How To Stop Gambling

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Copyright © 2009 Skyler Ace


There's nothing wrong with gambling - if it's done the right way. As a sport, as a hobby, as a stress buster, there are many ways in which gambling can be good for you. But, and this is a big but, there are even more ways in which gambling can, not only be bad for you, it can ruin your life. It is all a matter of how your treat gambling and the role it plays in your life.

If gambling has become more than a sport, a hobby or a stress buster, its time for you to step back from it and rethink the extent of your involvement. We're not talking of gambling addiction here - just a stage where gambling is playing a more important role in your life than it should. This is a dangerous road to travel because if you don't turn back while it's easy, you may find yourself addicted - something you thought happened to other people. Like all addictions, it is easy to fool yourself into believing that you are not addicted or on the road to it. You always know you can stop when you want to, but you don't want to. Why should you - there are so many reasons you can think of to carry on. And all of them, to you, are valid.

Allowing gambling to start controlling your life does not mean that you sit in front of your computer 24/7 playing games for money and living on cigarettes, booze, coffee and junk food. That is only the final stage. The thing to know is if you are on your way there and quit while you can. How do you know if you need to stop gambling? Ask yourself these questions:

Do you find that you have less spending money these days? And you don't know where the cash went?

Are you less interested in your non work related activities than you used to be?

Are you socializing less than before?

Are you finding more reasons not to go in to work? And are you less motivated about your work when you are doing it?

Do you find yourself avoiding your friends?

Do you owe money? Are you borrowing to repay what you borrowed earlier?

If you find that any of these are happening to you, even in a small way, you need to seriously think about stopping gambling. Stop it now while you can and when it still relatively easy. Admit you have a problem and begin your cure before others have to step in and do it for you.

The first thing you need to do is tell you friends that you think you need to stop gambling and that you need their help. Ask them to help you out for a short while by making extra time for you. When you feel the urge to go online and gamble, go and spend some time with these people. Go and physically meet them - get out of the house. Online chatting is no good - you need a change of environment.

But you may get bored and feel like gambling at night when it's too late to visit people. What do you do then? What you need to do is load some of the easily available software that will block your access to online gambling sites. Since you can't gamble on line, you will need to be occupied. Try reading, cooking, watching TV - whatever appeals to you. And if you find that you are happier online, even if you are not gambling, go ahead and visit some chat rooms or support groups or whatever you feel like doing.

These may seem like simple things that are so basic anyone can think of them. That's true, but the problem lies in knowing when you need to use them. With full fledged addiction, everyone will know you have a problem even if you don't and will try to help you. With an initial unhealthy level of preoccupation in gambling, the situation is reversed - only you will know you have a problem.

Try out these simple steps for a couple of months and you will find your life getting back on track. It's much easier to do in the early stages before you need to cancel you credit cards and join Gamblers Anonymous.




About the Author:
This article was written by gambling pro Skyler Ace. Warning: Do Not Gamble Another Dollar Online Until You Read This. Free Consumer Awareness Guide Reveals The Seven Deadly Mistakes All Gamblers Make: http://www.jobsource20-23.com/casclok.html Also feel free to visit our gambling blog for tons of winning tips: http://onlinegambling23.blogspot.com/


Read more of Skyler Ace's articles.

Understanding Compulsive Gambling

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Skyler Ace


People gamble for many reasons. Some do it for the pure thrill and fun of it, and others just because they're feeling lucky, and many do it out of habit. There are some people who gamble as a way to relax, socialize or just escape from everyday lives. Whatever the reason may be, gambling becomes a problem when it is done in excess. In fact, people often don't realize that it's become an addiction, until they are in so deep and affects normal life.

An uncontrollable urge to continue gambling, irrespective of the consequences it has on your life is known as compulsive gambling. Compulsive gambling is an extremely serious condition and can cause vast destruction.

The internet is filled with sites dedicated to the art of gambling, but not all of them are built to encourage gambling. There are sites that are built to help gamblers who have come to realize they have developed a problem - they have become an addict of the profession.

Gambling anonymous is just one of many forums that are springing up to help people who have become obsessed with gambling (also called compulsive gambling). With the relative ease by which online gambling can be begun, and the wide variety of options the internet presents, stumbling on sites promoting gambling is very easy. Even easier is finding a niche in the vast gambling world that will appeal to the individual.

As an art, gambling has always had high addictive properties. It is why people are advised to decide on a betting limit, before they begin and urged to resist from borrowing or chasing their losses. But despite the warnings most people fall prey to these mistakes and over time, develop a slow pattern that soon spirals into the destructive spin of compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers are people who have allowed the art to take over, thus their lives resulting in far reaching social and psychological effects.

How Do You Know If You Are A Compulsive Gambler?

There are many ways of determining if a person is a compulsive gambler. Gamblers anonymous, offers the following questions to help in deciding if a person is suffering from compulsive gambling. They will usually answer yes, to any 7 of the following.

1. Does gambling cause you to skip work?

2. Is your home life a mess due to gambling?

3. Is your reputation spoiled due to gambling?

4. Do you ever regret gambling after you've done so?

5. Are you gambling in the hope of ending your financial troubles?

6. Is your efficiency or ambition affected due to gambling?

7. Do you lose time from work due to gambling?

8. After you lose a game, do you have this need that you must return to try and win back what you lost?

9. After winning, do you want to go back and try and win some more?

10. Do you keep gambling till you don't have any money left?

11. Do you borrow so that you can gamble?

12. Do you sell stuff so that you have money to gamble?

13. Have you considered doing something illegal so that you have money to gamble?

14. Do you spend sleepless nights thinking about gambling?

15. Do you think twice about spending money on other things besides gambling?

16. Do you often gamble more than you planned to?

17. Are you gambling to forget your troubles?

Compulsive gamblers like alcoholics are in need of help. If untreated, the effects are far reaching. They become distant and detach themselves from their families. It is difficult for them to break the habit on their own. If you have a friend or relative who is suffering, it is prudent to get them help.

Compulsive gambling can be treated, and one just needs to have the right approach and direction. As mentioned earlier, there are many websites, blogs, online forums that have great trips and suggestions on how to get out of it. If this doesn't help, one can always seek professional assistance. Always know, that you have plenty of options, so do not give up and find out ways that can help you kick you off your habit of gambling, for good!




About the Author:
This article was written by gambling pro Skyler Ace. Warning: Do Not Gamble Another Dollar Online Until You Read This. Free Consumer Awareness Guide Reveals The Seven Deadly Mistakes All Gamblers Make: http://www.jobsource20-23.com/casclok.html Also feel free to visit our gambling blog for tons of winning tips: http://onlinegambling23.blogspot.com/


Read more Articles written by Skyler Ace.

Understanding Gambling Addiction

Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Skyler Ace


There's nothing wrong with gambling, if you use it the right way - as means of having fun, as a hobby or a way of de stressing. The danger comes when the roles get reversed and gambling starts using you. When you start to gamble not to relax, but because you get tense when you are not gambling, you have a serious problem. With online gambling being so prevalent and easy to access, this is now becoming a serious problem.

Gambling addiction has a great deal of social stigma attached to it. While things like alcohol and drug addiction are met with a certain amount of sympathy, people tend to feel that a person dependent on these things is one who could not face life's pressures and took the easy way out. These people need sympathy and help to recover. Gambling addicts, on the other hand, are often treated a selfish, self centered people who do not care for their families and are throwing away their and their families futures by gambling away all their money.

Gambling addiction is understood by mental health professionals to be an emotional problem and has the same roots as any other form of addiction. Gambling addiction needs to be viewed in the same way as other extreme emotional states like acute anxiety and depression. To treat it merely as a case of a weak or immature personality is to misunderstand the problem and treat it the wrong way.

Like all addicts, the gambling addict will have moments of clarity when he will appreciate what the addiction is doing to his life and to his family. Again, like other addicts, he may make some weak efforts to cure himself and will, in 95% of the cases, fail. He then accepts his addiction as being incurable and inevitable and feels that he has no choice but to gamble. The descent into disaster only accelerates from here.

But gambling addiction is not just treatable, it is curable. There are no magic bullets or pills that can remove the problem overnight. It is a long haul and the cured gambling addict, like the reformed drinker or drug addict, will have to spend the rest of his life being careful about falling back into the trap. But this is a very small price to pay for escaping from the hole.

Gambling addicts rarely see the problems they have, and if they do, forget about it in their desire to gamble. There are fours easy checks to know if you have a gambling addiction. Be completely honest with yourself and ask yourself if you or someone you care about has these symptoms:

Do you feel the need to be secretive about your gambling? Do you hide it or lie about it?

Once you start, are you able to stop at a predetermined point - either at a fixed time or when you have lost a fixed amount of money? Or do you keep on gambling until you are exhausted and / or have no money left?

Do you gamble even when you can't afford it? Are you spending money meant for other purposes on gambling - money for school fees, utility bills and so on?

Are those who care worried about you? Even if they haven't said anything as yet, do you sense they are concerned about you?

Forget about having all of these symptoms, having even one of them is enough of a cause for concern. Even one symptom is a sign of if not full blown addiction, at least a sign of being well on the way to becoming an addict.

Cure and treatment is only possible if the person is both honest enough to see that he has a problem and also has a desire to be cured of it. It is not possible to treat someone who does not want to be treated.

Gambling addicts wanting to be cured must accept the fact that this is an emotional disorder and that they will not be able to deal with it themselves. It is normal to feel ashamed of having the problem and therefore reluctant to ask for help. But this is not something that can be self treated. This is a medical condition that needs to be treated by qualified professionals.




About the Author:
This article was written by gambling pro Skyler Ace. Warning: Do Not Gamble Another Dollar Online Until You Read This. Free Consumer Awareness Guide Reveals The Seven Deadly Mistakes All Gamblers Make: http://www.jobsource20-23.com/casclok.html Also feel free to visit our gambling blog for tons of winning tips: http://onlinegambling23.blogspot.com/


Read more Articles written by Skyler Ace.