I've never been addicted but there was a time when I was irresponsible. There's still that urge to risk a significant amount until now, but it's so unlike before. I used to love the feeling of risking money. The bigger the risk, the better the feeling. There's a kind of thrill that you can get from it. I lost considerable amounts because of this.

But nothing too serious was done to address that. If you have a little time alone after you lost, you'll actually ponder on what you've just did. That's enough for me to realize I was crazy to risk money that could have been put into more productive use. But that may still go on and on. I gambled big, I lost big, I realized, and then I gambled big again, I realized again, and so on. Eventually you'll give up wasting so much money.