Gambling: poker and slot machines Essay

Gambling is a game in which winning is completely or mostly dependent not on the art of play, but on luck. It has long been recognized as an adult pastime but in recent years, however, gambling has increased significantly among adolescents who have grown up in a culture more tolerant to gambling than any previous generation. Movies, TV shows, and more acceptable online betting have helped embed gambling in youth culture. Poker tournaments and lotteries have become social activities at university campuses that best assemble friends and create enormous interest among them. For many people, such gambling activities are harmless, but for others, a simple game of chance may turn into a serious problem or life-impeding addiction. Although many students may feel that they are in control of the situation, unconsciously their behavior is changed, and is in the hands of arbitrary betting. Young and ambitious students are heavily affected by long-term gambling, not realizing its dreadful payoffs. These can result in unexplained absences at home and university. These threaten their academic performance, lead to financial bankruptcy and moreover, have negative impact on overall health. Gambling is one of the oldest avocations of humankind. Due to the cave drawings illustrating gambling and the dice that have been found during archeological excavations, historians believe that gambling existed even in tribal societies. Gambling is also mentioned in the mythology of ancient Greece. According to one of the legends, after defeating the Titans, Zeus and his brothers Poseidon and Hades became masters of the universe. They decided to throw dice in order to divide the universe among them. King Henry VIII, known for his intelligence, was also an avid gambler. In spite of this he banned gambling in his country after he discovered that his soldiers were playing more than practicing. In more recent history, people played to predict the abundant of harvest. On the other hand the attitude towards gambling of the most popular religions is mostly negative. Nowadays gambling is classified as a highly addictive compulsive disorder with neurological causes. People believe that a string of losses makes a win more likely. They believe that a winning hand should always substitute a losing hand. This is what they tend to believe, but their beliefs do not create more chances of winning. The brains of people anticipating a win in casinos appear to react much like those taking euphoria-inducing drugs. Neuroscientists claim that the parts of the brain that respond to the prospects of winning or losing money while gambling are the same as those that appear to respond to cocaine and morphine. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to map the brain responses of twelve men while they participated in a game of chance involving winning or losing money. They found that in the gambling experiment, blood flow to the brain changed in ways similar to that seen in other experiments during an infusion of cocaine in subjects addicted to that drug and to low doses of morphine in drug-free individuals (â€Å"Gambling Affects Brain Like Drugs†). Gambling seriously captures the whole brain and has a strong negative impact on it. Ann Klinestivet from Milton, W. Va provides a vivid illustration of brain damage from slot machines (Lehrer). Having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; she was desperate to find something that might calm the tremors caused by the terrible disease. She found relief in slot machines, but from time to time she needed more doses to stay calm and that is when she became an addict. Parkinson’s disease is caused by decreased dopamine, but slots machines served as a medication for Klinestivet, imitating the effects of dopamine, as it plays a core role in brain pleasure. She had lost huge amount of money and it could not continue any longer, so she was forced to stop. Her tremors worsened, though her addiction to gambling vanished. One of the biggest problems of gambling is that it may start off as innocent competition, for example, two teens playing a computer game, and one saying that he can beat his rival several times in a row or something of the sort. This might end up with further intensive competition, or turn into some kind of situation where money or anything of value will be included. The game itself seems to be not illegal or really addictive, but that is the proposal of the teen what involves gambling. Typically, student gambling involves lotteries, card games, and slot machines. It is said among students that gambling has been popularized and glamourized by poker games. Poker games have huge increase on television shows and all over the world in the twenty-first century. It is one of not many games that involve the individual skills of playing along with cards dealt. Many young poker players that took place in the World Series of Poker with the help of luck won the biggest tournaments in their lifetime and that serves as a motivation for beginners who are just starting. Students tend to think that poker may change their lives, and make them popular, moreover, reduce the need to study. An example could be Joe Cada, who at age twenty one, which is considered to be a legal age in the United States for gambling, became a winner of the Main Event at a poker tournament and received more than eight million dollars. Adolescents gamble for fun; to socialize, to relax, and to have the adrenaline rush in their bodies from time to time. They also gamble to escape home and university problems, to alleviate feelings of loneliness, and disconnection. Addicted gamblers care about nothing, but the game and its winnings. They may not get enough sleep, miss out all the daily activities; their main goal is to be in the game and try to win as much as they can. Usually the result is against them, because when losing a small amount of money, they try to gain it back and start gambling for more and more. It comes to the point when they realize that no money is left and they have lost quite a fortune. The most dreadful nightmare begins after they borrow money and bury themselves in debts. The National Council on Problem Gambling has estimated that approximately 6% of college students have a serious gambling addiction. A little over 5% suffer from bankruptcy and debts caused by regular gambling. Since 1975, the proportion of adults â€Å"who never gambled† has dropped from 1 in 3 to 1 in 7 (â€Å"Gambling & Spending†). Students who became the victims of gambling and lose most of their savings or even their parents’ money have higher rates of depression and noticeable changes in their behavior; they become less willing to be involved in any activity and most of their thoughts are related to gambling. ABC News has recently published a story about one college student, Ryan. Every single day, not depending on the activities he was busy with, he returned home until midnight and gambled on online poker sites till five in the morning. He eventually stopped doing anything and gained over 40 pounds, moreover, he could lose as much as $25,000 in a single night. Ultimately, his parents found out that he stole money from their savings and lost most of it, they decided to pull him out of university and now he is left with a $10,000 debt. Nowadays, a major issue in gambling among students is that the dedication to gaming is so important; they simply start spending nights in casinos, or other places gambling, in the meantime, forgetting about their family and studying. The urge to gamble is so addictive, that it becomes the most important daily activity. For instance, I have conducted a survey among students in the University of New York in Prague, and five students out of twenty four who filled out the survey claimed that they gamble several times a week and it affects their academic success. Only four students stated that they had never gambled in their lives, and all of them were females. My personal opinion is that women are less reluctant to gambling in general; they simply do not develop strong passion towards gambling. The same students who claimed that their academic performance is influenced by gambling, also acknowledged that gambling alters their relationship with relatives and friends. Instead of spending time with people who are willing to help you any time you are in need of it, they preferred to waste time in vain. Most of students who gamble in order to gain some profit, do not realize that â€Å"the house always wins† (Ocean, 2001). The ones who do not stop gambling even when losing, wait for the sweet win; the feeling of victory is so satisfying that most young gamblers are willing to expect it for long. The survey reports that sixteen students, which is almost 70% of people surveyed, after a win have a strong desire to come back and win more. Analyzing results of my survey it is clearly indicates the support of world statistics, even though later after survey, students confessed in not truly answering some of the questions. Some students are ashamed of their gambling habit and that slightly influences the results. Many addicted students realize that gambling addiction will cause serious problems in future life and to prevent it, they seek different treatments in the early steps of addiction. As the gambler’s mind is open to absorption and imaginative involvement, it can effectively be treated by hypnosis. This kind of therapy is considered not only to treat gambling addiction, but also to end depression and relieve stress. Hypnosis therapy helps gamblers to diminish their urge to gamble, and as a result, the players can decrease their addiction. In addition, hypnosis therapy teaches and helps a person to change his opinion about gambling. While the person is changing his mind about gambling, therapists try to develop new behaviors in the patient. They try to help the person to organize his day and fulfill it with activities not related to gambling. If the person is married, therapists try to make that person more related to his family and spend the time with his children, if he has them. For those who gamble because of tedium, therapists try to find other ways or activities to make them interested. It may also happen that the patient changes his mind, but gambling thoughts will still exist at a rudimentary level. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for problem gambling is also considered as an option for quitting gambling. It aims to alter threatening of gambling behaviors and thoughts, such as rationalizations and false beliefs. It helps gamblers deal with uncomfortable situations rather than escape them through gambling. Main goal of the therapy is to change ones thoughts toward gambling and look at it in a new way. Ben’s story is presented for illustrative purposes. Ben as a child believed that number seven was his lucky number, and throughout his student years he became an addictive gambler. He would always bet on his favorite number when he had a chance. Loss of all his money did not stop him and it continued to worsen. Linette, Ben’s cognitive behavioral therapist, helped him realize that his thought of number seven being his lucky number is an error that have occurred in his brain since childhood (Hartney). The other way to help preventing problem gambling could be effective awareness events and programs on gambling. Such kind of events and programs engage university and college students in a humorous and informative way. Coordinators of these programs explain the real chances of winning and losing, introduce the symptoms of problem gambling and offer certain ways to keep gambling safer. One of my friends who was just staring to get involved in the world of gambling, realized that the further it goes, the stronger he suffers from gambling. He decided to visit several awareness events on gambling. Later he told me that the program itself is made in a way to distract students from heavy gambling and explain all the negative effects of it. The reason it works out for most of the students who attend events is because hosts of those events repeat terrible affects so many times that it stays in gamblers’ mind for long. For many years student gambling has been a major topic of discussion. Much research and surveys have been conducted to understand the main reasons for students gambling. Clinical counselors and specialists claim that there are some ways to gamble responsibly, such as setting a time and a budget limit, accepting losses as the cost of entertainment and never borrowing money to gamble (Wallisch). However, the practice shows that even if gambling is done responsibly and handled in a proper way it is still harmful fun. Regrettable consequences of gambling include money problems, neglect toward responsibilities and loved ones, physical and mental health problems and even suicide risk. Thus, universities should have the opportunity to educate students and their parents on the risks of gambling and create an environment where the association of problem gambling with financial and interpersonal problems is clearly understood.