Identifying Your Gambling Problem: Are You a Compulsive Gambler?

Do you think you have a gambling problem? Perhaps you know someone who might be suffering from this debilitating addiction? Compulsive gambling is a problem that can affect anyone, regardless of their income, age, sex, race or social status. Some people believe that people who gamble too much are always of a certain income level, or race, and that is just not true!

Nobody sets out to become a compulsive gambler. No one thinks that it can ever happen to them. After that first trip to the casino, race track, or video lottery terminal, nobody thinks that they will become addicted to it and risk everything they have in order to feed their addiction.

The following story, illustrates just how easy, and how innocently compulsive gambling can begin:

Susan had it all; a caring husband, two school aged children, a nice house in a good neighborhood, a great job and loving friends. Despite everything that Susan had, she put it all on the line after her first social visit to a local casino. It started innocently, with a girls night out that ended up at the casino, Susans first time. She put ten dollars on her lucky number 21 on the roulette table, and as she watched the wheel spin, her excitement built, until the wheel stopped on her lucky number 21!

After an evening of fun, and gambling with her girlfriends, Susan left the casino with $500 in her pocket and a feeling of exhilaration! A week later as her wedding anniversary approached, she hit the casino again to have a repeat performance of the week before in order to buy her husband a nice present. This time, luck was not with her, and Susan walked out disheartened, scared and with $2000 less than when she walked in.

It started very simply, as it often does, but Susan soon found her self in a cycle of compulsive gambling that would ultimately jeopardize the life that she had worked so hard to build.

Its an all too common story; perhaps you recognize parts of your own story in Susans tale? The simple, almost innocent introduction to gambling? The strong desire to repeat the winning performance, and feel the high again? There is a unique story for everyone who becomes addicted to gambling, but throughout all the stories, there are a few common threads that ring true.

Compulsive gambling is a serious addiction that can affect anyone, from any walk of life. But it does not have to be a life sentence. You can escape the grips of gambling and walk away, resuming your life, free from the addiction. You do not have to live your life in this iron grip, there is another way.

Before you can escape the grips of compulsive gambling, you need to understand it. So many people think that a gambling problem is about the money, that the addict is money hungry or greedy. Its so much more than that, and in my self-help guide Ill open your eyes to what your gambling problem is really all about and how you can escape it.

Peter is the author of Your Life Beyond Gambling, a free self-help guide that will finally open your eyes and help see how you can really get rid of your gambling problem. Get it for free at http://www.lifebeyondgambling.com/

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