It's not my first time being asked if gambling is good or bad and my response is always the same because we humans can be very funny. People are fond of misunderstanding your point and still blame you for their mistakes, so I always tell people to stay away from gambling. Don't even think about it once if you haven't tried it before.
Gambling is bad even though it's not completely harmful as many people think. I believe the problem isn't the gambling but the gamblers because they weren't forced to gamble and many of them just don't know when to gamble or stop. In the last ten years, I have seen this same gambling change people's lives while it has ruined more lives as well, and it sometimes baffles me what the winners are doing differently to always win.
The very first I heard about gambling was sometime in 2012 from a guy who sells movie disks very close to my mom's shop. He knows how much I watch football and would always ask for my predictions on games but I never understood what he was doing. In a nutshell, this guy was an addict, and we watched his shop become empty, all in the name of gambling.
He won about 70k in naira that year and had to restock his shop again. He was happy until the goods vanished again as a result of gambling and his life became miserable. Everything he earned went into gambling while trying to recover everything he lost and advising him to quit would automatically make you his enemy.
Addiction is the core problem of many gamblers and it's funny how they don't even see themselves as an addict.
Being addicted to anything is bad, and it's just the same for gambling; I have seen people who would rather gamble with the last money on them instead of eating. I have gambled several times, but it would still be disrespectful to call myself a gambler in the presence of gamblers because my gambling happens once in a blue moon, and it's just a thing of luck for me, I believe it is luck and nothing more because we can't be too sure of anything in life.
My first attempt at gambling was in December 2017. I always go home to celebrate Christmas, but that year was just something else for me. I didn't have a job and the little trade I was doing was paying off at that time.
I was at a viewing centre ready to watch football when I saw some match fixtures across different leagues and was so confident about what the outcome would be. Someone at the viewing centre collected my prediction and stepped out for a bit. He returned with a gambling ticket and after asking how he went about it, I decided to give it a try.
All the games ended as predicted and I won about 33k in naira that day. I immediately transferred some to my family in preparation for Christmas and that was all. I didn't go near it until after 7 months, and even today, it's not a regular thing for me. Despite not being a regular, I only play with what I can afford to lose. I don't put my heart to it so there is no form of disappointment even when I lose.
As I mentioned earlier, gamblers are majorly the problem. A lot of people have become addicts and it's not a good thing if you ask me. I have seen kids who steal just to gamble, and honestly, I don't know why they do such.
A guy was asked on a reality show the first thing he does after getting his monthly salary and he said gambling because he needs to double the money immediately since it's not enough to pay his bills. I was shocked to the bone because that's addiction and if he loses, that month is messed up for him already. It's the same for many gamblers who throw every penny they make into gambling until their lives are miserable; in the end, they go about blaming gambling for their misfortune, whereas they are the cause of their misfortune.
Many of these gambling companies always state that their customers should gamble responsibly, but that won't happen, and it doesn't surprise me because, despite the warning that smokers are liable to die young, people still go about smoking. If people don't place importance on their lives, how do you expect them to value their money?
My stance on the fact that gambling is bad remains the same just to prevent anyone attempting it for the first time from giving it a try because they can't tell how well they can handle the addiction or disappointment that would come from gambling. Just stay away if you haven't tried it and for those who have, don't get addicted. For the addicts, I pray the Almighty God help you all.
Image was captured and edited by me on Canva app