And the simple question is - Should a gambler be afraid of losing money to gambling? Why not simply stay away from gambling then?
I was In a group chat on WhatsApp yesterday when a member told us he won his 5 odd bet was very angry still, he said it didn't feel like a winning to him and would have been better if he had lost the bet, many of us were surprised as to who in their right senses wishes themself loses in sports betting.
I later tried to find out what actually happened and discovered the dude had only put around $0.7 on the bet and won around $3.5 (amount not enough to even buy him a snack and a bottle of bear), this was the reason he was not happy and wished the bet ended in a loss 😁.
I later in the chat asked him why didn't he bet a bigger amount of money like atleast between $20 and $50, any of this amount would have given him a nice total win amount from $100 and above, he responded saying he initially wanted to bet $15, but he was afraid of losing this money, coupled with the fact that he wasn't also sure the bet would win, and I then asked him, why is he now angry for winning a small amount of money when it's completely his fault? And what is the essence of gambling in the first place when the fear of losing money outweighs the desire to win big amount of money?
Sounds like the issue is that he doesn't have any realistic plan and he is gambling over his budget.
Fear is a normal feeling that can happen when we bet more then we want to lose. $15 can be peanuts to someone, and too much to afford for someone else depending where they live, how much they make and what are their life expenses. And if someone is actually afraid of losing that $15, that means it's a lot of necessary money for them.
Why is he gambling in the first place you ask? To me this sounds pretty normal. Not all people have a plan and they play like they feel like at the moment. He listened how he felt and felt that fear. If he could combine this self awareness to some plan, he probably would do ok.