Archive for October, 2010
Gambling Addiction
October 15th, 2010 | 
Author: In earlier days, gamblers used to trek to Las Vegas or the Atlantic City in order to find some real action they crave for. Now, the scenario is changed completely. Gamblers can find the real thrill in their hometowns these days.
Today, legalized gambling has become one of their rapid growing industries in America. The ever growing popularity of this game has made most people related to this industry make a lot of money.
Unfortunately, gambling has become a type of addiction for most people who are involved in this game. People may look at this game as a pleasure seeking behavior but sometimes, it becomes really difficult to get rid of this activity or even avoid a certain type of emotional pain.
In a wider perspective, addiction to gambling is a type of behavior that results in major disruptions in any area of life. One can suffer in one’s physical, social or even vocational area.
According to the American Psychological Association, compulsive gambling can be categorized or referred to as a type of mental disorder of impulse control. It is also referred to as a type of chronic & progressive disease that’s both diagnosable & treatable. According to a research, about 2 to 4 percent of Americans have already developed a gambling addiction.
Here are some of causes of addictive gambling:
The causes of pathological gambling are not known yet. However, researches have made many observations & came to the following conclusions:
a) Excess exposure to gambling under certain circumstances in which it is valued.
b) A greater capacity for self deception.
c) State of feeling intolerable such as depression, helplessness or guilt.
An addicted gambler would exhibit the following symptoms:
a) Lying
b) Stealing money
c) Excessive borrowing of money.
d) Loss of control.
e) Escapes
f) Illegal acts
g) Tolerance
h) Withdrawal
i) Greater risk of significant relationship
j) Bailout
k) Preoccupation
The state of preoccupation occurs when the gambler constantly thinks about gambling. The individual may recall his or her experience in the past. The life of the gambler gets restricted to gambling & different way to acquire money for gambling. The gambler in this phase may spend money that’s meant for some other purposes in order to fulfill the satisfaction gained by gambling.
a) Often a gambler becomes tolerant of the gambling. Here he needs a good amount of money in to gambler.
b) Stopping gambling suddenly may lead to withdrawal. This process may cause a lot of irritability whenever he or she tries to gamble less or quit gambling.
c) Addiction to gambling can lead to lying to friends, family members & near & dear ones.
d) A gambler loses control on his or her addiction to gambling.
Gambling is not good for individual’s life. Getting addicted to this game can have a lot of bad effects. Here are some of the common problems; an individual may fall due to gambling.
a) Loss of job or unemployment
b) Debt
c) Bankruptcy
d) Fraud
e) Embezzlement
f) Forgery
g) Getting involved in crime
h) Arrest
i) Incarceration
j) Poor physical & mental health
k) Attempt to suicide
If you want to get rid of addiction, it is very important to seek professional help. You can go for different therapies to get rid of gambling addiction.
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Betting Options in Online Slots
In online slots players are required to make two or three decisions with respect to the wagers placed. Collectively these decisions are called betting options. In almost all slot games players are required to choose the number of paylines and the coin denomination. Some software providers ask players to select the number of coins per payline as well. Other software providers keep the number of coins fixed at one. Some online gaming software providers have standardized the betting options in their slots games. Others have some variation from game to game. Vegas Technology, Realtime Gaming and Rival Gaming have standardized betting options in their latest slots games and these are discussed in the article.
One of the betting options is the coin dimension and Vegas Technology provides a vast range in this starting from $0.01 and going to $10.00. The intermediate stops are $0.05, $0.25, $0.50, $1.00 and $5.00. Vegas Technology is one of those software providers that keep the number of coins per payline fixed at one. Therefore the maximum amount that can be wagered per payline is $10. This amount is used to determine the line payouts. The latest releases from Vegas Technology have 25 paylines. Therefore the maximum total bet per spin is $250. The total bet per spin is used to determine the scatter payouts and the bonus credit payouts.
The betting options structure in Realtime Gaming slots is very similar. The player can vary the coin denomination and the number of paylines but has to wager only one coin per payline. The coin denomination range is half that of the Vegas Technology slots. However there are 15 coin denomination options available as compared to only 7 in Vegas Technology slots. These are $0.01, $0.02, $0.03, $0.04, $0.05, $0.06, $0.07, $0.08, $0.09, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, $1.00, $2.50 and $5.00. Realtime Gaming slots also have 25 paylines. The maximum amount that can be wagered per payline is $5 and the maximum total bet per spin is $125. The betting options structure determines the type of players who will patronize the slot game. High rollers will focus on Vegas Technology slots and avoid Realtime Gaming slots because of the higher maximum bets. Since Realtime Gaming slots offer more flexibility in the lower range, low rollers will prefer them.
Rival Gaming is another software provider that offers standardized betting options. The coin denominations available are $0.01, $0.05, $0.10 and $0.25. The big difference with Rival Gaming is that it allows players to wager up to 10 coins per payline. The result is that there are 30 line bet options after ignoring the overlaps. Rival Gaming slots have 20 paylines. The maximum amount that can be wagered per payline is $2.50 and the maximum total bet per spin is $50. Therefore high rollers will tend to avoid Rival Gaming slots even more and low rollers will find even greater flexibility in these slot games.
No matter which software provider is patronized there are certain key strategies that should always be adopted. Always enable all the paylines because pay table combinations appearing on inactive paylines do not result in payouts. If this leads to a budget problem reduce the line bet by reducing the coin size or the number of coins per payline.
Gambling advice: Learn how to be a winner first
Gambling can be a form of entertainment if handled with the right attitude. A good approach is to aim to win but to also be prepared to lose – and lose only the amount you planned to risk on that day. In other words, you have to accept the fact that you cannot force a winning outcome and you cannot win every time.
There are many devised gambling systems or methods aimed at overcoming the odds to give you an edge to make you a winner, but don’t expect to systematically play your way to riches off the casinos. Apart from card counting at blackjack or applying the Martingale System with no maximum bet limit, all forms of gambling are conditioned by luck, and an astute gambler should make allowance for that.
The casinos have an in-built mathematical advantage on virtually every game and no mathematical betting system can overcome that. On the other hand, the player practically makes all the playing decisions including when to quit. Depending how you make those decisions will determine how successful or otherwise you are.
The casinos are there to let you have a shot at their money and they will have a shot at yours too at the same time. Have a planned betting strategy. Discipline yourself too. Limit your losses and control your winnings. Stick to your planned bankroll limit if you lose and don’t be greedy if you win. Walk before you run. Rather than aiming to win a specific amount of money, learn how to be a winner first by a small margin – any small margin. Not easy.