Social Gambling

[saubryn]

I have a friend who was addicted to slot machines a few years back. Now he bets on races, and plays poker, but he says it's just social.

Is it possible for an ex gambler to recover and control gambling like that, or is he on a slippery slope back to throwing all his money down the drain?

Just curious what others think - he *seems* to have it under control at the moment, but will it always be like that?

[Archbob]

It depends how much he bets and how often he does it. I would not recommend it to someone who has been addicted in the past as that is an easy to to become addicted again. If you've been addicted in the past, its best just to stay away for it altogether.

[websurfpro]

If he realized that "throwing money down the drain" is not good for him, he maybe has control on what he is doing at the moment. Slot machines from my point of view are the most addictive. Most of my buddies play only slot machines, and they say they`ll never quit this habbit. I think your frieend is trying to quit his addcition by betting, where the mental state is more relaxed, than real gambling. now it depends on how much he bets, if he spends more money then he used to spend on slot machines he is still addicted. The thing with betting is that the chances to win are bigger than most slot machines so maybe he is thinking that he won`t loose that much money on a . let`s say one year period of time. I`ve been though this and I know it helped me handle my slot machine addcition, this also because I do not enjoy betting that much.