A Gambling Addict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Gambling Addict - Essay Example Ultimately, it invades, undermines and often destroys everything that is meaningful id a person’s life. This paper will seek to address the social concern that gambling addicts present to their livelihood and to those close to him as well as the steps that most often result to one being a compulsive gambler. Moreover, this paper will endeavour to correct popular myths and misconceptions which have been associated with gambling. In pursuance of this, it trails the life of Harry, a responsible family man who at first was an occasional gambler and together with his wife engaged in gambling for fun. however, after a couple of wins and exposure to several predisposing factors ended being a compulsive gambler and in the process causing a lot of pain to his family but subsequently being able to overcome the ugly addiction that gambling can turn out into being. Harry was a normal plain John, newly wed to his longtime girlfriend a few months now passed. He worked with behaviorally impa ired adolescent boys. In this field, the support staff was dominated by males who usually had a background that included at some level, participation in competitive sports. Such men were supposedly more equipped to deal with the rough nature of clients involved. It was in this world that he was first introduced to the world of sports gambling. The circumstances were that a colleague would pick up a bookie sheet (a form containing a list of all the available games that could be bet on during a particular day) and bring it to work. Initially, he only looked at college and professional football that were played on the weekends. This, however, did not produce the winnings he imagined. His gambling eventually became a daily, if not a twice daily habit. A Popular belief is that gambling is a choice and therefore a result of a lack of willpower, on the contrary, gambling is a disease like any other and it can affect anyone, even those with strong moral character. In the beginning, Harry pa rticipated with his wife in the ‘fun’ of gambling. The very occasional wins were encouraging and euphoric. As he began to delve deeper into the gambling and more loses, however, as an occasional gambler would do, she got bored of the loses and began to see less pleasure in the hobby and ceased gambling all the same. In fact, she encouraged Harry to get out of the practice. But then the compulsion was too great for him, while she quit, Harry’s compulsion could not allow him. He was growing into a compulsive gambler, no longer being the one making the decision but the impulse of gambling. He began to spend a large portion of his salary on gambling, and this created a strain on the marriage. His wife was a certified teacher and made a considerable amount of money working with students who were emotionally and behaviorally impaired in a private educational setting. In one year, according to their tax returns, they earned nearly $60,000, nevertheless, they had to file for bankruptcy on several occasions. The bank account could not keep up with the mounting losses. This caused a strain in their financial lives and affected their relationship more and more. This was against the widely believed perception that addiction was a victimless activity, as on the contrary, the negative effects of the gambling problem trickle down to the immediate family of the addict and to those dear to him. Harry’s ambition in life became the same as other compulsive gamblers, to get his money back. He always believed that he was going to win big. Be persistent- that was his thought pattern. He was now in the second step in the evolution of gambling addiction, that’s the, losing phase. Harry was losing money and he was trying to recoup his loses by