Gambling Addiction In Molly Brodak's 'Bandit'

Addiction is everywhere, from celebrity tabloids, to television, and possibly to a family member or close friend. There is alcoholism, drug abuse, and gambling addiction; the effects of such are devastating. For example, the following excerpt is from the harrowing Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir by James Salant:

Addiction is something that occurs when you become dependent on a substance or activity. When people are overwhelmed, things can become too hard to handle which can lead to addiction. The addiction then takes over their body and they can not control it, they are always craving what they are addicted to and using it to cope which makes them stop thinking straight. People are worried about things that are not in their control such as their environment, culture, friends and family which can make people develop an addiction. In the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, Elijah and Xavier turned to morphine when things got hard in the war. Both Elijah and Xavier were stressed with the pressures of the war. Many factors influenced Elijah and

With the broad spectrum of addictions being diagnosed, analyzed, and remedied people mostly ignore the other side of what addictions can also cause. Relationships can be created and destroyed because of addictions and recovery is a tremendous struggle. In “Double Down.” The authors and brothers, Fredrick and Stephen Barthelme, told of their addiction to gambling and the illusions of the casinos. They had led normal lives excluding their gambling addictions, both being Professors at the college level. No previous accounts of addiction to drugs or alcohol were had, but following the death of their parents and receiving a massive inheritance they had turned to gambling. They lose mostly all of the inheritance and later get caught trying to “defeat” the illusion of the casinos, via cheating. Another article that relates to addiction is called, “Sleeping

Gambling is all around the United States, and it can be a dangerous game for families. Many casino’s find gambling as a profit for their Company, since many people from around the United States will come to their casino and try to win it big with their own money. Gambling has been around for many years and a statement made by Worldcasinodirectory.com, stated “To begin with, gambling did not originate in the US- it came to this country with immigrants from Europe, Asia- especially China, and other parts of the world.” The United States was just another victim of an ongoing addiction. By, understanding how gambling reached the borders of The United States, how a notorious gang leader started the empire of gambling, and how an addiction pushes people to their limits, can help understand how gambling has become such a demanding element in a society.

“The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted a study before the first Maryland casino opened in 2010, and published it in 2011. They found that nearly 90 percent of Marylanders had gambled, and that 3.4 percent were either pathological gamblers or problem gamblers.” (Massimo) There has been numerous stories of addicted gamblers in debt, gamblers that have lost family and friends from their addictions. There was a man $400,000 in debt, his wife threw him out of the house and told him he could not see his kids again unless he gave up gambling. Also, another gambler went on a 48 hour binge without sleeping and barely eating. A woman faced a jail term for stealing $135,000 to feed her gambling

The trail an individual takes to pathological gambling can essentially be defined as a psychological imbalance or emersion into an alternate world. Natasha Dow Schull, a cultural anthropologist, shows this alternate world emersion in her recent book on compulsive gambling and the addictive nature of slot machines. She describes these normally reserved individuals who become absorbed in gambling as entering a trancelike state she references as the “machine zone.” This “machine zone” is the essence of an addictive gamblers fault. Schull describes the individuals as having their personal needs, social worries, and bodily awareness fade (Schull, 2008). Unlike other addictions, pathological or problem gamblers are not controlled by a chemical or substance. They are consumed by a psychological need to gamble. That is why by developing an information structure that will monitor this behavior, preventive measures can be implemented to control these psychological emersions.

Some people may look at the gambling as an addiction. These people would argue that it is not the anguish created by the power of freedom that brings a gambler back to gambling, but rather the chemicals in

According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, nearly 1.5 million Americans have experienced pathological gambling, which occurs when there is a dependence, harm, or lack of control over gambling habits (Samhsa). Samhsa goes on to explain that pathological gambling can be sparked by gambling as little as once a week. It may even derive by going as little as once a month, or once a week. Unfortunately, this is what transpired to Angie Bachmann, in Charles Duhigg’s Power of Habit. Mother of three and wife to a full-time working husband, Angie was frequently left in an empty home, with nothing to do. Spending her days watching game shows, such as: The Price is Right, Angie would often times find herself lonely and bored (Duhigg 246). Angie decided that if she got through the week without withering of boredom, then she would be rewarded with an excursion to the casino. The trips started off once a week with a few hours and a couple hundred dollars. Her addiction quickly jump started from once a week to three times a week. She was secretly attending the casino, spending a couple thousand, and playing multiple hands at once (Duhigg 247). Angie finally felt as if she had something to be proud of; she wasn’t just an orthodox, stay-at-home mom. The casino did as much as they could to make Angie feel special, almost like a celebrity. For instance, Angie would arrive at the casino in a limo, dine out in the buffet, and live lavishly in the casino suites. In another light, I

Bachmann’s gambling addiction follows a simple cycle known as the habit loop. A habit loop, which explained earlier, is a cycle consisting of a cue, routine, and reward affect. Identifying the habit loop for addicts is a great way of finding ways in altering the addiction to completely get rid of it or to minimize the activity. The initial cue of the addiction was when she felt unappreciated by her kids or had a verbal disagreement with her husband. The routine was playing blackjack at the casinos, while generating conversations with random strangers. Finally the reward hopefully was winning the game or receiving money once cashing in the chips and having a sense of being good at something. Knowing Bachmann’s habit loop, we can infer that her problem can be adjusted in a way to minimize the amounts of money that are poured into the game and spending less time in a casino.

What is the cause of addiction(s)? An addiction is cause by a person’s psychological habit that got developed into the person’s mental and physical condition, in which a person is unable to take control. The reason why people develop an addiction is because they have psychological, emotional, and interpersonal problem that they don’t want to deal with, so they find alternative ways to avoid the problems. Some people turn to drugs as a way to escape reality, but the majority of the people turn to the virtual online world to escape from their psychological, emotional, and interpersonal problem. A virtual online game that is currently popular for people to escape their psychological, emotional and interpersonal problem would be a game called World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game(MMORPG), in which player have a vast of task they can do, ranging from exploring areas, fight monsters to level up, quests, interacting and battle with other players to unlocking abilities and spells. World of Warcraft, like many other MMORPG, is a highly addicting game. The reason for that is because there are always new things to do, there are a lot of people to socialize with, and it is a place where a person can go to escape from reality. World of Warcraft, get people addicted by creating habit(s) to their consumer causing them to want to play regularly. In the book, The

     Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our

Addiction is all around us. It may be that cup of coffee in the morning for the caffeine stimulation, the cigarette that is smoked for the nicotine, or an alcoholic drink used to relieve a stressful day or situation. For some, the addiction may not be to a substance, but to compulsive behaviors such as gambling, playing video games, or shopping. Consequences to addictions can impact an addict’s physical or mental state. Addiction can also have detrimental impact on the people that surround them. Watching a relationship fall apart because a person has an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or another addictive behavior is a sad thing to happen to anyone. Unfortunately, those with addictions usually won’t admit they even

Gambling can easily lead into addiction, an illness that draws people in with the sense of risking it all. Placing that big bet for them is like a drug, it is exciting which causes the brain to release adrenaline. The thrill of being beat by your opponent or the rush of being the winner, winner chicken dinner raking in all the cash is what makes it so addicting. In this case a woman named Angie Bachmann turned to gambling to fill a loneliness inside her. This loneliness was caused by a combination of things leading her to gamble her life away. The casino was wrong in a way for knowing about her problems, while continuing to draw her in for their personal benefit. Angie had nobody to blame but herself, because she was

When a person is a compulsive gambler or an addict, the effects are devastating. Many addicts will use credit cards , loans, or even tap our their retirement fund to pay for their addiction. The result places them in debt to the point of losing homes, jobs, vehicles, and even filing bankruptcy. If they become to attached to the gambling they can forget to care for themselves causing poor physical and emotional health. It can also cause additional addictions to drugs, smoking, or alcohol

Gambling has become the easiest way for making quick cash, but it has as well ensured financial ruin of many people. The gambling addiction has rarely been in the favor of the gambler whether it is blackjack gambling, poker or other different gambling. It is the gambling industry that always ends up making fortunes from their gambling investments. Most people have seriously been addicted to gambling, and they have always found it hard to walk out even after experiencing total financial ruin. There is various type of gambling addiction, for instance, betting with a friend to win something or rather getting into a raffle with a friend, purchase of a lottery ticket, participating in casinos, slot machines and cards. Besides, gambling addiction is quite evident when one ends up getting into a financial ruin, and feels that it is only gambling that can help solve the situation by winning more cash. However, this has always ended up in an unending cycle that keeps going around till rehabilitation becomes the only option for recovery (Charles np). There have been cases of gambling addiction when people decide to make bets that are quite risky while playing games, with an intention of relation high emotions with massive risks that come with the bet.