My dad once told me that when he visited Vegas he tried out gambling; he won $20, decided to push it a bit, and ended up losing $60. He felt terrible about it and never tried it again. How do people get hooked if there’s so much you can lose?
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Because that first hit, that first win, gives them the adrenaline bump and rush that keeps them coming back believing they can get it again.
I got it once for a few weeks, bought a scratch off just for funsies for the first time in years, and won $100. Whew. Over the next several weeks I bought a ticket every time I went to the store because I was chasing that high.
Quit it once I realized I spent that $100 I won.
It’s difficult to describe, but winning the occasional pot is so much like a drug hit, it’s incredible. And without an extraordinary amount of discipline, it’s very easy to get caught up trying to chase that high again, and making stupid decisions to try to reach it, like playing bad hands, or chasing small odds.
Because winning can be life changing.
What if you win 10 or 20 in a row ? You can walk out with enough to pay off your car or more.
Even small bets can cascade higher too. Let’s say you are playing roulette. And just bet $5 every time but when you win you let it ride.
$5 becomes $10. $10 becomes $20. $20 becomes 40. In just 3 wins in a row.
Gambling addiction can happen because gambling can be very exciting and can make your brain release chemicals that make you feel good. When you win money, it can make you feel even better, and you kight want to keep gambling to try to win more.
It’s the same reason other addictions happen as well. Because some need is unfulfilled and either the resources, relationships, or the skills to fill the need are lacking, so we’re prone to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms.
In the situation of your dad it seems this wasn’t the case for him so he was able to stop when appropriate before falling into addiction.
There’s a TED-Talk on YouTube, that explains the psychological science behind addiction very wholesome. I can recommend to watch it. I’m not sure if it is allowed to post a link to it in a comment here, but it’s called `Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong`. You’ll find it when copy-pasting this code into the YouTube search-bar: `PY9DcIMGxMs`
From what I understand it’s not about winning or losing. If you’re playing craps that one second the dice is in the air anything can happen. Gambling addicts keep chasing that “fix.”
I stopped gambling when I made the connection that it felt extremely similar to snorting Adderall.
The possibility of winning big, when reinforced by winning small (like winning free spins on a slot machine) gave my brain a similar chemical response to doing actual drugs.
Not everyone will react that way to gambling just like not everyone reacts to drug use by feeling “oh hell yeah, this should be an everyday thing!” But some of us do.
If anyone is curious, it’s been probably 12 years since I stopped snorting Adderall and probably 11 years since I’ve been to a casino.
In that situation your dad could’ve handled the loss of $60 in one of 2 ways.
Do what he did, and cut his loses. Accept that $60 as gone, and walk away.
Or
See losing that $60 as a minor setback on his way to winning big. All he needs to do is stake $70 on red and he’s back in the profit. And if he loses that $70, he can stake $150 the next round until he’s back on top.
Source: I worked in a betting shop and watched people chasing their rent money back
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