That last word is not usually mentioned in gambling circles, to be honest. It is one of those tags that society in general uses to label some people and to be frank, sometimes it is overused, giving card games such as poker a bad name. Yet the reality remains. There are people who get hooked too much and cannot control themselves, leading to the erosion of his relationships and life in general.

Not all is lost, though. In fact, at the Viejas Indian Reservation, there is good news for all involved. A group of addiction counselors were trained on the dangers of compulsive gambling. This was part of a movement that casino operators are starting – to help those who are addicted to gambling. Interesting, no?

According to Mark Sauer of SignonSanDiego:

“We don’t deny there is a problem,” said Bobby Barrett, incoming tribal chairman of Viejas, chairman of the California Tribal Business Alliance and a certified gambling counselor.

“We are concerned with the health and safety of the people in our casinos, and with the risk to people within our own tribal communities.”

Self-help, 12-step programs have mushroomed. There were 10 Gamblers Anonymous meetings a week in San Diego County five years ago; today there are 35.

The number of certified counselors who offer the therapy they say is needed to straighten out a pathological gambler is shockingly low.

“I’m the only one I know of actually doing treatment in the county,” said therapist Suzanne Graupner Pike, who has treated troubled gamblers in Vista since 2003. “There’s no money in it.”

The reason for that, Pike said, is the “impulse-control disorder associated with problem gambling is not considered a disease, like alcohol or drug abuse, and hardly any insurance companies cover it.”

And the patients, Pike added wryly, have no money left.

Most gamblers with serious or severe problems, who make up about 4 percent of California adults, according to the state study, have related psychological problems, such as depression, which are covered by insurance, Pike said.

“Society needs to realize we have a medical crisis (with problem gambling), and there should be federal, state and local funds available for education and treatment, just as with other addictions,” she said.

Barrett said the state’s fledgling Office of Problem and Pathological Gambling has a $3 million annual budget. He said that is not nearly enough, noting, “All of that funding comes from California gaming tribes.”

Lefkowitz said there are two basic types of problem gamblers: those who thrive on action, who tend to be men; and those who gamble to escape, generally women.

Now I am not saying I am biased, but it never occurred to me that women would be a great part of this gambling addiction problem! I guess it is a good thing, what they are doing in California. It is just wishful thinking on my part, I guess, that this sort of thing should never have happened in the beginning. Of course, there are some things we cannot control. Still, activities like this one brings hope to those who need it.

If you gamble on sports betting systems or are looking to start, do you know all the facts? Do you know exactly what you are getting yourself into? These are stark questions because for some people their heads are swayed by the “unbelievable” amounts of money they think that they are going to win. They become blind to what they could actually lose!

There are two kinds of people who gamble. Pure and simple. Those that gamble responsibly. And those that don’t. And the distinction between them is very clear. People who gamble responsibly always make sure that they know all the facts.

It doesn’t matter whether they are placing a bet on a roulette wheel, or a greyhound race, or the result of a baseball match. These people know exactly what the odds of success are beforehand. They know what the likelihood of failure is. And are prepared to live by the consequences.

In short, they decide in advance how often they will play, how much to stake, how much time they will spend on the activity, and crucially, know when to stop. They also know, and this is important, when not to gamble at all.

It is all too easy to read the glossy, hyped-up, sales pages of the multitude of sports betting products that are out there and believe that there are millions and millions of easy dollars to be made.

Oh, if only that were the case! But the fact is that the vast majority of these so-called sports betting products are nothing more than complete rubbish. They don’t work, they fall woefully short of their outrageous promises, and will leave the person who was trying to follow the system considerably worse off than when they started.

However, this can be averted in two stages.

The first is that no-one should “buy” into a sports betting system unless they have done some research beforehand. There is a whole host of anecdotal evidence that you can find on sports betting systems as to whether the one that you are considering is worthy of your hard-earned money or not.

The second is about your own gambling discipline. Responsible gambling can be hugely enjoyable. It lowers the risk to you, your family and friends.

It should always be remembered that gambling is for fun. It is not a short cut to making vast amounts of money or be used as escapism for some personal problems.

A responsible gambler who is in control of their gambling discipline recognises that sooner or later they will lose, no matter how long a winning streak they are on. They also know that the very worse thing they could possible do is to try and chase and win back what they have lost. The moment they forget that, then they have lost control.

Another important element to responsible gambling is that you only gamble with stake money that has been set aside especially for that purpose. In other words, you are playing with money that “you can afford to lose”. And not money that was earmarked for rent, utility bills and food!

The moment that you realise that you are falling to any of the above traps then you must stop. Immediately. Those that don’t stop end up borrowing money to cover their gambling. The momentum builds up and the downward spiral becomes like a runaway train. The train will eventually will run out of track!

There is a straightforward mechanism that all gamblers should put into place. Whether you are doing sports betting systems or online poker, the principle is the same yet after all my years of experience I am staggered by the number of people who just do not do this.

Record every single bet, stake or wager either in a spreadsheet or on a piece of paper. Then record what you won or lost beside it! Then keep a running win/loss total beside that. Now somewhere on the sheet should be a number, the Stop Number! That is the number that when the loss total matches or is greater then its time to stop.

This is such a simple system to run because it just doesn’t need anything more complicated. If you want to create something more complex then by all means do so, however the more complex the less likely you are to keep it religiously updated. And that is the key to the whole thing. Every bet, stake or wager must be easily recorded so that you always have an accurate picture of your gambling history, be it successful or not!

Ben Tuck has spent several years reviewing all kinds of betting systems. He tried and tested them all to uncover their pro’s and con’s and to discover whether his results matched the ‘over the top’ hype pedalled out by the vendors. This experience has enabled him to quickly recognise the very rare gems from the horde of distinctly ‘average’ systems that are out there.

It’s easy to think that it’s hard for those of us who don’t gamble to get inside the mindset of those who do. We picture smoky rooms where fortunes can be won or lost in the instant it takes a croupier to flick his wrist. To most of us that seems frighteningly alien. But actually, we all gamble in every day situations where the stakes are far higher than those on the turn of a card.

We might take a new job somewhere, move house or run a red light. We kid ourselves that these are rational choices, but in many ways we are subjected to whims of fate that are far more complicated than those in a straightforward game of chance such as poker or bingo. Our new job might see us working with people we don’t like. We might be out of our depth in new surroundings. Perhaps the reasonable manager of the interview turns out to be an ogre to actually work for. The company could go broke within weeks of us joining. None of these things are quantifiable, and yet they can have far more deleterious effects on our lives than merely dropping $50 in a hand of cards.

Those we define as “gamblers” are typically those who play in a game of quantifiable odds for a certain outcome. We kid ourselves that our own lives don’t contain huge elements of gambling.

Where the gambling impulse in this scenario becomes problematic is that the goals which seem so clear at the outset can quickly outpace your situation. You come into a game with $200 – and before you know it you can be $500 down. Confirmation bias means that we are likely to throw good money after bad to try and ‘get back’ to a winning situation.

Most gambling situations are also ‘zero sum’. If 5 players sit down at the table with $2000 between them, 4 of them will collectively lose most – and probably all – of their share. Most real-life situations do not have that same certainty of total loss. The awful job might be offset by a good salary. The terrible boss might actually spur us on to prove him wrong. If the company as a whole prospers, everyone gets an increased share of the new wealth without loss.

Perhaps that’s the biggest difference between”gambling” in the sense of gaming and gambling with life. Games take place in a short, compressed timescale and you know that your fate could be sealed within hours. In most life situations, events unfold far more leisurely pace. So leisurely in fact that we might not even notice the outcomes happening. Unhappiness can creep up so slowly that we fail to recognise it for years.

By contrast, a gamble in the gaming sense compresses that sequence of events into a few moments. That compressed rush of danger heightens the senses, sharpens our awareness of what’s at stake and unleashes a complex set of emotional and physiological responses that can be deeply, deeply compelling.

The highs and lows of gambling can be quite a fix. One minute you’re up and the next minute you’re down. The rush you feel when you get that big hit is exhilarating! You think you have a winning machine so you raise the bet. The first couple of hits you lose, but you’re sure the next one will be the big one. You keep hitting that button – wishing for that big hit. Now you’re down. It feels depressing. You’re not ahead anymore. You lose all the money you came with but you want to keep playing. You’re sure this machine will pay out soon so you go to the nearest ATM machine. Now you’re spending your bill money but you’re sure you will win it back….and more. Does this sound familiar? This is an indication that you probably have a gambling addiction.

Once you have realized that you do indeed have a gambling addiction you need to admit – at least to yourself. Now what do you do about it? How can you rid yourself of this burning desire to run to the slots every time you have money? As a former gambling addict I found the answer. The need to gamble was buried deep within my soul. I had voids that I was trying to fill. Gambling will allow you to fill those voids temporarily. It is only while in the act of gambling that you may feel that those voids are being filled. Gambling will only provide you with a false sense of completeness. You need to dig deep to determine why you have these voids, and then learn how to fill them with good things. The more satisfying you create your life, the less will be your need for this addiction.

So, how do you create a satisfying life? How do you get there? From my experience, you get there one day at a time. You have do good things for yourself every day. You have to give yourself credit when you pay a bill instead of blowing the money on gambling. Following are 4 things I incorporated into my life on a regular basis that allowed me to become whole, completely content and gambling-free:

1. Positive affirmations
2. Journaling
3. Visualization
4. Hypnotherapy

These 4 things allowed me to fill the voids in my life. They allowed me to no longer be stuck on the slots. What an exhilarating feeling it was to finally feel the freedom of no longer having to fight the urge to gamble. You too can have this exhilarating feeling. You can quit too! If I did it, so can you!