In this podcast, we tell the story of Gary the gambler who bet that he could beat the odds, and sadly failed in his mission.
We learn that:
- Addiction to gambling is probably the most dangerous addiction one could have when it comes to financial consequences.
- Alcohol consumption can make a gambling addict that much more careless and heedless to dire consequences, even when it affects the entire family.
- Gary, as a typical alcoholic/gambling addict cared only for himself and no one else: he was the example of a “self-will run riot”. Else, how could he have risked losing everything on one turn of the poker card?
- Gambling and drinking have other things in common besides the inability to stop: they create conditions that breed dishonesty and grandiosity.
- The addiction to the adrenaline rush is perhaps the one feature that distinguishes gambling from alcoholism. It is an addiction to a self-manufactured drug that kicks in when fear of losing is provoked or victory over the odds is imagined.