Tips to Get Rid of Gambling Addiction

Millions of people around the world rotten their life and the people around them due to gambling addiction. This addiction can be either a 2$ lottery or 100k bet in a casino. Both of which are harmful and can ruin your life efficiently. One of Leading Casino review websites Preview Casinos have listed out some of the important ways to get rid of this problem. Let’s have a look at this...

What is a gambling addiction?

A gambling addiction like any other disorder takes over the impulsive decision and forces the person to gamble at every opportunity available. Hence, a person can’t resist gambling even if he knows it will end up bad for him. He uses money budgeted for bills, savings, kids educations, etc. Even rich people can be affected by this addiction as they would spend more time gambling then hanging out with family and friends.

Now that we know how serious gambling addiction can be, let’s look how one can get of gambling addiction:

1. Admit you have a problem –
   The first step to get escape addiction is acknowledging that you have a problem. Experts say that treatment would be ineffective if the addict doesn’t think he has a problem. Admitting to a problem means the gambler is ready to make an effort to get rid of it.
2. Talk to family and friends –
   You can’t fight a gambling addiction alone. You need a good source of support like family and friends. People who won’t judge you and want to help you get rid of this problem. You can even call or chat to “Gamblers Anonymous” to share your experiences and find encouragement which might help you feel better.
3. Avoid the urge to gamble –
   As an addict, you have to avoid environments and friends that might lead to gambling. You should stay away from casinos (both offline and online), race tracks, backyard poker games, or anything else that would tempt you into gambling. In short stay away from the bad influence.

   Another way to stop the urge is by taking away the source for financing the Gambling. Let someone else control your money like a spouse or other family members. If you’re using credit cards to fund your habit, close those accounts immediately.

4. Replace gambling with something positive –
   Now that you have decided not to gamble, you would have spare time in your life. Find a leisure activity or hobby to keep occupied. You can hang out with your people, go jogging, rock climbing, etc. with them. Just do something so that the thought of gambling doesn’t reach your head.
5. Seek professional help –
   Not everyone has a strong will power to resist the urge to gambling. Every addiction differs from others because the cause of addiction is different. Many studies have shown up to 70% of gambling addicts may have other psychiatric conditions, making it necessary for them to seek professional help. They can also take medication to avoid such urge but be careful; the drugs might have side effects.
6. Resort to meditation or Yoga –
   Meditation/Yoga is a great way to relax your mind and take control over it, to resist impulsive thoughts. You should start by doing yoga for 15-20 mins daily and then increase it with time. This would help you in other walks of life as well.
7. Voluntary self-exclusion –
   This is a practice in many countries around the world, where a gamble signs an agreement that not he would not enter or use gambling venues in the area. If he does so, the venues will have the legal authority to throw him out.
8. Set yourself short term goals –
   Set small goals which you can achieve once you quit gambling such as a vacation to a place, hold your head high among family, start saving again for future. Think of what you can do with the money you save in the future.
9. Join a peer support group –
   This is similar to an alcoholic peer group where ex-gamblers or people trying to leave gambling hangout and talk about their past experience. How did they escape this addiction and moved on life or how it ruined it in the first place. Try to take some motivation from these meeting.

What to do if you have a sudden urge for gambling?

• Relax and focus on staying calm.
• Take some deep breaths to cool yourself down and try to refocus on what you were doing or can do.
• Start doing any leisure activity such as showering or cleaning the house. You might also binge watch a TV serial, read a book, cook to stopping thinking about gambling.
• Remind yourself what might bad happen if you did gambling and constantly repeat this in your mind “I won’t do it”.
• Talk or hang out with a friend or family immediately.

Try to stop this temptation for an hour and see how much better you feel and repeat it time and time again with the above tips and your gambling addiction would be gone soon.

You might even falter once or twice in your attempt to quit Gambling but remember you can’t quit a bad habit without falling.