What means gambling to you? To many gamblers the answer is hard to pinpoint because there are so many possible answers. The truth is it depends on what you mean by gambling. Most people will tell you that gambling is when you spend your money to lose your money. Then there are those who will define it as when you gamble your money away and get nothing back. The truth is what means gambling to you will depend on what your definition of gambling is.
Tap Out: A losing streak while playing blackjack, which means the complete end of the game for that particular player. Tells: Actions or behaviors of a dealer or a player that reveal the cards they hold. 3rd Street: A first round of betting seven-card stud. What this means is that the entire house has lost. If the last three bet had gone against the house, then the entire table has now lost.
Hard Money: Betting on sports, races, or any other event that using real money. Pit stop wagering on horse races is one type of hard-money wagering. Hard-money wagers are usually placed on tracks such as Harpers or Fifth Street. This also means that the stakes for this type of wagering are relatively high, sometimes as much as two or three times higher than normal betting. This type of betting is also typically associated with high-profile tournaments such as the Kentucky Derby.
Compulsive Gambling Addiction: This is a treatable condition. There are varying degrees of this disease, but anyone can suffer from it. It is an obsession or compulsion to gamble despite the negative consequences it could have on one’s finances, relationships, and social life. Symptoms may include constant betting, repeated losses, financial problems, and a negative view of one’s self. Anyone can develop this disease; however, the cause for compulsive gambling addiction is thought to be psychological.
Grandiose Narcissistic Personality Disorder: This means that the person has a grandiose sense of their self-worth, and a lack of concern for the needs of others. A gambler will believe they are superior to everyone else, have little regard for other gamblers, and have a need for excessive stimulants like alcohol, cigarettes, or even drugs. A gambler may believe that if they win, they will feel happy, successful, and even invincible. This personality disorder is known to be one of the major causes of gambling addiction.
Betting Strategies: Different gamblers use different betting strategies. Some bet on a variety of cards; others bet on a single card game such as poker. Still others bet on multiple card games, or combinations of cards, while many others may bet on a “level” of playing cards, a wheel, or even a combination of numbers. Each type of bet, and the amount to be bet on each type of bet, vary according to the particular gambling game, as well as each individual gambler’s understanding of the odds of that particular game.
Harpercollins Publishers contributed this definition to the Oxford English Dictionary: “A game in which persons wager money upon the prospect of obtaining a prize or some special object.” Today, “gambling” is commonly used to describe any kind of gambling activity. Gambling has been described as the pursuit of pleasure through chance. So there is no debate over whether gambling can be considered immoral; what is the debate over is whether a person can get addicted to gambling.
Addiction and compulsive gambling are, of course, two very different things; however, many addicts, especially those who are not aware that they are indulging in behavior that would normally be considered wrong, do have problems with impulse control, are vulnerable to stressful personal events (such as loss of job, spouse separation, etc. ), or are particularly sensitive to the feelings of guilt that come along with breaking the rules. Many psychologists believe that many problems with gambling are the result of one’s environment – namely, being exposed to too much stress and anxiety, as well as being exposed to too much television, movies, video games, and other media that can desensitize people to real gambling opportunities, leading them to engage in “the same behavior” when they should be out looking to find real money in a different form.