Re: How do you evaluate that you're still gambling responsibly?
by on 08/12/2025, 23:32:44 UTC
I was advising a junior colleague who obviously is gambling excessively with respect to his earnings and in self defense he pointed out to me some others who were worse than himself as a vindication of his own already bad practice.
Of a truth, the people he referred to are 5X worse than him and it was obvious they started from his level and degraded to a worse condition. I tried pointing out to him that measuring excessive gambling is a self evaluation with respect to your finances and not using others as a yardstick of measurement but he dismissed my with the words "As long as I'm not yet gambling like these guys, I'm fine".
I'm sure this mindset exists especially among friends who are into gambling and I decided to bring it up here for discussion.
Do you think it's right to reference to others as a yardstick to evaluate your level of responsible gambling?
How do you measure yours?
Of a truth, the people he referred to are 5X worse than him and it was obvious they started from his level and degraded to a worse condition. I tried pointing out to him that measuring excessive gambling is a self evaluation with respect to your finances and not using others as a yardstick of measurement but he dismissed my with the words "As long as I'm not yet gambling like these guys, I'm fine".
I'm sure this mindset exists especially among friends who are into gambling and I decided to bring it up here for discussion.
Do you think it's right to reference to others as a yardstick to evaluate your level of responsible gambling?
How do you measure yours?
Using other people as measurement to Judge your own gambling habit is just crazy actually and alot of addicts do this in defense, cause why are comparing your situation to a complete different person. This line of thinking is called downward comparison, people do this to just justify thier bad habits especially in gambling and of course gambling is not relative, it is personal
If you were to measure your gambling personally, check your income, compare with your responsibilities, your saving (or lack of it) your mental health and then your control over the habit itself. Since this is personal, you will be able to self evaluate and know where you stand. If stopping feels difficult or uncomfortable, well that alone is a warning sign.