The gambler

I did some private research, and investigation / reading / asking, and came up with some frightening stuff on gambling!

For as long as I can remember I've always loved the games of risk. I don't really know what the attraction is, but I cannot go near a casino without taking a chance at the tables or machines, and even at my local Sports / Social Club where they have a couple of Cherry Masters, and a poker machine, I usually have a turn.

I think it could be the challenge to see if you can beat the machine / croupier / house. Or, to test and see if Lady Luck is on your side that day, or even just to have some fun.

However, for some it's a big problem. it would seem that it has the ability to consume your very being. It affects peoples lives both personally and physically. There are scary stories out there of people literally losing their shirts off their backs. Houses, cars, family heirlooms, furniture, wedding rings, everything gets pawned or sold just for one more turn of the wheel / hand of cards, spin of the reel. It's really a sad situation then. It is true that the most affected are the poor, who, with the promise of quick easy riches go and waste the little they have, but the nett effect on the big time gamblers, who start out with much, and end up with nothing is more to the point here.

I have met and spoken to two guys who lived in luxury security estates, had retired soon after turning 50 with more money and financial strength than they would ever need in their normal lives. Both are now divorced, both live with either a child of theirs, or in a rented room, and are dependent on a State old age grant of about ZAT730 per month to live on.

Stories of ZAR150k blown on one night, and another of ZAR500k on one hand abound. Between the, these tow guys must have blown close on ZAR25million in 2 - 3 years!!!

By the end their wives divorced them, the one was even abandoned by his children. Today, they regularly call on the local pub together, have a pint or two, and then leave. They won't go near a machine or casino, and the one won't even buy his cigarettes from a vending machine, or draw cash from and ATM, because it's too tempting! Can you imagine being in that place in time!!?

At the end of the day, it is described as a disease. I wonder though. Diseases are viral, or an effect of the cells which make up the body (my interpretation). Gambling, well, I don't know what I would call it, it's an addiction for sure, but a disease, I'm not sure.

There is a "Gamblers Anonymous" group available in South Africa, and all the casino's are obliged to add a special notice at the end of any advertising they do, to the effect of... "Winners know when to stop, blah, blah, blah....", but that's no consolation to the guys who have already lost everything, because at the end of the day, you don't realize you have a problem till it's too late, and everything is gone, because, lets' be honest, your luck has to turn sometime, doesn't it?

Salagatle!