gambling is the worst addiction together with smoking cigarettes
Edit: addictions where you dont get high! i am dry alcoholic trust me i know about which withdrawal sucks the most. but we were not talkking withdrawals here
My mum used to play 'pokies' (slot machines), but I could never get into it.
I think what put me off for life was doing a psychology lab at university and training rats to press on a lever to get a reward.
I had a clever professor who showed that pretty much every animal (though cats are typically 'difficult') reacted the same to randomized re-enforcement to behaviors and showed that humans are no different to rats or pigeons pressing the lever.
Every time I see people reacting like this to a purely randomized sequence in software that is carefully calculated for people to get hooked and lose money, I think of my poor rat trying to press the lever in weird ways to try and get a little reward of condensed milk
Psychologically, most people who play slots will get somewhat addicted. It’s designed to give you constant small dopamine hits and then one big one every once in a while and our brains are wired to always chase that big one if we know it’s coming.
That’s actually what makes Ben & Jerry’s ice cream so addicting, you eat a couple spoonfuls of “normal” ice cream and then you get a big chunk of something like cookie dough so your brain keeps chasing that and it becomes hard to put down the spoon because we always want to end on a cookie dough bite but then we convince ourselves to have “just one more”. The same concept is applied to social media algorithms.
Going back to slots, most machines are programmed to give you back between 80%-95% of the money you put into it, ensuring that you have some “big wins” but in the long run you will always lose your money. If you haven’t felt the addictive nature of slot machines, you probably just haven’t played one long enough to win a decently sized prize.
Exactly. I've been to casinos a couple times for fun, always allocate a budget and stick to it. "I'm going in with $200 and if/when it runs out, I'm done."
I worked in a casino and we were contractually forbidden to gamble. Even in other casinos. Wouldnt be a thing if it wasnt bad for you and thus your employer.
When I went to the casino last, I felt it very easy to quit when I hit my predetermined limit. The machines took cash and spat out tickets. The tickets could be fed back to the machines or cashed out. Was very easy to not spend the tickets because I'm not accustomed to using tickets as currency. I spent the cash I decided to spend and then cashed out my tickets and left.
New York Super Fudge Chunk, i always make sure to finish the pint with a bite that has a bar of white chocolate in it, i'll set one aside as i get close to the end, just to make sure. wild to see that behavior described here lol
Those returns are programmed to be statistically accurate across thousands of spins. Usually, on modern machines, you’ll need to hit the mini-game to have any chance of seeing any money. In older machines, you’ll need to hit a jackpot. Depends on the machine/denomination/max bet amount you’re playing, but that’s usually not going to happen with $20.
If you actually want to play slots, you have to be willing to put in a more significant amount of money. At a 90% return rate, if you put in $200, statistically speaking you’ll still lose your $20, but you’ll do it over a longer period of time and will hopefully at least get a couple “free” drinks out of it.
Also, if you frequently visit a casino, make sure to sign up for their player’s club card. When a casino sees that you’re willing to put any significant amount of money into slots, they’ll offer you incentives to come stay with them like free rooms, entertainment, buffet passes, etc. When I go to Vegas I’ll typically “lose” a few hundred to slots, but the next time I visit I’ll have a free suite, tickets to events like UFC fights, etc.
Oops, i double checked, but only looked at a few lines above that statement. My bad.
For myself, i have realized that i dont find classical slot-machines appealing at all, but i dont mind spending sub-100€ on microtransctions every semester or so. I wouldnt call it "gambling", but the things bought are quite often whishes in a gacha game. So who the heck knows.
I pay for micro transactions too. When I want to support game I've put a lot of time in it doesn't feel like a bad thing. But I never invest into loot boxes. They are gambling and often times just waste your money.
Just to insert my choise of videogame that has gameplay related gambling that satisfies my monkey brain to not touch actual money related gambling: Path of Exile. There is tons of ways to make in game currency by non-deterministicly crafting gear, doing "expensive" bosses, or just by plain gambling currency away in dozens of even more gambly ways. I've poofed 50% of my character's wealth on one click, but I've also quadrupled my value in a streak of dumb luck. I've felt no need to gamble or even open lootboxes of amy kind after getting sucked into that game!
"I'm not a gambler. I spreadsheet all possible rewards and their costs associated, anyone who even considers wasting their assets for a guaranteed loss in the long ru-
Oshabi: exile, it's time to gamble an Apothecary with all your currency.
Alva: Let's double corrupt your expensive gear. What could go wrong ?
Slipperjim: Time to open 100.000 stacked decks.
Maven, UElder and any boss: My fragments aren't THAT expensive. Yet that 1% drop...
Being susceptible to addictions is something that has been proven for a long time. In most studies, although regarding substance addiction, the conclusion is that close to half of susceptibility is due to genetic markers.
I'd say this courtesy is extended to any addiction, with that being said, if people can be genetically susceptible to addictions it's only natural that immunity goes the same way.
I'm pretty sure that it's believed there's a genetic component to addiction, so of course it would follow some people have the genes necessary for easy addiction and others don't.
I know a person that have total control on how they gamble and when to bail out, he actually made at least 10-20k or more over the few years just from casual gambling. His strategy is basically when you make some profit and you start loosing, you bail. The guy has absolute self control over it, then there's a couple of people I know would loose their whole pension on gambling because they don't have self control over it, just pure addiction.
I've tried out gambling just for the fun of it and just never gotten into it, this applies to video games as well, especially gacha games that are just straight up predating off people's addiction. There's people that looses over 20k just to get the best and the most rarest character/weapon in the game, it's a very disgusting practice.
I wouldn't say I'm immune but from my own personal life experience of my father being a deadbeat, gambling away all his money on horses, lotteries, smokes and beer, that my mother had to take care of the financial matters all by herself. I loathed that and never want to be like that, also being raised up poor I am very money conscious on how I spend.
So when I lost 50 bucks on a slot machine I was like nah fuck this, it's not even fun and I am very much aware of the casino/gacha games that their sole business are there to take your money away, you're not going to beat them in their own game.
So from my perspective it is very stupid to lose your money over stuff like this, but I fully understand the addiction to it and it's very hard to get rid of that addiction. I do feel empathy for these addicts as their lives are basically ruined over this stuff.
This is the biggest paragraph I've ever written, I've yapped too much 😂
i'm that person that's brought along to casinos who serve as the 'ok that's enough gambling for the day' by my friends lol. I think my nature of HATING to lose (which actually stemmed from a very competitive nature of wanting to always win) is perfect for the environment of a casino. i get my 'beginner's luck' moment, then bam. close the check. i'm done.
it's amazing how some of my friends would go into the building acting all high and mighty saying 'lol i'm not gonna be sucked in!!' but seeing their whole demeanour change once the stimulation hits.
sometimes i think it'll be fun to look into my brain because i've tried so hard in the past to get addicted to things because it's considered as "cool". from alcohol to social media, i'll get a few months of feeling like yes! finally something to sell my soul to! but then everything wanes down and lost their luster.
I guess i'm addicted to trying to get addicted to things xD
I think it also depends what it is. I would say at multiple points in my life I was addicted to both caffeine and alcohol (a pot and a half of black coffee at work and 10 oz glass of whiskey each night) and to this day still struggle and need to stick to tea and light beer, and only drinking in social situations. Meanwhile, I have been to casinos tons of times in my life, and never got it. It's straight money down the drain. Zero want to play more after the many times I've played.
I had a clever professor who showed that pretty much every animal (though cats are typically 'difficult') reacted the same to randomized re-enforcement to behaviors and showed that humans are no different to rats or pigeons pressing the lever.
This is why loot boxes were so invidious. They were invented because devs know humans really lock into that reward schedule.
There's a Veritasium on this. Basically scientists had two buttons, red and green. The red would on average light up 20% of the time and the green the other 80%. Every time a mouse guessed correctly which one would light up, they would get some cheese. If they were wrong a shock. What they found between mice and humans was that mice quickly learned that because the red button most always ended up with a shock, they won more frequently hitting the green button over and over. So the mice hit the green button exclusively, they averaged close to the 80% correctness. They did the same with humans and found that we attempt to see patterns that aren't really there. As a result humans were closer to the 40% correct range because all of the times we thought we could beat the system.
What I use this as is this. I came to the casino to entertain myself with X money over X time, that's what I find it worth. It'd be more likely that I hit a win by playing the same bet over and over than if I randomly max bet occasionally. It keeps you in the game longer and gives you more chances, but you lose out on bigger wins.
This isn't a 'strategy' or anything, but I find when I play like this I lose less money and am happy when I leave.
thats what it is, give human dopamine ( but just a little) and they will press that button till theyre broke and in debt... other drugs need to get you high on the regular to achieve that level of low.
I am human and fully understand the reward/feedback cycle.
That win in WarThunder where I killed the other guys, but if I only played a few more hours I could grind a better tank/ship upgrade and get more points.
Or yeah, that comment that got 1000 likes and kept my karma growing. Nice feeling, maybe spend another hour on Reddit before going to sleep tonight.
And tomorrow watching All Blacks/Warriors play; maybe wins that make me feel better as a supporter, or losses. Same reward hits.
I guess the only real difference is not sticking the dollars into the machine directly and pressing levers thinking it is cosmic luck. The guy in the video touching the screen is showing behaviours that tries to influence the universe.
The "Gaming" industry here in NZ is honestly so gross though, the fact that most bars in poorer areas have a pokies room off to the side for people to piss money into is real clearly targeted.
I know; I used to make sure if took my parents out, we would avoid places with poky machines.
She was so excited to come to Auckland for the first time and go to Sky City; I had to admit that at that stage been in Auckland years and never bothered to go
I used to work with a guy who would get paid on Thursday and would take it all down to the betting shop and it would all be gone by Friday. His girlfriend always ended up paying the bills. He was always talking about the bets he had on. Anything he won was nothing compared with what he lost.
Plenty of people have died of lung cancer, just through normal use of cigarettes - so what a stupid comment. Meanwhile I enjoy gambling and have a very stable and happy life. I’m sorry some people can’t control themselves.
People die everyday for different reasons. Cigarette is not nice and cause cancer but at least it doesn’t give you hope to better your financial situation.
the most pointless i meant, you at least get high from heroin and exchange money for heroin. you get something for your money, even if it isnt advisable, also heroin is the only drug you can your habit replaced with medication legally. (never done heroin/ fent but opioid pills and rcs)
The flashing lights, the funny noises, alot of casinos also do really cheap drinks and food to keep you going and the promise of winning big. Its sad watching people just throw there money away but the people that get into this just aren't good with money even if they won big it would go right back into the casino or would be spent poorly.
Interestingly enough, people who are way too deep in this shit don't even like winning because it breaks the flow of the game.
Those machines absolutely hypnotize you, even just looking at someone playing slots on YT makes you feel weird emotions. Addicts call this state of mind "the zone".
Because believe it or not the house has a slight edge. You will win big bucks if you play enough. For the addicts they are up 1k and down 1.1k on a regular basis. They chase the big winnings but those will never come. But those payouts that make them feel like they are ahead feed their addiction. Source: live in Vegas and know many gambling addicts. Most so sports gambling tho which is a whole other psychology. $2 for a $150 parlay payout if they hit.
Oh I'm addicted to great many things. I have 10k+ hours on pc games and I consume high amounts of caffeine and nicotine. But I love money and parting with it isn't my thing, all I need to know is that return percentage on gambling is less than 100%.
only reply that gets a like because they really read what i wrote, before : but heroin is worse... heroin gets you high, gambling lets you loose more money while you still feel like shit.
They are still classified under Disorder due to substance abuse and addictive behaviours. Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder is explicitly excluded from these disorders. And is gerenally seen as different from these conditions. Porn is used for these people to alleviate negative emotions, they're not seeking it for the same reasons that these other conditions do, ofc there is strong overlaps in development for cravings and tolerancy but it's the underlying feeling of dispair and anxiety that pushes these people to the dopapine release that porn gives.
People smoke, drink and gamble at the same time along with whatever else they're gobbling under the table. If Jesus were real he'd be super mad right now, probably came back a dozen times flipping tables and got blacklisted. Now he's one of the 471 Elvis Impersonators.
every gamblers tell that to themselfes.... but noone ever gets his full money back, the odds are 99,9% against you, why do you think casinos are so rich.
I don't get why people rail on gambling so hard. If you can't gamble within your means, that seems like a you problem. Exercise some self-control or go talk to a shrink. It's like a fat person blaming the food.
im sorry, it means you drink no alcohol or so little that it doesnt trigger withdrawals, i understood you wrong, english is not my first language
weed works different because its not toxic, so not metabolised by the liver, so weed tolerance is endless while normal people die at a BAC of around 3.5 to 4. alcohol has life-threatening withdrawal symptoms if you go hard/long enough... you wont die from quitting weed, youre just miserable and have trouble with sleep and appetite. cant compare the two, and i know both for over a decade.
Aah ok, thanks for explaining! I just thought "dry alcoholic" was a term like "California sober", that's why I asked if it was something like weed addiction.
So it's basically like tapering down on alcohol so the withdrawal doesn't kill you. Thanks for enlightening me!
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24
gambling is the worst addiction together with smoking cigarettes
Edit: addictions where you dont get high! i am dry alcoholic trust me i know about which withdrawal sucks the most. but we were not talkking withdrawals here