Today, I sat amongst a group of people and listened to them as they shared a story that indirectly reflects how terrible the spate of gambling addiction is. It became evident to me that this addiction transcends demographics such as age, marital status, ethnicity, and religious beliefs, but appears to be more prevalent among males.
In this group a person shared a story of how a married reached out to her for medical assistance to support his wife terminal illness treatment. Instead of providing his wife's account details as requested, he offered his own. Concerned that the funds might be misused, particularly for gambling, the person offering assistance insisted on the wife's account details. However, the conversation ended there, with no further response from the man.
he stranger offering aid had no prior acquaintance with the husband. Why then was there apprehension that the funds might fuel gambling rather than support the wife's medical needs?
This short story reflects the current reality we live in.
That is a terrible explanation and barely makes any sense, I wonder if there is even a grain of truth in this whole "story". It is true that people at the depths of addiction can sometimes lie and cheat even the people who are closest to them. There is a point where they face two dilemmas which are hard to hide from: 1) They have spent through all their own funds but still hold a belief that they can make any kind of profit or even get back to break even on the money spent so far 2) That they have nothing else to lose and are so deep in despair that their words mean nothing any more, they just want to block out everything because their gambling fix is the only thing in life that matters to them any more.
Even though I am not convinced too about the authenticity of this story, these things actually do happen. Gambling Addicts (not just limited to gambling addicts) can do anything just to satisfy their urge. I have seen a similar situation where a particular man goes round begging for money to buy food or foot one bill or the other. We only found out that majority of the money he begs goes to smoking and gambling. Sometimes it is difficult for people to really tell when an addict is telling the truth and it makes it difficult for people to render financial help to them. The best way to help is by doing a physical inspection to be sure their pleas are genuine.
Gambling addiction is real, it destroys good plans and achievements until the victim screams for help. People really have to be careful not to gamble to the point they can nolonger resist the urge to gamble.