i thing gambling addiction is more deeply ingrained than even heroin addiction ...
the group with the highest suicide rate are those with gambling addiction; they recover and relapse over and over again and eventually gamble everything away, including losing their family and children and eventually kill themselves in utter despair ... that happened to a dear, dear friend of mine ...
And these are intelligent people, in fact, it preys on intelligent people, because they think they can figure out the “system”.
I watch online poker and have watched their “super stars” win and lose vast vast fortunes, millions in an evening of gsmb,ing, with folks they were pleading agaisnt pleading with them to stop for the evening.
One of the biggest “super stars” in poker, Phil Ivey- a multi multi millionaire, was caught cheating the system after having discovered card patterns on the back of cards which revealed what someone was dealt. He and his partner kept it secret for a long time and won many millions until an I vestigetion into their “good fortune” took place and the defects in the cards were discovered by others. He did a LOT of damage to the industry, and other so called super stars did too, bilking customers put of millions. Full tilt poker was subject to massive fraud by another “super star” and his pals. Several big names got exposed.