Gambling.....urgh....

Just found out one of our good friends has a gambling problem. A big one. Everything is starting to unravel for them and it's all just horrible.

Her husband doesn't know yet but I reckon he'll find out soon, they might lose their house and they're in their 60s.

It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

 

This is no good and watching from the sideline is terrible. Having this at this stage in their life is horrific.
I have the unpleasant experience of watching my uncle's demise, and then his son. My biggest nightmare was that my son might inherit the DNA. Hopefully he has past the dangerous era.
I guess all of us have some form of addiction or another, and some more dangerous than the others. Suffice to say that there must be a lot of unhappy people out there, no peace in their minds I suppose.
All the best to you and your friends!

 

There is help available. Get her to call Gamblers Help. People can recover.

 

ive seen a few gamblers and the mess they get involved with,

and yeah it really sux

like any other addiction, like what many think, its not a case of just deciding to stop

when I was 19-21 , I played a decent amount of pokies, lost my entire weeks pay cheque in half an hour a few times,

my worst was $2k at the casino, while as a poor student

fortunately, the shock scared me never to do that again,

I still gamble a few times a year , sometimes alone for a bit of time out, but its always less than $100

 

This mug punter learned quickly - put $100 across the counter at the TAB, only $87 makes it to the other side. Someone's on a winner and it ain't the punter.

 

It is a terrible addiction and the number of pokies in Australia is disgusting

I just listened to this podcast which talked about the issue and also this book

Pokie addiction, fallen role models and reuniting with your high school sweetheart
One Last Spin

 

Make gambling illegal and legalize weed.

Or at the very least regulate it like smoking.

Unfortunately it brings in the $$$ and the government isnt going to cut that revenue stream.

I think Ive gambled $20 all up in my life. Although my latest subdivision was a gamble it set me back $15k to get approved. But luckily it got approved. So Ill make a quarter of a mil out of it. That was an educated gamble that had a good pay out and decent chances.

 

Last time I was down at the club I looked for the 5c machines - was happy to go up to the 10c one's if the 5c-ers had been fazed out. Shows how old I am.

Minimum bet was $1 but you had to put a note in the machine - smallest note is now $5 - so at an absolute minimum you're doshing out $5 a turn ... can understand how it's easy to chew through $100 in no time if you chuck in a couple of $50's

I passed.

 

I play the pokies in my birthday month. I'm a rewards member of a pub near my folks and in your birthday month they send you $10 to spend in the bottle shop, a two for one meal and $5 of poking money.

 

There is no 'safe' gambling

 

Sometimes I get a scratchy as a gift for my birthday.

Cheers,
Inertia

 

I have a colleague who won nearly 10k on a pokie. What happened is he joined the club next door to my work as they give free coffees to members. Because of the free coffees he felt like he should pay them something so he said he played the pokies a bit as payment.

Then he won something like 1k. Then he played again and won nearly 10k!

Walked away with that money in the form of a cheque.

Hoping he doesn't continue to play though. He just built a house with his wife and they are having a baby this month.

 

Ummm.
They have 1c and 2c machines.
And you can bet one line at a time

So. 1c a spin.

But the odds of winning anything is close to zero