole (just the base price, not including NSF fees) and I lost my car due to "negligence of payment) and got kicked out of my apartment for not staying true to rent.
And still in debt to loan lenders who won't take " I don't have the money right now" as an answer to anything and kept including non-payment fees.
I felt trapped.... like a prisoner to my self greed and the casino business. Not only does the gambling society not care about how or where you got the money, they also don't care if you get hurt (physically or emotionally/mentally) over the potential debt you can create by playing.
It's been about 3 years since the valuable lesson that was learnt, I've gotten everything under control and sorts; I just think back to when I was at that point in my life and wish, that I was there to tell myself to stop and why to do so.
For some people gambling is not an issue, for others, it is. I thought I wouldn't get addicted but, I was fooled.