May 19, 2012

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Gambling: Calculated Swindling

Most likely, if you know that an individual is out there to fleece you of your hard-earned money, you will do all in your capacity to ensure that the scammer does not succeed. However, in numerous but bizarre cases, it is the individual that takes the money to the scammer without knowing it. Another name for this is gambling. In this game or recreational activity as some people will call it, you will have to purchase a ticket or at least make a some form of payment before you can be allowed to gamble and ‘try your luck’ to see if hundreds of millions of dollars can land on your laps on a hot afternoon just because you selected a set of numbers!

Without any doubt, this is an interesting event and it has happened to many people in the past and present. It is the possibility of becoming a millionaire overnight without breaking sweat that has turned millions into life-long gamblers. For some, gambling is now an addiction, wreaking havoc in various spheres of life. There is no point in putting money constantly in a venture that may never yield anything.

Even though it cannot be denied that some mega-winners emerge from time to time, the odds against a gambler are so great that it can be regarded as an orchestrated but systematic swindling. The gambler keeps paying to the house for decades but that does not guarantee hitting a jackpot. The casino owners keep smiling to their no-tax banks in Cayman Islands and Bermuda while you keep on piling bad credit with the vain hope of ‘hitting it big’ one day.

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Gambling: Why You Should Not Waste Your Bucks

Every single day, in various parts of the globe, millions of gamblers cram themselves in casinos, pools and all sorts of gambling venues to do what they know how to do best – gambling. Some people are so addicted to the practice that they find it almost impossible not to indulge.

However, when you look beyond the surface, you will see that gambling is one of the most wasteful ventures that anyone can embark on. There are professional gamblers who have been in the business for decades, but an overwhelming majority of them ends up poorer than before. But, the irony is that the glittering casinos and gambling resorts keep posting profits and opening up new branches. Thus, you can guess yourself who the real winner is.

Even though there is absolutely no problem with indulging in what will give you pleasure and comfort, gambling is an activity that will leave you in a state that you never imagined. Many workers are now bankrupt owing to a not-too-enticing lifestyle of gambling. Instead of buying those lottery tickets over and over again in the vain hope of winning, there are investments that you can make and rake in real profits. With time, you may even become a millionaire from your little enterprise.

To set up a commercial enterprise, there are various business investors and managers that you can approach for advice, suggestions and opinions. Gambling can be seen as another way or style of donating money to the casino operators, as it is the house that wins almost all the time. After seeing that if you continue to gamble, you have more to lose instead of gain; the wise thing to do is to stop wasting.

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Gambling and Your Finances

If you have been fortunate enough to meet a gambler, you may end up becoming one in no time if care is not taken. This is due the fact that some gamblers are so passionate and defensive about the practice so much so that they preach strongly in support of the activity that has sent many down the drain. Irrespective of whatever benefits and advantages that gambling is alleged to have, one irrefutable fact is the damage it does to your financial status.

To gamble, you need to spend, no matter how little or large. However, it has been observed that quite a number of people get addicted to the games and keep on playing. Some play for decades without winning anything tangible. But, they keep on playing with the hope that the day will come when they will hit the jackpot. Before that day comes, you may end up neck deep in bankruptcy.

One of the most negative financial practices that you can embark on is gambling. A vast majority of gamblers all over the globe lose their life savings and investments by playing poker and all sorts. It is no longer news that hardened gamblers can throw away life investments in a matter of minutes when in the casino, all in a bid to impress others or win. Except for the extremely lucky few, some of who also end up in debt in a short while, gambling is akin to flushing money down the drain.

Observation and years of research has shown that in gambling, the arrangement is skewed in such a way that the house keeps winning most of the time. It is almost impossible to win the house. In other words, by gambling, you are simply giving your money to the casino operators and that is a pitiful way of investing.

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Overcoming Addiction to Gambling

In our world today, millions of people are addicted to one activity or the other. Some are addicted to drinking, television, the Internet and even games. Talking of addictions, one of the most serious ones around is that of gambling. Gambling is an industry that rakes in profits running into billions of dollars on an annual basis. The glittering casinos and gambling houses of Las Vegas bear an eloquent testimony to this. Becoming addicted to gambling is not the end of the world as there are steps that you can take to help yourself.

In overcoming addiction to gambling, one very important step that you have to take is to draw up a spending plan. This is to make you more responsible financially and accountable as well. In such a plan, you budget all what you have to purchase to the last cent and you ensure that gambling is totally left out of the plan. Once the plan has been drawn up, you have to be disciplined enough for you to stick to the plan. If you do not spend a dime in the casinos, there is no way you will end up as a gambler.

However, you should know that the fact that you have decided to draw up a plan does not mean that you have a magic wand to overcome the scourge of gambling. After the plan, another crucial step that you need to take is to keep away from tempting spots. These surely includes the shimmering gambling houses, casinos, poker tables and anywhere you can be tempted to play a game.

To ensure that all your measures work and bring nice results, another thing that you can do is to call on friends and relatives to help you. This they can do by monitoring you and ensuring that you do not overstep the limits that you have set for yourself.

Filed Under: Addictions, Gambling Tagged With: , ,

The Odds Are Against You

Anyone who wants to take gambling serious needs to start out with the understanding that the odds are against you. All those fancy casinos weren’t built with the money that people won at the games, they were built with the money that people lost. The whole system is designed to take your money away from you as painlessly as possible.

All games in a casino, whether online or a physical casino are intended to return a percentage to the casino. What that means is that for every dollar you play, the “house” expects to make a profit. How much of a profit the house is expecting to make depends upon the game; it can range anywhere from 0.6% all the way up to 30%. In other words, for every $100.00 you bet, they are planning on you keeping anywhere from 60 cents to 30 dollars.

Granted, this is all based upon averages, so there are some people who will actually win more than they lose, but most of the people will lose more than they will win. With the huge quantity of money that is gambled in the average casino, even the 0.8% the house wins off of Blackjack can run up to an enormous quantity of money.

Of all the games in a casino, the most popular is Blackjack, that’s because of the mistaken notion that you stand a greater chance of winning at blackjack. Granted, you do stand a greater chance of winning at blackjack than you do at roulette, but that doesn’t mean you stand a great chance of winning, the house is still expecting to take 0.8% of your money. It isn’t that you stand a greater chance of winning as much as it is that you stand a chance of losing less; not quite the same thing.

So, if you insist on gambling, make sure you know the odds; expect to lose, that way, if you actually win something, it’ll be a nice surprise. Never go with the idea of winning enough to make the house payment, you’ll literally be betting your house away.

Filed Under: Addictions, Gambling Tagged With: , ,

Can You Afford to Lose?

In ancient Greek mythology there was a creature called a chimera. This fanciful, impossible creature was made of the parts of several animals, which gave it three heads. It would appear and disappear; vanishing into thin air should any try to touch it.

Winning at gambling is much like that chimera. Should you manage to grab it, you have gained something great and powerful, which can change the course of your life. Yet, for many, just as they were reaching out to grab their winnings, their luck vanished like the chimera.

It is the hope of being the one to successfully grab the chimera which keeps people gambling. Nobody thinks of losing, only winning. In a sense, the gambler is the eternal optimist; convinced that the sun will rise over them, even while it is raining on everyone else. Every gambler goes to the tables convinced that this is their day to win.

While I understand the value of a positive mental attitude, I’d like to propose another attitude for gambling. That is, never gamble more than you can afford to lose. To be more specific, look at your gambling as a hobby. Most people don’t spend their mortgage payment and the money for the phone bill on their hobby. Well, neither should you. If you are going to gamble, make yourself a budget, and stick to it. When you’ve lost what you decided you can afford to lose, it’s time to call it quits.

Don’t get suckered into the thought pattern of “if I just play one more hand, I can win it back;” you won’t. Oh yeah, statistically there is a possibility that you can win it back in that one hand; but the statistical possibility is so small that your might as well call it non-existent.

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The Myth of the Big Winner

We’ve all heard the stories about some lucky stiff, who goes to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, makes a wild bet, and comes home a millionaire. It’s stories like that which fuel the gambling industry, and industry it is, taking in more than 90 billion dollars a year in revenue (over and above what is returned to the gamblers in winnings). Compared to that, the measly million that our lucky stiff won really isn’t much at all.

While I’m relatively sure that these myths are based on fact, I’m also sure that like any myth, they’ve grown in the retelling. Maybe we could say that those myths have even had some help in growing and spreading. After all, it’s to the benefit of the gambling industry to tell the stories of the winners. That’s the best advertising they’ve got going for them; especially if the story can be told in such a way that Joe Sixpack is suckered into thinking that he can make a killing too.

The gambling industry works hard to make the most of these winners. Every one of them is publicized to the max. Not only that, but they get free hotel rooms for the rest of their lives, so that they can come back and lose it again. When they come back, and most do, they are treated as if they were arriving celebrities; at least, they’re treated that way until they lose their winnings.

You’ve got to realize that casinos, whether online or in some physical building you walk into, don’t exist so that you can make money, but so that they can make money. For each person who walks away a big winner, there are tens or hundreds of thousands of people who walk away with empty pockets. It has to happen that way, otherwise there’s no money to pay off the occasional big winner.

Filed Under: Addictions, Gambling Tagged With: ,

The Subtle Trail to Addiction

I had a friend, who was a highly respected professional in the state department of education, in the state where he lived. He was married, had a college-aged daughter, a nice home, money in the bank, and a position in the leadership of his church. On top of all this, my friend had started a non-profit organization, which he was the head of.

Everything seemed to be going right for this friend of mine. Then, another couple, who were friends of theirs, suggested that they go for the weekend to a casino on an Indian reservation. They talked it over, decided that they could afford to lose a little, set their budget, and went off to have a good time for the weekend.

Unfortunately, gambling has a draw that isn’t really obvious until it sinks its claws into you. That draw is the desire to be the big winner. It is that desire which causes people to gamble money they can’t afford, knowing that the odds are against them, but still seeing the chance of winning.

Well, my friend went through his budgeted allocation for losing that weekend a little faster than he wanted to. “No problem,” he thought, “I’ll just go over to the ATM machine and get myself a little more money.” He didn’t bother telling his wife, and since he handled their finances, she had no way of knowing. Of course, he went through that money as well, and left the casino at the end of the weekend as a loser.

These two couples started going to that casino every month. To them, it was an inexpensive way of getting away for a fun filled weekend. Unfortunately, my friend became somewhat obsessed with winning. In fact, he became addicted to gambling. Every time they went, he ended up pulling a little more out of their savings than he had the month before.

It wasn’t long before he lost his entire life’s savings. Because of that, he lost his wife, his daughter, his home, his happiness, and his good name. Was it really worth the price?

Filed Under: Addictions, Gambling Tagged With: , ,

State Lotteries, the Biggest Gamble of them All

Once upon a time, you had to go to Las Vegas, or Atlantic City to do your gambling. Now, in the new friendlier world, you only have to go to your corner convenience store in order to get that thrill of throwing your money away. State governments have decided to jump into the gambling profit pot with both feet and get their share of the pie.

Most people don’t really look at the lottery as gambling, but it is. Not only is it gambling, but in most cases, it’s a form of gambling that is based purely upon random chance. Any skill or system the individual might have is rendered worthless by the randomness of the number draw. Oh, I know that people talk about having a “system” for the lottery and some have even written books about it, but the reality of the situation is that it is based upon random chance.

Since lottery tickets are mostly bought by poor and lower-middle class people, it has essentially become a tax on the poor. That’s somewhat ironic, as the Democrats, who make themselves out to be the champions of the poor are also the ones who have pushed to have the lottery in the several states of our union.

Like any form of gambling, the lottery can become addictive. There’s always that chance that the next ticket will be your big winner; you just need to buy one more. At least, if the tickets could talk, that’s what they’d say.

Just as marijuana tends to lead its users into trying harder drugs, so the lottery leads its participants into trying more serious forms of gambling. Just like any other addiction, it feeds upon itself, drawing the victim deeper and deeper in, until that individual is consumed by the addiction. Don’t think the lottery is harmless; it can quite easily lead one to much greater harm. Once it gets hold of you, it won’t let go.

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Hazards of Sports Gambling

While gambling for fun and enjoyment is acceptable, many a times it does not remain that way and slowly it graduates into a more disturbing level and becomes an addiction. Addiction to gambling is one of the many problems associated with gaming activities be it casinos or online gambling or sports gambling. Addiction to gambling is a pathological disorder and more of a behavioral disturbance.

This is a dangerous disorder if it is not treated early and this one reason is enough to totally damage families and relationships. People suffering from this disorder often derive extreme pleasure in gambling and it makes their adrenaline pump up whenever they are into gambling activities. Absence from gambling makes them irritable and restless and often leads to violent emotional outbursts. There are have many instances where a nice person who has fallen victim to this addiction, involves himself in acts hitherto unknown to his family.

These could be stealing money from the house, kids, wife, and parents and also speaking lies without any rhyme or reason. There are essentially four groups under which people who are into gambling can be classified. They are recreational gamblers who gamble for fun, professional gamblers who make a living out of it, and anti-social gamblers who gamble to create trouble. While the above three groups can be tackled easily, the fourth group consists of people who are addicted to gambling.

This is the group which needs immediate medical attention. Unless it is treated these people deteriorate progressively. They reach such a stage that they do not recognize the fact that money is being drained out from him or his family. They keep losing heavily in the gambling sessions and to make this up they get involved into many illegal and immoral activities. So it has to be nipped in the bud before it goes out of control and completely destroys the human being in question.

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