Gam-Anon....

[SunnyGirl]

Compulsive gambling is the obvious symptom of an emotional disorder.
The emotional factors involved are: inability or unwillingness to accept
reality, emotional insecurity, basic immaturity, and lack of self-esteem.
The gambler finds that he or she is most comfortable when gambling.
Many psychiatrists feel that the gambler has an underlying need for
self-destruction.

Do you have a problem with compulsive gambling? The link below
Is to the GA website….
www.gamblersanonymous.org/

The link below is for the friends and families of compulsive gamblers.
www.gam-anon.org/

[SunnyGirl]

My husband and I have lived in Las Vegas for better
than 40 years. He is a compulsive gambler, fortunately
for both of us, he has not been actively gambling for about
6 years now. His addiction cost us a lot of money over the
years, but he always prided himself in putting food on the
table and providing a roof over our heads. He never put
his family in danger of living in the streets, I would say he
was a functioning addict!

He still has a lot of the character issues, it comes out when
he's playing golf. He loves the game, but loves to play with
a group that makes side bets and put money into the pot
for the big winner of the day. He will also come home from
these golf outings and lie about how much it cost him. I know
when he loses because he comes in very quiet and depressed.

I haven't been in a casino in 4 years or more and the last
time I went was for dinner. We left immediately after eating...
When we have company in town and they want to go out
on the strip to gamble, I will drop them off and let them take
a cab back to the house. I don't like the casinos...

I used to stick $10 in the machines at the grocery store, trying
to win back the cost of my groceries.... Seemed like a good
idea at the time, but when I added up the $'s I could have
had a free day of shopping that year. I've not put so much
as a penny in the machines in over 2 years now....

I have watched people take out second mortgages on their
home and gamble it away. A girl that used to work for us
had markers (money borrowed) at a local bar that totaled
over $10,000. She was a single parent and self supporting
and could not resist the temptations.... She is active in
Gam-Anon and has been clean now for nearly 10 years. She
always tells my "Honey" to come and hear her speak at the
meetings, he has yet to take her up on the offer. In his mind
he has no problem.....

Peace on the journey, SunnyGirl

[caressa]

Thank you so much for sharing. I know that for me they are a danger zone. I walked into the Casinao at Niagara and I could feel a buzz as soon as I walked into the place. I knew instantly I shouldn't be there. The gentleman who took me there loaned me $15. and I had $10 of my own money. I paid him back and still had $14. when I left. I would have had $25. if he hadn't gone to the washroom before we left.

That seems like a small amount of money, but considering the fact that I was on disability and on government assistant housing, it is money I could ill afford to lose. Two people beside me won jackpots of $3,000 and $8,000. I found myself getting a resentment. Not a healthy place by any stretch of the imagination.

I had a friend who gambled her grocery money away on Nevada Tickets. She was the mother of five. Her husband was the manager of the Beer Store. I was addicted to them too although not as badly as she was. Now I limit myself to $3. and if I lose I lose. I use to buy 649 tickets also, but just never won more than a free ticket, so buy one about every two weeks or once a month. I look at it more as a treat from me to me although it isn't much of a treat if you don't win on it. A present you give yourself should be something that bring joy into your life, not sadness, resentment, and disappointment.

I asked my God for help. He gave me a change in attitude and the obsession was lifted. The same happened with my computer and my sites, I no longer have to post every day, I can walk away from the computer and do other things, before it was the thinking behind the action that made my addiction compulsive and out of control.

[caressa222]

Substitution doesn't work, it all leads to the same soul sickness