[Alf]

No sympathy what so ever. Get control over your own life, and don't be controlled by the selfish greed to earn a quick bit of money.

My best mate was a gambling addict, he killed himself. The selfish bugger left his family and friends with the worst pain there is.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Alf

No sympathy what so ever. Get control over your own life, and don't be controlled by the selfish greed to earn a quick bit of money.

My best mate was a gambling addit, he killed himself. The selfish bugger left his family and friends with the worst pain there is.

It's not the money people are after or addicted to, it's the "rush" they get at the end of a race or when their bet is about to come in (or get beat at the last second). Difference with betting terminals is that it's a "micro rush" repeatedly every 5 seconds. They all know that they're not going to "make a quick buck", they know they're losing money... They're just getting high

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It's not the money people are after or addicted to, it's the "rush" they get at the end of a race or when their bet is about to come in (or get beat at the last second). Difference with betting terminals is that it's a "micro rush" repeatedly every 5 seconds. They all know that they're not going to "make a quick buck", they know they're losing money... They're just getting high

So you're saying if we take away the money and just had friendly bets, people would be addicted to it?

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Alf

So you're saying if we take away the money and just had friendly bets, people would be addicted to it?

The loss is attached to the high, addiction operates on an action - > reward cycle... Like training a dog by giving them a treat. The "treat" in this case being a monetary win... However, they all know that even if they win £500 one day, overall they are losing money every week.

So taking the "money flow" out of it would take the adrenaline rush out of it and stop it being addictive. Mostly. People still get hooked on crap like "candy crush" without a cash element. But in principle, the money is part of it.

However they don't think they are making money and, in fact, the heavy players know for a FACT that they can't win, because they have been playing them for years, and not making money. They'll even say, "Why do I even do this, you can't win". It's certainly not that they're naive and trying to make "easy cash"... Not many people are daft enough to not realise that the "bookie always wins". Yet they sit there day after day, spin after spin.

You can't even argue that they're chasing that elusive "big win then they'll stop"... The machines have a £500 max jackpot and these people are dropping those jackpots at least once a week. Some of them will drop 2 a day. Walk out with a grand nodding and smiling at people who think they've won big...

...go and open the machine up, and there's £1100 worth of crisp 50's .

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It's not the money people are after or addicted to, it's the "rush" they get at the end of a race or when their bet is about to come in (or get beat at the last second). Difference with betting terminals is that it's a "micro rush" repeatedly every 5 seconds. They all know that they're not going to "make a quick buck", they know they're losing money... They're just getting high

As a gambling addict who has never quite got to the level of problem gambler (being that I wasted every spare penny I had, rather than bill money) I would say its a bit of both.

My vice is bandits. Both online and in land casinos.

Its the rush AND the thought of maybe hitting it big. My addiction only started after a huge win (talking a few thousand). I know wins of that size are doable, having done it before (previously I had only won amounts like 200), and chase it. Both for the adrenaline rush, and for the cash.

Am currently having counselling for it as I know I could easily end up using every penny we have, which tbh, is not much at all anyway. But I always thinkl, just another big win would help us all so much when in reality, the little bits I have wasted over the years would have added up to that win a few times over