To Play One's Life's Away: Addictive Gamblers

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Recommended: Sociological perspective of lottery

In 1976, 0.77% of Americans were addictive gamblers, about 1,100,000 people; however today the situation is more serious (Horn). About 4-6 millions of Americans are gamblers, everything in a casino is designed to lure a person in and make them stay("FAQs - Problem Gamblers"). There's alcohol, a comfortable enviroment, and deep in the casino, there are buzzers that sounded like someone had won. Also the slot machines still flash as if you've won and there's no clock to remind you how much time you've spent, none (Robb 3). It's just you and the game, without the worries of the outside world. Gambling is an addictive drug turning people into alcoholics, homeless, criminals, etc, while the casino owners happily reap all of their life savings or retirement plan (Edwards 3; Horn).
Many people gamble because it's legal in their state and the casinos are easy to access. Addiction could happen to anyone, from teens to 50 year olds or any other ages (Reuter). Teens rates of getting addicted has increased up to twice as much as adults. Usually men get addicted faster, especially at younger ages. However women numbers have also increased to one quarter of the addicted gamblers population. and the negative side effects of gambling develop faster in women (Edwards 2; Horn). Gambling for fun once in a while is fine, but for some people, once they started they can't stop. People who are stressed go gamble to escape their life, they are so focused on the game that everything has melted away, so gambling is like their own private world to hide in. Some people think they are winning and they don't care how many timesthey've lost, they keep thinking they have a sure system to win; but in reality only rarely would a person ever win (Nordqvist).In ad...

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...ment Bet?" Http://icma.org/. N.p., 9 Aug. 2010. Web.

Nordqvist, Christian. "How Is Gambling Bad For You?" Medicalnewstoday.com. N.p., 26 Apr. 2012. Web.

Reuter, Andrea. "Gambling Addiction Facts & Stats." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Robb, Alice. "Why Are Slot Machines So Addictive?" Newrepublic.com. N.p., 5 Dec. 2013. Web.

"Study Reveals Positive Economic and Societal Benefits of Casino Gambling in New Jurisdictions." Http://www.americangaming.org/. N.p., 7 May 1997. Web.

"Stages of Compulsive Gambling." Elementsbehavioralhealth.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

"The Effects of Gambling." Https://www.problemgambling.ca. N.p., n.d. Web.

Tuttle, Brad. "Gambling for Good? 8 Ways Lotteries Could (in Theory) Make the World a Better Place." Business.time.com. N.p., 9 May 2012. Web.

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