WHAT IS GAMBLING?
Gambling is wagering money or any valuable thing, risking it, with a chance of winning something better or losing it.
KINDS OF GAMBLING
- CASINOS/LOTTERY such as roulette, blackjack, …
- SPORTS such as football, horse races, tennis, …
- SKIN GAMBLING where you pay for opening a box which can hardly contain an expensive item or a worthless one.
These kinds of betting I have just showed you, are games of pure chance: they have been programmed mathematically to let the operator take advantage over the players. You might be kind of lucky once, but over time it will convert in progressive net losses for the gambler.
SOME STATS ABOUT GAMBLING
Around of 82% of the adults in Spain have participated once in this year.
About 21% do it once a week.
Around 100.000 people in Spain have gambling problem.
PROBLEM GAMBLING
It is an impulse control disorder in which you can’t control your bets without taking into account the consequences for you and your close people.
Many people who deal with problem gambling:
- Lie about what they win/loss.
- Are preoccupied with what did they bet for (They can´t focus on what they are doing).
- Trigger enormous debts.
1
- People refuse him/her.
- Steal money to continue gambling.
BETTING STAGES
Winning stage. The gambler starts by betting small quantities, thinking that it is easy to make profit by wagering.
Losing stage. An optimistic attitude by the gambler make him progressively bet more money. Triggering big losses, which are not admitted by the player. Now, he will just gamble to regain what he lost.
Desperation stage. This person will have just generated a big debt and people will start to refuse him. He will be out of control thinking about where to get the money to continue gambling and pay his debts. 
HOW TO QUIT WAGERING
- Admit that you have lost a lot of money and you will never get it back. Otherwise, you’ll continue betting desperately and your losses will increase.
- Delay your bets. When you think about betting money delay it until you forget it.
- Start new hobbies that might help you come off gambling.
- Go to the psychologist.
- Restrict your access to online casinos or tell the people from the bookmaker to don’t let you enter there.
- Tell you family to handle your money.
