Gambling Addictions and Where to Get Help

Compulsive gambling is a difficult and growing addiction in our society. It requires specific knowledge in treatment not available from other addiction therapies. Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word.

Gamblers can have a problem, however, without being totally out of control. Long before an addiction has fully developed, gambling can have a negative impact. Gamblers Anonymous is a worldwide association of other problem gamblers devoted to helping themselves, and others towards solving their gambling problem. Gamblers can find the real thrill in their hometowns these days.

Support groups tailored to the patient’s particular life situation will enhance the patient’s ability to make friends who are in a similar situation and decrease their dependence upon on-line cohorts. If a patient leads one of the above mentioned “lonely lifestyles” then perhaps the patient may join a local interpersonal growth group, a singles group, ceramics class, a bowling league, or church group to help meet new people. Support groups often require you to follow very strict rules and regulations. They also require very long, sometimes lifelong, commitments to attendance and participation.

Financial issues become a way of life for the problem gambler. Official government figures indicate the average gambling debt was over $23,000. Financial Management is one of the most difficult areas in life. Most of us, especially myself, need help to get it right.

Remember we are human – Every person who struggles with the demon of gambling addiction must remember we are only human, and we will struggle and fall on our face at times. However, every day we go without gambling, some of the temptations will fade away. Remember 90% of patients that work our program stay clean and sober.

The Changing Face of Gambling

Only a few years have passed since the gambling laws were relaxed to a degree in the United Kingdom and the result of this has become very apparent. The number of casinos has increased across most areas and initially, there was concern about people developing serious gambling addictions. Gambling in the UK already consisted of many forms including scratch cards, various lotteries and horse and dog racing. The major change was the arrival of Internet gambling and this has changed the face of British gambling forever.

The emergence of online gambling sites has set a trend that is likely to increase year on year for the foreseeable future. You cannot escape from the advertising campaigns that these companies put out and you can guarantee that you will see several advertisements on TV before your evenings relaxation is over. There are three main gambling websites that seem to be filling our TV screens which are bingo, casinos and poker related sites, and these sites often offer a welcome incentive to get you interested.

Many people have voiced concerns regarding online gambling in particular, as it is been seen as an easier way to potentially develop a gambling addiction, as you just put your credit card details in and away you go. The player never sees the money he or she is playing with and things could possibly get out of hand over a relatively short period of time. There have been several studies into gambling within the UK and the findings suggest that the impact has not been as severe as initially thought. Over 30 million of UK adults have gambled in one form or other over the last year and just over five percent of these gambled online. The suggested number of gamblers with a serious problem is put at less than 300,000 which shows that the majority of players are just having a bit of fun and are tending to gamble more responsibly.

Money Management in Online Gambling

Money management is an important aspect of online gambling. Since, there are innumerable risks involved in the field of casino gambling, one needs to be careful. In fact, it has emerged as one of the most bantered term in this domain. Moreover, without money, no matter how indomitable the player is, he does not stand a chance. But then, managing money over here is not that easy as it sounds. One needs to have

* Strategy
* Patience
* Self control

The term “money management” has different interpretations for different gamblers. For some, it means the bankroll management for increasing one’s longevity at the table but for others, it’s a certain kind of betting strategy which decreases the edge of house advantage. Numerous books and articles for casino games have been inked for this subject. But most of the times, all of them reveal the same theories and tactics. At times, for those players who are about to set their first foot forward, these articles act as warnings rather than guides. So, here is a very fundamental revelation of the need of money management and the tricks to adopt for it. Need of money management

“Who cares?” Even those who are filthy rich cannot afford to think so, in terms of online gambling, which has mercilessly devastated thousand of gamblers. No doubt, online gambling is an addiction, but at the same time, intelligence and wise betting aid in extra income.

Unlike lottery, no one transforms into a millionaire within a single night, at online gambling. It’s more similar to stock exchange and sports betting. Luck cannot be the only aid to depend upon. Moreover, defeating the housing advantage is quite tricky. After all, in online gambling there are no opponents who can be scrutinized, followed and tricked. Every game is a new challenge. Ignorance and lack of proper money management have led to stupendous failures for outstanding gamblers. For those, who had adopted online gambling as their only profession, this failure has doomed them to utmost degree of bankruptcy. Generally, gamblers donot indentify the grave consequences, which occur after the incessant losses.

Gamblers might not win a losing bet by having more money but they definitely can play for longer bets, thereby compensating their earlier loses. With money, the online gamblers also have the sense of security and thus, they can delve into more risk cycles.

But before starting with any online casino game, the gamblers should know the following answers.

* The amount that can be spent before calling off the game: The gamblers should only bet as much as they can afford to lose. It takes only a second to transform into a panicked gambler, who is engrossed in recouping losses by taking wild odds.
* The amount that can be accepted before calling off the game: Logging off from the casino site as a winner, too, demands self control. One has to be reasonable enough to prevent oneself from further paroxysms of temptations.

This is the most basic fundamental of money management. Until and unless, these two basic judgments are not made by the gambler, in advance, he might end up losing all his financial assets. Understanding constancy of house edge

The entire concept that betting system can affect the house advantage is mere fallacy. It’s similar to making the payment of mortgage o double basis rather than per month. This will in no way affect the interest. In the same manner, doubling the amount of a single bet and escaping one bet, might not make a lot of difference. The fundamentals of money management

The entire aim of money management strategies and techniques is to enhance the earnings of the online casino player. This also works for lessening the house advantage for the online players, without increasing the risk cycles.

But at the same time, here are a few facts which justify losses in spite of flawless usage of money management.

* The strategy does not make you the indisputable winner of every table or card game. It just maximizes your winnings and reduces your loss.
* Bad play of bad luck cannot be compensated by the usage of flawless management strategies.
* Always remember that the House Advantage has ample strategies to wear out the gamblers who might have been using goal based money management strategies.

Some disastrous additions to managing strategies

* Double after losing bets: Few casino experts believe that this might, somehow, lessen your losses. But then, if main trouble initiates when the number of lost bets increases. No doubt, such big losses cannot be recovered.
* Double after winning bets: This is also known as let-it-ride technique. This strategy confirms that the biggest loss occurs at player’s highest bet, which indeed is not an intelligent decision.

Some important tips for money management are as follows

* Do not invest your entire bank roll for just one session of online gambling. It’s advisable to divide one’s bankroll on the basis of gambling sessions. This prevents the obsessive addition of tomorrow’s money into today’s investment.
* The entire winning goal should be set up, as to how much, is the maximum necessity to win in a particular gamble. In case, the player has impressive winning, he should set aside his winnings and divided bankroll for the day, so that maximum earnings can be assured.
* A predetermined percentage for increase should be set in advance for every bet. This strategy is known as method of progressive winning.
* Do not increase the bet amount when one has been recently nabbed with losses.
* Be disciplined. It’s the most crucial and important part of proper money management.
* Select the advantageous gambling opportunities, be it, recognizing the odd bets, playing conditions or game rules.
* Winning streaks do not occur every day. So one should not end the rare magical moment by quitting the hands.

The unfortunate sin in Online Gambling, is the aimless pursuit of chasing one’s losses. This baseless hope means that the next bet might lead to the winning streak and the lost money can be recovered in one go. Winning or losing is not in one’s hand, but definitely limiting one’s respective losses is.

Most of the online casino players, who have had continuous winning streaks, might ignore the house advantage. This should never be done as it’s a mere disillusion rather than reality.

Online Gambling in the US – A New Chance

The biggest potential change would be in the United States, where Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, is expected to introduce legislation within days, aimed at overturning the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. “He supports it and wants to move forward on it,” said Steve Adamske, communications director for the House Financial Services Committee, of which Mr. Frank is chairman. “There is a lot of gambling where no revenue coming in to the governments,” said Gavin Kelleher researcher at H2 Gambling Capital in Ireland.

Mr. Frank failed to do so once before, in 2007 but advocates of liberalization think they might get a friendlier hearing in Washington this time. President Barack Obama, boasted of his poker prowess during the election campaign and the Democrats, who are seen as less hostile to Internet gambling than the Republicans, have tightened their grip on Congress.

Analysts say that may be getting a little bit ahead of the game. Opponents of a repeal, including the Christian Coalition of America and the National Football League, have vowed to fight any effort to end the ban. Michele Combs, a spokeswoman for the Christian Coalition, said the group was gearing up for a massive campaign of letter-writing and lobbying to try to prevent any loosening of the law.

U.S. sports leagues, meanwhile, worry that the ease of online betting increases the chances of game-fixing. Even the most bullish advocates of online casino games and gambling acknowledge that Internet sports betting – as opposed to poker or casino games – is highly unlikely to be legalized. “There’s now a better chance for some sort of gaming legislation to be approved,” said Nick.

Batram, an analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, a brokerage firm in London. “But it took longer than expected to put anti-gaming legislation in place so maybe it will take longer than expected to remove it.”

Since the 2006 law was passed, North America has been passed by Europe and Asia, according to figures from H2 Gambling Capital. The law makes it illegal for financial institutions to handle payments to online gambling and casino games [http://www.casinogamearena.com] sites. Some people using overseas payment processors to ensure that online gambling remains an excellent business.

Now analysts say one possibility for European companies should the ban be lifted, would be to form partnerships with American casino operators. That would allow the European companies like PartyGaming to share their online expertise. Operating alone, they might struggle to obtain licenses, given their history of run-ins with U.S. law enforcement, analysts said.

So far, Las Vegas executives have maintained a cautious stance about legalization of online gambling. Steve Wynn, chief executive of Wynn Resorts, said in an e-mail message that he thought it would be “impossible to regulate and even though it would be a benefit to our company, we are strongly opposed,” he said.

Several other online gambling companies whose shares are traded in London, including 888 Holdings and Sportingbet, are still in talks with the U.S. Justice Department. Analysts expect them, along with companies like Bwin International, whose stock is traded in Vienna, to be involved in a round of consolidation in the industry – along with a possible eventual move back into the U.S..

Other countries, like Germany, Greece and the Netherlands, continue to hold out, though, in what the European Commission sees as an effort to protect government-sponsored gambling monopolies from private competition. The commission in March published a report arguing that the U.S. was violating World Trade Organization rules by keeping out European gambling companies, given that online betting on horse racing is allowed in the United States. The commission said that it favored negotiations, rather than legal action, to end the dispute.

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