So what's your take on this? What's in the game for those of us who are not looking for anything other than personal enjoyment and amusement? Be specific!
In my opinion, when they say "Personal Enjoyment" I think what they mean is stress-reliever. Maybe for some, "Personal Enjoyment" for them is bonding with other friends thru gambling
It can be a stress-reliever of sorts
However, there are many stress-relievers out there (as they say, drugs, sex, and rock'n'roll), and each approach to this goal of relieving stress is markedly different from others. Put differently, there are various ways of dealing with stress, and
what I'm interested in is finding out what makes gambling a stress-reliever, i.e. what emotions it causes, or rather, what idea triggers a particular emotion that makes us feel happy after a win
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When we seek only winning from gambling, it can hardly be a stress-reliever for us, at least most of the time it can't. But gambling
is a stress-reliever regardless of whether we win or lose. When we gamble our brain switches from contemplating negative thoughts to something much more simpler, such as "Can I win $2 with this bet or not?" And we are relaxing during this time, and feel better afterwards. That's why it's very important to not bet with big amounts, because this kind of gambling only makes your stress worse, in most cases.
Very interesting one.
I guess the problem is that you have to keep gambling to maintain the "stress relief" state or euphoria you get from it else you go back to your former state... unless you have something else better & safer to relieve you from stress and sadness/depression.