Re: Are successful gamblers seen as addicts?

Gambling success depends on so many factors which isn't concerned with the way you describe the winners, Victor. Being a successful gambler doesn't mean the player has to win every single moment he gambles. Most time they still lose money, but have a way of dealing with risks. When a gambler is successful he has nothing to do with addiction. If he gets addicted then he is not successful in gambling. Those who appear as successful gamblers like in any other department, are the gamblers who issue advice on gambling addiction and also lecture other gamblers on different strategies needed to bypass too many risk factors in gambling. They're mostly authors and also go on tour with some TV shows that ask them gambling questions. Most of them are famous for winning at a certain time big prizes through gambling.
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I was surprised reading your post, it clearly shows that you didn't get the gist I narrated in what you replied to. I can't be so daft to say that gamblers can be winning all their bets, how? Are they some kind of gods? No No. Consistent winning is different from winning every bet, it only means that the gambler has more winning than losing periodically, and it depends on how you will now define that period. As for the subject itself, what I was trying to establish is that both winners and losers can be addicted to gambling, but for the fact that the addiction of the losers is negative to them and the people around them, they and people get to be discouraged and stigmatised respectively. This is why they look down on them and are finding mean to be cured of this addiction because it is rather wasting their money and there is no hope for them to gain.

Such people are being related to gambling addiction alone just because it's negative for them, but it's not so. Gambling addicts also include those who are gambling and gaining consistently, which includes those who can't do without gambling even as they do it for fun. If these last two categories continue to gamble and do not abuse it, they are fine with it as it is positive to them (earning and fun). The first category gets to make money consistently in gambling and loves to gamble every day and places it as a priority over any other thing. Is that not an addiction? Even if the second category that loves to gamble for fun takes it as the sole or main hobby and prioritises it more than anything else and does it every time, is that not an addiction as well? But because it doesn't negatively affect their lifestyle, people often don't talk about the positive addiction. You can see that it's for the obvious reason people are silent about the positive addicts, but indeed they are addicts too, but the addicts that do not call for a concern (positive).

No, that's not addiction, and you made some misconceptions in your words narrative about those in the second category. First, you said they can't do without gambling, yes, it's addiction. In the bold section of the narrative you changed the wording, and with that narrative, the player shouldn't be considered an addict for enjoying gambling and consistently gambling. But his actions can still be questioned for prioritizing gambling over other things, we all have utilities we prioritize more than others, yet it doesn't mean we can't substitute them easily. In your last lines, you still repeated the same mistake which I'd want you to remove from your mindset. They've never been a positive addiction. Addiction can also be called problem gambling. Are you saying mental illness is positive? Whenever a person is addicted to anything they can't be in control of what they're doing. The results of their actions would be negative at all times. Don't get it twisted, the addicts can win at some point, but it doesn't at any point make addiction positive.

Other than that because a gambler who still is under control of their gambling habit, but only loves participating in gambling every day doesn't make him an addict. Addiction is addiction and it can only be negative for a person to be addicted to anything, drugs, gambling, etc. Would you also say that there is a positive side to drug addiction because the person still makes money as an addict? You know quite well that the addicted gambler after winning would still waste the money in gambling. Then he'll have to battle with his mental disorder, which could lead to a more severe problem in the life of the gambler. Instead of calling such gamblers addicts, the best name allocated to them is responsible gamblers. They're not compulsive gamblers, like I said earlier, they can still go months without gambling. Because they do it for fun and participate every day doesn't make any changes in their mental health. That's why people tend to respect them, as they don't misbehave, rather they paint a good name to the act of gambling. Addiction has no positivity.

Well, let me first say I appreciate your time to make your opinion known, after all, we are all contributing here. But at times, if it's getting to this point of ours, I think it's wise for either of us to go external to research this to ascertain the truth. You know, at times, if we limit it to our understanding alone, we might never move forward in understanding. When I first saw your reply, truly, I was shocked because you are the only one who refuted what I wrote, others agreed to it. And this can only be for a reason, you might not actually know that it is pointing to, even if it is confusing, and whether you like it or not, if a thing is right, nothing can change that fact. When I was replying to you, I never checked for any external articles until our posts had gone back and forth replies. Thereafter, I resorted to external knowledge, and fortunately, I was sided in this argument. It's not about who is wrong or right now but eventually establishing a fact. However, the truth as the case may be, I believe the links below should shed more light on this. Maybe you don't know the meaning of addiction itself. it's the feelings for anything you like to do often and when missed you don't feel good about it. If you can agree that gambling is addictive even people, at the same time some people will always run to it for either fun or money, and this same gambling can make this person lose (negative aspect). It also makes some people win consistently (positive). How do you now entirely say all addictions are bad (negative)? Is this not plain enough? You might want to make your research far or near, it will not change the fact that there are also positive addictions, and all addictions cannot be negative, it's only the negative part that people often focus on and abuse due to its harmful side. But for positive addiction, since it doesn't affect negatively, people often forget about it while some don't even give it a thought at all.

Frankly, I don't know why you relate this to drugs whatsoever, it further shows you do not understand what we are saying here. Drugs can never be positive to anyone, for what temporary gains which will subside over time and will continue to take hold of the victim and ruin the system and brain of the person unless the supervised ones and the ones they use in medicine? Common! Is gambling like that without any positive stories? Can't gambling earn you money? We are talking about gambling and positive addiction, you had better leave drugs out of it, and all those dangerous things that negate positivity which is the context here.

[1] https://mpowerwellness.com/healthy-addictions/
[2] Positive addiction]

Conclusively, you can relate these below links and the images thereof to whether or not there is a positive addiction. You can naturally relate them to gambling since they are not gambling articles. I must even say that it surprised me that someone will emphasise that there is no positive addiction. If the context is not mentioned often in gambling, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Anything you love doing very much, it could be a hobby anything whatsoever you can be addicted to them, and this doesn't necessarily mean that it will be that they will be hard on you. The same goes for gambling as well, earning regularly doesn't mean you are not addicted to it, and it's not all addictions that are negative/harmful.