I know people irl who destroyed themselves/their families by gambling activities, there is this story of Mahabharta [1] where king Yudhisthira was led to ruins by gambling — so what saved you from doing stupid in gambling?
I don't think the Mahabharta story really describes the current condition of gambling. Yudhisthira has no choice, so he just followed the gambling (he was forced to play the Dice). CMIIW
How do you mean? He had choice to reject invitation, he had right to not put his wealth/brothers/kingdom/wife at stake!
Gambling is never a life or death situation, where you'll feel like making reckless decisions on your games is the only option you have. Every individual that is into gambling aims at winning; for me, that's enough to guide me against taking unnecessary risk.
Also, I don't play casino games, but I don't see anything wrong with them either. Time is a very important factor that decides what I do, and for how long I can keep doing it -- that's also another way to avoid getting into the game at the wrong time. Someone said "learning lessons from other people's previous experiences" is also a way to avoid making silly mistakes, I agree with him.
Sandra! How could you! I don't see that personal flavor of yours in this comment, and you have also already commented in this thread before!? Or have you posted in different thread than intended?