Eng 113.01 12:30-1:45
Research Report 1
February 7, 2012
Gambling Addiction A few years back my brother, Zach, started gambling. He started out with the small poker tables at a friend’s house. He would make a few dollars here and there, so he thought he could beat anyone. Zach thought he was untouchable, he thought he could be the system. It did not matter what it was. He thought he could beat it, from poker to roulette to betting on sports. He believed that he would win every time. After he got uninterested of the poker tables, he moved to betting heavily on sports. He started by betting on small high school games, nothing major. Zach would bet twenty to thirty dollars, nothing he could worry about losing. That was okay until he started betting higher wages on larger games. He then moved to college games and from there started betting on the pros. His favorite sport to bet on was the NFL. That still would not stop him from gambling on a NBA game or a soccer game. He made his biggest bounty on a NFL game two years ago. He made six hundred dollars on one game. That is the point where he got hooked. He has not stopped gambling since and is facing a real problem. This month he has already spent a thousand dollars on betting and gambling. Within the last 6 months, he has spent approximately eight thousand dollars. His gambling varies from poker games to sports. Zach favorite thing to bet on is sports though. He keeps gambling more and more and does not realize how it is affecting him at all. Gambling affects his family, his social life, and his bank account. People who gamble can have several types of problems. They are several types of gamblers. There are professional gamblers, causal social gamblers, serious social gamblers, relief and escape gamblers, compulsive gamblers, and antisocial personality gamblers. Zach falls into the compulsive gamblers categories. Compulsive gambling is where gambling is the only thing that matters in life. The gambler
Cited: Borghesi, Richard. “Widespread Corruption In Sports Gambling: Fact or Fiction?.” Southern Economic Journal 74.4 (2008): 1063-1069. Business Source Premier. Web. 17 Jan. 2012.