When Internet Gambling Becomes Destructive

destructive internet gamblingInternet gambling is a fairly common activity that many people have engaged in, but as harmless as it may seem, it does pose a threat in some ways. To the average person, internet gambling hardly even registers in their lives, but to a gambling addict, internet gambling is a destructive trap to fall into. All the appeal that gambling has held over people for centuries is now at any internet user’s fingertips through the click of a mouse. This addictive activity has an incredible hold over many people’s lives, and can be recognized in some distinctive traits.

When internet gambling has negative consequences on a person’s life, it has become an addiction. This is the consequence that is seen the most readily. All internet gambling costs money or some kind of wager, but when a person becomes addicted to it, the money starts flowing far too quickly. It is not long before the individual cannot pay their bills and their finances are depleted. This is one way that an internet gambling addiction can become destructive.

Internet gambling can be very detrimental on relationships. It is hard for a person to retain their respect for another once they uncover their addiction, unless the addict is willing to work to defeat their addiction. Because most people go through denial over their addiction, they push their friends and relatives further and further away by going deeper and deeper into their addiction. Not all relationships can recover from the pain that addiction causes. If an addict wants to keep their relationships, it is best they work on defeating their addiction.

And lastly, a person’s health can begin to suffer because of their internet gambling addiction. The constant sitting that online gambling requires becomes hard on the body when it is endured for many hours over many days. Not only is a person constantly sedentary when they are gambling online, but the time they invest into gambling eats up their time to do much of anything else, including exercise. This deteriorates a person’s health at a rapid rate, causing weight gain, muscle loss and reduced function of the body’s systems.

Are Gaming and Gambling Real Addictions?

gaming addictionSome people say that gaming and gambling are not real addictions, and that only chemical addictions actually count. This is not credible information. Addiction is present anywhere someone is overvaluing a substance or a process. Gaming and gambling online are two activities, or processes, that give people pleasure, distract them from the outside world and offer escape. They are things that people abuse by overindulging in them. Their qualifications to be classified as addictive are as follows:

  • Damaging to relationships. When someone compulsively gambles online or plays video games relentlessly, the people around them who are subjected to it become resentful of it. People obsessed with these activities tune out the entire world to engage in them, including their responsibilities to themselves and to others. This becomes very aggravating to people who have to depend on them because they do not pull their weight or make contributions. They spend very excessive amounts of time gaming and gambling.
  • Draining to finances. Gaming and gambling are both expensive activities to engage in. Gambling is obviously expensive, as it revolves around placing bets with money. When people begin to do this compulsively, the cost becomes astronomical. Many people do not realize how expensive gaming is as well. Someone who is gaming compulsively is investing in many games, online memberships, gaming consoles and additional gaming components. A gaming addiction inevitably costs a great deal of money.
  • Deteriorating to health. Both a gaming addiction and a gambling addiction require a great deal of sitting. Overtime, this adds up to a dysfunctional body. Sitting excessively in order to game or gamble causes immense problems to a person’s health. They inevitably begin to struggle with weight gain and muscle deterioration. Severe cases of gaming or gambling addiction can even lead to blood clots forming in the legs and heart problems due to lack of cardiovascular activity.

In short, anyone who says that gaming or gambling cannot be real addictions is misinformed. These two activities, when abused and overindulged in, can cause a great deal of stress, strife and chaos to a person’s life. If you or someone you know is struggling with a gaming or gambling addiction, take it seriously enough to find help.