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I'm planning on taking the entire year of 2013 off from going to a casino. I've been playing video poker machines almost since the day they were first introduced in the late 1970's and I'm just tired. It's no fun anymore. I've wasted countless hours on weekends I should have been spending with friends and family by escaping into the dream world of the casino and spent untold amounts of money I could have used to make people happy and secure my future.
I hope everyone has a very safe, happy and healthy New Year and that only good things come your way. If anyone reads this later and feels you may have a gambling problem you are embarrassed to discuss on a forum like this please feel free to send me a private e-mail. Thanks for all the fun stories and photos.
SaraTGinMD@aol.com
Well that's it for me
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marie meijer
- Video Poker Master
- Posts: 1598
- Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:45 pm
Bye Sara, Backattcha for the New Year! We will miss you. You know where to find us when you change your mind. Gaming is but a small fraction of stuff I enjoy doing. I can see how it could become too important and too often for those lacking self control or without other interesting facets to their life. Priorities.
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DrawingDead
- Forum Regular
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:37 pm
Sara I wish you all the best. VP can suck you in and suck you dry at the same time. Always good to take some time off. I have experience being a sponsor for some gamblers here in Vegas. I am here if you need to talk about anything. Feel free to PM me.
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pokerforme
- Senior Member
- Posts: 438
- Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:01 am
Enjoy your new life. Short or becoming a "pro" gambling I think your post proves the best idea is to always set a limit and look at it liked already burned money for recreation. I approach it like going to the movies...spent money for fun, any return is simply the cream off the top of fun.
Happy New Year everyone
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SaraTG
- Senior Member
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 9:45 pm
Thanks for the well wishes. I am posting this here in case anyone else thinks it may fit them or maybe to help others understand problem gambling:
GENDER NOTE: Although this profile uses "She" for its example, remember that 49% of the men calling the ACCG Hotline in 1999 met our criteria for Escape or Late-On-Set gambling.
Typically, the escape gambler becomes enthralled with playing the slot, video poker, live keno or keno machine. It is exciting, it is fun, it does not talk back, it requires her full concentration. She has to pay attention to the results of each roll; keep pushing the button or pulling the arm; She does not have time to think about her problems. After just a brief period of time at the machine an almost hypnotic trance occurs. She realizes she has found a way to completely forget about all problems in her life. She feels comfortable, happy, and free from turmoil. She may later report that, in retrospect, she realizes she was "hooked" the very first time she played.
The next time she has an opportunity to return to the machine, she has immediate relief from her problems. By the second or third visit she no longer goes with friends or family. They want to leave after awhile; she does not. She begins to go to the casino alone, stays for longer periods of time, goes to the casino more often and may graduate rapidly to the dollar machine. While at the machine, she does not have to worry about anything except how to stay longer and play more often. No one is telling her what to do, no phone calls, no one wanting this or wanting that, no demands, just freedom. Social needs are met. The change girl and other gamblers begin to know her and call her by name; she makes friends with other "regulars;" consequently, she begins to feel very comfortable while at the casino. Other problems are forgotten and she is having fun. She has selected a favorite machine. There are also second and third favorites. The gambler begins to call it "her" machine. If she goes to the casino and someone else is at her machine, she is angry. She will go to her second machine, but would much rather be at her "own" machine. She may talk to the machine, telling it to "come on, pay up", or swear at it, and thank it when it pays, but she will usually go back to her machine time after time. A lady recently said that she accused her machine of infidelity when she saw another lady win a jackpot at it. However, as soon as the winner left, she immediately returned to her machine, forgave its infidelity and continued the affair. Relationships with a machine are very real.
She begins to make plans about her next gambling trip, always specific about how much money she will gamble with, and how long she will stay. She vows that as soon as the money is gone or the time is up she plans on leaving. However, as soon as she sits down at the machine a trance like hypnotic effect takes place. She pulls the handle or pushes the button and all plans are abandoned. She will stay at the machine, often not even getting up to use the bathroom or eat, only leaving her machine to go to the ATM or to write a check, asking an employee or another gambler to watch her machine while she is gone. Even when she wins, she will continue to gamble until she has depleted all available resources at that session and leave only when she no longer has money with which to gamble. Winning at this point only means she can gamble longer. Money is not real; it is like play money and has no link to reality. While playing the machine, she may pray to God to just let her win, just let her get even.
When the escape compulsive gambler is finally out of funds, she is forced to leave the casino. She gets into her car feeling precisely like the action gambler who has just been taken out of action. She may pray , "Please never let me gamble again." She may swear that she will never gamble again, may curse God for allowing her to gamble; she may pound on the steering wheel, even scream and cry on the drive home and have thoughts about driving her car off of a bridge or into an oncoming vehicle (a thought she quickly abandons for fear of hurting someone else; as much as she wants to harm herself, she doesn't want it to appear self-inflicted and she doesn't really want to hurt a stranger). She will blame the casino, vowing never to return. But unfortunately, in order to escape the reality of the problems she already suffers and others she may have just created, she must gamble again.
Once home, she has already prepared lies about where she has been or what she has done, is already making plans about how to obtain more money to cover bad checks she may have written and to obtain money with which to win back her losses. She will probably be back at the machine the next day or very soon and the cycle will repeat itself again and again until finally her world comes crashing down.
GENDER NOTE: Although this profile uses "She" for its example, remember that 49% of the men calling the ACCG Hotline in 1999 met our criteria for Escape or Late-On-Set gambling.
Typically, the escape gambler becomes enthralled with playing the slot, video poker, live keno or keno machine. It is exciting, it is fun, it does not talk back, it requires her full concentration. She has to pay attention to the results of each roll; keep pushing the button or pulling the arm; She does not have time to think about her problems. After just a brief period of time at the machine an almost hypnotic trance occurs. She realizes she has found a way to completely forget about all problems in her life. She feels comfortable, happy, and free from turmoil. She may later report that, in retrospect, she realizes she was "hooked" the very first time she played.
The next time she has an opportunity to return to the machine, she has immediate relief from her problems. By the second or third visit she no longer goes with friends or family. They want to leave after awhile; she does not. She begins to go to the casino alone, stays for longer periods of time, goes to the casino more often and may graduate rapidly to the dollar machine. While at the machine, she does not have to worry about anything except how to stay longer and play more often. No one is telling her what to do, no phone calls, no one wanting this or wanting that, no demands, just freedom. Social needs are met. The change girl and other gamblers begin to know her and call her by name; she makes friends with other "regulars;" consequently, she begins to feel very comfortable while at the casino. Other problems are forgotten and she is having fun. She has selected a favorite machine. There are also second and third favorites. The gambler begins to call it "her" machine. If she goes to the casino and someone else is at her machine, she is angry. She will go to her second machine, but would much rather be at her "own" machine. She may talk to the machine, telling it to "come on, pay up", or swear at it, and thank it when it pays, but she will usually go back to her machine time after time. A lady recently said that she accused her machine of infidelity when she saw another lady win a jackpot at it. However, as soon as the winner left, she immediately returned to her machine, forgave its infidelity and continued the affair. Relationships with a machine are very real.
She begins to make plans about her next gambling trip, always specific about how much money she will gamble with, and how long she will stay. She vows that as soon as the money is gone or the time is up she plans on leaving. However, as soon as she sits down at the machine a trance like hypnotic effect takes place. She pulls the handle or pushes the button and all plans are abandoned. She will stay at the machine, often not even getting up to use the bathroom or eat, only leaving her machine to go to the ATM or to write a check, asking an employee or another gambler to watch her machine while she is gone. Even when she wins, she will continue to gamble until she has depleted all available resources at that session and leave only when she no longer has money with which to gamble. Winning at this point only means she can gamble longer. Money is not real; it is like play money and has no link to reality. While playing the machine, she may pray to God to just let her win, just let her get even.
When the escape compulsive gambler is finally out of funds, she is forced to leave the casino. She gets into her car feeling precisely like the action gambler who has just been taken out of action. She may pray , "Please never let me gamble again." She may swear that she will never gamble again, may curse God for allowing her to gamble; she may pound on the steering wheel, even scream and cry on the drive home and have thoughts about driving her car off of a bridge or into an oncoming vehicle (a thought she quickly abandons for fear of hurting someone else; as much as she wants to harm herself, she doesn't want it to appear self-inflicted and she doesn't really want to hurt a stranger). She will blame the casino, vowing never to return. But unfortunately, in order to escape the reality of the problems she already suffers and others she may have just created, she must gamble again.
Once home, she has already prepared lies about where she has been or what she has done, is already making plans about how to obtain more money to cover bad checks she may have written and to obtain money with which to win back her losses. She will probably be back at the machine the next day or very soon and the cycle will repeat itself again and again until finally her world comes crashing down.
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Webman
- Video Poker Master
- Posts: 5153
- Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm
There are many great resources out there to provide you with
information regarding problem gambling. We invite you to learn more
about this issue, particularly if you think you may have a problem with
gambling, by visiting any or all of the following sites. You can find
valuable information, self-tests and qualified assistance at any of
them.
National Council on Problem Gaming
http://www.ncpgambling.org/
National Center for Responsible Gambling
http://www.ncrg.org
Nevada Council on Problem Gaming
http://www.nevadacouncil.org/
Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery
http://www.addictionrecov.org/addicgam.htm
information regarding problem gambling. We invite you to learn more
about this issue, particularly if you think you may have a problem with
gambling, by visiting any or all of the following sites. You can find
valuable information, self-tests and qualified assistance at any of
them.
National Council on Problem Gaming
http://www.ncpgambling.org/
National Center for Responsible Gambling
http://www.ncrg.org
Nevada Council on Problem Gaming
http://www.nevadacouncil.org/
Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery
http://www.addictionrecov.org/addicgam.htm
