It’s hard to think there’s one. When its highly glamorized, especially on billboards, radio and TV commercials and films. However, there is. It’s a side of gambling that isn’t seen on billboards, or warned about on radio or TV commercials or films.
So what is it? You may ask.
The ugly is when a person becomes addicted to gambling.
Quickly their one desire is to gamble, looking for their next bet. Remember those anti-drug advertisements in the late 80’s showing an egg in a frying pan, warning viewers about the effects of drug use, saying, “This is your brain on drugs”. Decades later the same ad could be used for gambling addiction, with a simple change, “This is your brain when gambling”.
Researchers says a person with a gambling addiction, is attracted to the same chemical spell as a drug addict and an alcoholic. Feeling the same euphoric sensations when they gamble, soon afterwards they suffer from withdrawal, having the urge to repeat. It’s a vicious cycle, one that is hard to break.
The compulsive gambler doesn’t pass out when gambling, like a drug addict or alcoholic when they have had too much to drink. They can completely gamble their bank accounts until there is no money left.
This is a devastating reality, many families face. It’s not uncommon for a compulsive gambler to gamble away a families savings in less time, it takes to watch a TV show. When a person becomes addicted to gambling, they are not the only ones who suffer from emotional and financial stress. Their family suffers too.
Bills go unpaid, creditors call home, children hear their parents fight behind closed doors, listening in utter horror as their parents argue about money. The levelheaded spouse is left trying to keep the family together, struggling with mounting debts, feeling pushed in a corner by the compulsive gambler’s demands, trying to keep the family from breaking apart.
The once comfortable home is now consumed with financial stress. Children experience high levels of anxiety, leaving them wondering if things will ever get better.
So yes, there is a very ugly side to gambling. Nobody thinks they will become addicted, but it happens. And when it does, lives change for not only them, but their families, who struggle with the gambler’s consequences.
I know the ugly side to gambling real well, because my father is a gambling addict. I lived with his gambling addiction, trying its hardest to always gamble what we had at home.