Gambling addicts--have you ever known one?

How trashy, even by addict standards.

R1 What's trashy?

I always feel smug that gambling is the only vice that doesn’t remotely tempt me. It’s nice that there’s at least one addiction I can feel judgy and superior to.

I come from rural Ireland. It's a major problem there.

I have a cousin who is living in filth and squalor because of his gambling habit. His ex-wife and 2 kids want nothing to do with him because once you've had your life threatened by mobsters and irate bookies, you tend to lose whatever compassion you have for someone, even if he is your father or husband. Not to mention being harassed by collections companies trying to collect on their ex husband/father's casino debts.

In the divorce settlement, his wife got a very nice house and his great pension, but once again, only because she paid off a lot of his gambling debts by working until recently, only retiring at the age of 76. He lives entirely on his social security. He was living in his parents home, but had to put it up for a sale because he couldn't afford any of the repairs it desperately needed. Between the terrible condition the house was in and the back taxes he owed on it, he walked away with nothing.

Now he's living in a rented apartment which is filthy because he has macular degeneration and can't see. He's legally blind so he can't drive and must take public transportation or rely on the kindness of neighbors to take him to his very frequent medical appointments and dialysis sessions.

The real tragedy here is that he's one of the nicest people in the world and would literally give you the shirt off his back, if he had one.

I went into an Episcopal church in NYC to look at the Tiffany windows once. There was meeting going on in a side room of Gamblers Anonymous. They were the rudest, crudest, most stereotypical set of straight men I’ve ever seen. Like something out of Guys and Dolls. I don’t think they should even be allowed in a church that has Tiffany windows.

I worked in a casino for several years and am aware of the problem. In my casino & state, there are steps that can be taken immediately when a gambling addict reaches that point. We were ALL (every employee in every department) trained on what to do in these cases. If any patron came to any employee and stated they had a problem, we knew what to do & who to contact that could be there in a second. Supervisors were trained to counsel & provide options like barring oneself from the casino (can be done statewide in our state). It is such a fucking difficult addiction, because the effects are invisible to us. The effects are their financial situation, their assets, whatever else happens outside the casino. I bartended and had TIPS training to handle intoxicated guests; signs of overintoxication are easy to see. Gambling addiction is different.

I worked with a woman who was a recovering alcoholic. As soon as she quit drinking cold turkey, she started gambling full force. She wasn’t rich, & would spend everything on bingo, sometimes even losing her rent money. Occasionally she’d give me money to “hold” for her so she wouldn’t spend it. She’d mooch off her bro (they lived together) & would brag is he gave her $10, sometimes flashing it like it was some huge prize. She’d often put $5 or$10 of gas in her tank (back when it was like $3 a gallon). We were officemates, & she brought in a mini fridge that her bingo buddy gave her, which all 3 of us in the room used for years. One day she went off out of nowhere, saying we each owed her $5 for using the fridge for years (I literally only kept coffee creamer in it). Later she admitted she blew her last dime at bingo, hence the tirade. She always tried to get us to go to bingo with her, so my officemate did. She said our friend was able to monitor like 15 bingo cards, including the upside down ones that her table mates were using, tear open “cherry bell” tickets, & smoke a cig all at the same time. She was very forgetful about real-life things (her grandchildren’s ages where she was off by 5 yrs), but could recite the bingo numbers from the night before, both winning numbers & numbers she barely missed. She ended up dying of a heart attack at about 65. She was a very nice person & had a heart of gold, despite the problems her addictions caused.

Awful. The delusion about always being the verge of "winning big" is so fucking annoying and you can't really argue with that mindset because obviously people can and do intermittently win. Of course if they do, it's only after blowing thousands of dollars or more and they'll further blow whatever winnings. I get it, they're not doing it for money per se; they're addicted to the opportunity, the thrill of possibilities, but still, it's stupid.

I followed someone on social media who recovered from gambling addiction. They would not even participate in sweepstakes like the McDonalds monopoly game because it would trigger their addiction. They recovered with medication and therapy.

I worked in a casino from 1980 to 1990 and we didn't have that kind of training. As a matter of fact, the casinos in LV always loved the addicts. They are all about getting every dime you have.

As an accountant, this past tax season I saw quite a few tax returns where a spouse (always the husband) is trying to claim gambling losses from on-line gambling and sports gambling. The was a new phenomenon and I can't help but think it's because of the on-line gambling houses inundating their markets with blanket advertising.

To a man, they were all younger guys, making good money, but just buying houses and starting families, i.e. just the sort of people who should NOT be gambling. But the companies behind them, usually casinos, relentlessly promote this as "its fun, hip and everybody is doing it, so get in on the action now!"

I hope this isn't creating a whole new subset of addicts. As I said before, I never saw this before, where gamblers are attempting to claim losses.

And FYI: No you can't deduct NET gambling losses from income. If you have 500K in gambling winnings, and 1000K in gambling losses, you can deduct $500K in losses from your 500K winnings, with a net deduction of zero. If you lose 1K gambling but no winnings, you're just SOL and can't deduct 1K from your income.

During the five years we were together, my ex told me he had had issues with gambling in the past. When our relationship wasn't working and I left him, he immediately took off on a Las Vegas bender and lost over $100K in less than a week.

A gambling addiction completely messes up a person's perception on the value of money. They see no problem losing "only 500 dollars" on a round of blackjack, but procrastinate important things that they deem too expensive, like bills and food.

I knew a guy who complained all the time about how sore his molar was. He would waste at least half his paycheck every month on sports betting but would refuse to go to the dentist, despite developing an abscess. He would always say stuff like, 'no way I'm paying 100 euro for a filling.' The same guy refused to get his 7-year-old daughter the present she wanted (a 20 euro Bratz doll) on her birthday due to "budget cuts"--the next weekend he blew 2000 on a tennis match.

I had a female friend who was a pathological gambling addict, racking up almost $500k gambling debt, from online and in-person casinos. Nothing could stop her from gambling, nothing. She stole from her friends, her relatives. Then she just disappeared into thin air after she stole almost $600k from the company, and nobody has heard from her ever since. Deplorable. Gambling addicts are the worst addicts.

I was just in Vegas on biz. Last night, I watched guys losing thousands of $$$ on each blackjack and poker hand at the Bellagio. It was astonishing.

I was walking around watching different games. One table had a $10k minimum to play!

Thank God I don’t have that addiction. I won $100 at a poker machine my first day and didn’t place another bet.

Watching those guys throw away a fortune last night was truly depressing. And, worst of all, they didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves.

"Awful. The delusion about always being the verge of "winning big" is so fucking annoying and you can't really argue with that mindset because obviously people can and do intermittently win."

I wrote what is quoted above. I should clarify - of course you can and probably should argue with that mindset. I just meant that it's usually pointless because gambling addicts usually have won at some point and will just argue back the "reality" that people win.

They shit themselves at the slots.

I am a teacher in a very affluent school. I'm certain that many of the boys have gambling problems because all they do all day is bet on random sporting events around the world, and play online poker. Perhaps not surprisingly, the parents don't see it as a problem, and the fathers join in, as best I can tell. I think this generation is going to have serious gambling problems.

Yes. He’s a very successful guy, managing director at a hedge fund. Makes a LOT of money, has the typical lavish lifestyle. Giant city apartment, house in the Hamptons, private schools for the kids, etc. Wife makes a bundle at her firm. Before they married, he had a gambling problem and he promised to not do it anymore.

Now he’s got his tween daughter into it. The wife thinks it’s cute that they spend time bonding over their love of sports (betting). He justifies it as teaching her math skills.

I despise gambling, and it makes me sick to see a child being indoctrinated. He might as well have shoved a needle full of heroin into her arm.

He’s also an alcoholic.

I’m based in Sydney, Australia where we have the highest rate of gambling in the world. Almost every pub has poker machines in them, they’re everywhere. 25% of consumer spending in our state goes through the pokies, of course, highly concentrated in poorer / regional communities. There are also 2 big casinos, with both going through a recent review and only keeping their licenses as the govt itself Is addicted to the tax revenue. Leaders of the 2 major parties have traditionally signed agreements before elections that once in power they won’t change regulations on gambling in the state. I hate the whole industry.

Yes. The ended up broke and with broken families. It's not pretty.

I live in Sydney like R21 and it really is so ingrained in the culture here. Like they mentioned, the tax revenue is too high to stop it and it's advertised everywhere here.

I'm 29 and I would say 4 of my closest 5 friends all have a serious gambling addiction. :( They have a shared Sportsbet account which is all they talk about when we hang out, and I saw one of them lose $2000 in one go at the local RSL. These are not even rich people. My brother had to get his girlfriend to set an account deposit limit on his app (with a password) so he couldn't keep throwing more money away. I've even seen people ask managers to put them on the 'banned' list from pubs because they can't control themselves.

It's one of the most destructive additions. If I remember correctly, gamblers have higher rates of suicide (relative to other addicts).

I loved to smoke but knew I had to quit; love to drink but I know I can’t handle it like I was 25; liked the occasional line at an all-night party but that can’t last forever. Spent $1,000 in Las Vegas gaming (it was no gamble that I’d spend it all) and felt rotten and depressed about what I could have done with that money — a regret I never had with tobacco, alcohol, or drugs. I feel lucky that that such a ruinous vice has no attraction for me. It seems like a truly difficult addiction to break, and one in which the consequences can be swift and unforgiving. One cigarette, drink, or line won’t kill you but a single bet placed with the wrong people? Yikes.