Gambling as a sport has existed for thousands of years, and it is only recently that professional gamblers began making a good living from gambling, but even today the act of gambling is often associated with bad names. In many ways the perception surrounding the word “gambling” is not far from the truth: gambling is really just a very word used to label something that you don’t like. In modern times, however, the perception surrounding the word “gambling” has changed dramatically, especially with the advent of the internet, which makes it possible to gamble almost anywhere and at any time. This changing perception of what gambling actually is has led to it growing into a rather fashionable pastime and has even led to it being illegal in some jurisdictions.
The root issue behind gambling addiction is that most people view it as something that they do to lose money, when in all actuality it is much more complex than that. Gambling is actually the act of betting something of real value against an unknown outcome with the intention of winning something else in the process. Thus, gambling requires three factors to exist: risk, consideration, and a goal.
It is important to understand that those who suffer from compulsive gambling problems do so because they have a psychological tendency to want to win. The problem then becomes how to control or stop this relentless drive to win. If the solution to compulsive gambling addiction is to learn new ways of thinking and to accept that even the most unlikely of outcomes do occur, then the problem gambler may well have made a full recovery.