Gambling addiction and how we manage it
By Oana Lis
I was watching a movie the other day from the time of the Romans, there was Emperor Octavian Augustus in 63 BC -14 AD and they were playing a form of gambling and it seemed like an excusive, rich man’s game.
In fact, the history of games and their appearance is very old. The earliest concrete evidence dates back to the period of ancient China, where some tiles were unearthed that seemed to have been used for a rudimentary gambling. There is also evidence in the form of keno tickets that were used before 200 AD. This lottery had been organized for civic purposes, to finance state works, including the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Moreover, as an example the famous Harvard and Yale Universities were established using some lottery funds.
In the writings of the poet Sophocles, it is noted that he mentioned the game of dice, loved by both the Romans and the ancient Greeks.
In the Roman Empire, gambling for money was banned at one point, but the citizens in question, in a way to cheat the law, invented chips.
As proof, that gambling attracted people like magic, and instead of being stopped, they found a form to evolve, until today.
*If it wasn’t for luck, I would have won every time.*
Baccarat is said to be the oldest gambling. Apparently the French and Italians had been playing it since the 1400s, then they took it all over the world, to Britain, to America, to Asia. So as civilization has evolved, so have these gambling in various forms.
The 17th century French game of *Vingt et un* is certainly an ancestor of today’s Blackjack. The name Blackjack was given by the Americans on the occasion of offers in Nevada casinos in the 1930s.
The world’s first casino was established in Venice in 1638, when the Venetian state also established a Ridotto authority to control gambling during the annual carnival.
The year 1894 is a landmark in the history of gambling, when the first slot machine was invented in San Francisco. It was called the *Liberty Bell*, and its inventor was Charles Fey, a German who had emigrated to the USA.
Also, 1994 is an important year in this industry, when the transition to online gaming platforms was made, and from here, unlimited possibilities to play and implicitly to win or lose.
So, we are talking about an industry worth tens of billions of euros and with a history of thousands of years.
It is not for nothing that I started with this brief history of gambling, it is important to know that they have existed for a very long time and that man, in his essence, was and is attracted to the game, regardless of the century and society. This means that anyone can feel attracted to gambling, regardless of social status, intelligence, gender, etc., and it’s good to know this so as not to judge others and above all, to protect ourselves, to know our limits , to know the difference between needs and wants, that there is a risk for anyone to be drawn to gambling, and if we can’t afford a certain style of play, don’t approach it. That’s why there are thousands of games and different stakes.
But why has man been attracted to the gambling for thousands of years!?…
There are several factors…biological, genetic and environmental and individual. Freud said that the gambler does not play for money, but for excitement. Of course, personal motivations are diverse, but over time, psychologists and sociologists have analyzed these behaviors and various theories and many books have appeared in this field.
Gambling is a socially accepted form of entertainment in many countries, a way of spending free time accompanied by the desire to win money in a very short time, which can turn into addiction when practiced in an excessive way.
These gambling and luck have therefore existed since ancient times out of the desire to win, to acquire well-being and personal prestige by taking risks that have always been based on an inner, instinctual force that exists in our human genes, being a combination of rewards based on our primal instincts that thirst, hunger, etc., with others derived from respect, disgust, from love, to hatred from community integration to isolation, etc., very complex phenomena within a human being.
The Cambridge International Dictionary (1996) defines gambling as those games aimed at winning money or other rewards.
Gamblers Anonymous defines gambling as any form of betting, significant or not, in which the winnings are uncertain or depend on chance or the skill of the bettor.
*You can’t win unless you learn to lose.*
In the novel *The Player*, published in 1866, the famous Fyodor Dostoevsky described in detail his vision of the player’s cognitive distortions, loss of control, as a result of personal experience and finally, he claims that he got rid of this addiction thanks to a promise made to his wife its.
*Luck is one of the most talked about things in the world.*
So it seems that yes, there have been many personalities in history concerned and even passionate about games, such as Voltaire, Lord Halifax, Marie Antoinette, Duke of Wellington, which shows that human rationality can be lost in the course of the game regardless of status and the intellectual level of the player.
*Luck is the exception, not the rule.*
Gambling addiction has become a public health problem, classified as a psychiatric disorder, for which there are today treatments, therapies, and even associations that deal with helping gamblers who have lost control of their gambling. It’s good to know that there is support from society, there is help, everything is a phone call away, you just have to be aware of the situation you are in and call for professional and expert help in the field.
*Hoping to recover your losses is what ruins players.*
When a person gambles more and more time and spends more and more money on gambling at the expense of other daily activities, it can be considered that excessive, compulsive behavior appears and develops, which risks turning into addiction. If the following items appear…- interferes with work, with the other activities you used to do, – if it causes extreme emotional states, you feel stress or other health problems, – it causes large financial losses, – if it negatively affects relationships with family members, – if it affects your different aspects and plans you had, etc., then you should ask for specialized help and there is a Responsible Gambling program, where you can turn to a specialist in the field, who treats gambling addiction.
*What do you want my dear? I live by betting.*
There is a big difference, therefore, from a way of spending time recreationally, for entertainment, socially, in which you feel good and is approved by society, you can actually spend time with someone close to you, but be in control of the money played and the time spent in this activity and extreme, when it becomes addictive, you develop some physical, emotional and mental symptoms and it affects all your plans.
*If you must play, decide three things from the beginning – the rules of the game, the stake and the time you will quit.*
It is very important to maintain a balanced lifestyle in all aspects, because the temptations are many, from different areas and it is up to us to know our limits and pluses and even to call for psychological help when we feel it is the case or when those from I swear it tells us this.
I hug you, Oana Lis
