How to Stop Predatory Gambling

Gambling is a form of entertainment for millions of Americans who like to wager on their favorite football team or pull the arm of a slot machine from time to time. However, there are many gamblers who cannot control their urges and go back to the casino or go online to gamble with so much frequency that they put their lives and their loved ones at risk. This type of predatory gambling ruins and sometimes ends lives. It is hard for a society that embraces gambling as a major revenue source to do much to stop it. However, individuals with gambling problems and friends and loved ones of those with gambling weaknesses can look for signs and try to help.

Instructions

• 1

  Take stock of yourself and take a fearless inventory of your gambling. If you are gambling more than you can afford to lose, you have a problem you need to address. If the thought of gambling is constantly in the back of your mind or if you have problems letting go of past losses, you need to address your situation.

• 2

  Ask those who love and care for you for their help. This will require a painful admission on your part, one that may make your spouse or loved ones quite angry and upset. However, once they come to grips with your problem, they may be able to help you get some help. They can certainly play a significant role in not allowing you to gamble any more if you are willing to turn your finances over to them. This may be a difficult move to make, but if you have gambled in the past and you don't want to put yourself and your family at any more risk, you should be willing to make this move.

• 3

  Go to a meeting of Gamblers Anonymous. At this meeting, you will find other people like yourself who have a gambling problem. They will counsel you on how to arrest your problem. It will not go away. People who are problem gamblers are not cured. However, they can take control of their problem through self-knowledge, support and putting road blocks in their way.

• 4

  Find things to fill your time productively. If you spend much of your free time gambling, thinking about gambling and planning your next gambling excursion, you will need to find other things to fill the void in your life. Look for things that will help other people. If you are involved with other people you will have a chance to change your focus and find new interests.

• 5

  Think of your future. Think of how empty it will be if you continue to gamble recklessly and the people around you make the painful choice to cut off their associations with you. This is what they will have to do. Gamblers who are reckless take others down with them and many gamblers can't fathom the damage they've done to themselves and their loved ones until it's too late. Taking that painful look in the mirror and making a commitment to change one's life is a one day at a time job, but one that can be the most rewarding thing a gambler can do.