And what do you think, does refusal to play (deprivation) contribute to recovery from addiction or is it useless?
First of all i think that the problem is that gambling addicts don`t know maths good. Also they don`t know hidden rules of the game(like RTP).
As for me the main help is to show their win chances of some simple examples. Something like "In this round of lottery there are 500.000 participants. In your city there 100.000 citizens. Your chances to win jackpot5 time less to become a major". As the result they can understand that their goal is just a dream and stop the game themselves. Anyway the first step to stop is to understand that they break their life with such dreams.
Pretty interesting take, and I’d say you’re spot on...
I totally agree that many gambling addicts simply don’t understand the math behind the games, and showing them real probabilities can be eye-opening. Your lottery example is a good way to put it into perspective ,when people see just how small their chances really are, it might help them realize they’re chasing an illusion.
Obviously some people won’t listen, but giving them hard numbers at least plants the seed.... If they can internalize that they’re statistically guaranteed to lose in the long run, some of them might finally step back and take control.