Hi community,
As with any addiction, the effects of addiction to games of chance and betting do not fall on the gambler alone. It affects the family, friends, relatives, and everyone around him, and may lead to the deterioration of their conditions.
It negatively affects social relationships and at the marital level. Pathological gambling can be described as a side relationship. The gambler invests his attention in gambling at the expense of the spouse, whom he sometimes repays to cover his infidelity. The marital relationship is destabilized against a background of lack of trust, helplessness, and anxiety about what will happen in the future.
Gambling and accumulated debts lead the gambler to a moral collapse that may even amount to an existential threat to family members. Gamblers do not hesitate to sell property to finance their debts, take loans from relatives without any ability to repay the debts, and in extreme cases they may even physically harm family members.
Partners in dependency - Relatives often try to "understand" the addict and help him, by paying off his debts, while accepting his promise to stop gambling, a promise he is unable to keep. More than once, family members come to the aid process, becoming partners so that they become “addicted” to the therapeutic process. But help works in exactly the opposite direction instead of helping the gambler wean off, they perpetuate his condition. These partners, such as parents or spouses, may find themselves in great distress that requires treatment.
Of course, there are many indirect victims of gambling addiction. Can you add more?
There are all sorts of traps laid down in life and the best thing you can aim for is doing things in moderation. It's fine to gamble a little bit, hopefully you understand the statistics and mathematics that are working against you when you participate in most gambling games involving a casino. There is the saying the Vegas was not built from winning players, which should show you the the massive amounts of wealth that can be accumulated by these profitable businesses. You also need to consider that most people will only take and seek out help when they reach rock bottom, which is a realization that they will have to face themselves. The best you can hope for is that they do not drive themselves into debt on this path, as that can make it harder to extract themselves from the situation.