I must say that everyone here, baz, Peter, Linda, Terri, Maree,
participating in this civilized discussion has been more gracious
and considerate towards me and what I have to say than I should have
any right to expect. Accordingly, I owe it to others to accord a
similar respect to their views, so having stated mine, there's no
real reason for me to repeat them or pursue them further, if anyone
wants to go further they know where they can, or they can find out
pretty easily. I would just add a note of thanks for letting me say
what I had to say and everybody being so nice about it.

And then, finally, in reply to Maree, and I swear this is the last
thing on the subject, I think you ARE getting close to STOP, and
when you get there, you will KNOW, there won't be any doubt in your
mind. Your brain will change, and you will feel physically different
(for one thing, you'll feel like you just got this great big hammer
and you'll start looking around your life to see if anything else
looks like a nail, and sure enough, some things do, and yes, the
same process of coming to your sense will work with them, as well,
like finances, relationships, goals).

At the moment you are still chosing not to gamble (which is, let's
admit, a hell of a lot better than chosing to gamble). But when you
stop, not gambling doesn't any longer involve any choosing, because
gambling is no choice at all. It will take no effort whatsoever, and
you'll feel no "not gambling pain" (I bet the Germans have a nice
long word for that like ludoschadekeitslosen or something) - the
urges will go, the restlessness, the "caged tiger", the doubt, the
fear of letting go, the desire to let go, the plotting, the fantasy
trips to go relapse, the real trips to go relapse, all of it, and
you'll KNOW that it's gone, it'll feel like getting a tumor the size
of a basketball cut out, but with no pain.

The only choice would be if you chose to gamble, but to do that
you'd have to traverse an insurmountable barrier which before you
were able to do only through willing suspension of disbelief - once
you KNOW the truth about gambling (you can't win), then you can no
longer suspend that disbelief, whether you are willing or not, that
element will be removed, you can even TRY to believe that you can
win, but once you know the truth you can't go back, even if you want
to. I wish I could loan my head out for ten minutes, because
experiencing it is a lot easier than describing it, and then people
would know, "so THIS is what it feels like to have no urge to
gamble...huh...weird....different...but hey, I think I like it. I
could get USED to this." For one thing, it is SOOOOOOOOO much more
relaxed.

Anyway, finally (OK OK so this is my third finally, but I swear it's
the last one, I'm running out of coffee), for the record my position
on gambling is:

1. No one should gamble
2. There is no such thing as social gambling or harmless gambling,
all gambling is equally bad, because all gambling is done for the
same reasons and they are bad reasons. The only difference between
gamblers is that in some cases the extent of the damage done is
worse than others, but in ALL cases gambling is wrong. All gambling
is either stupid or crazy, and I arbitrarily draw the line between
the two at losing more than 5% of annual income in one year at
gambling. But lose les sthan that and you are still stupid, and who
would knowingly CHOOSE to be stupid? "ah yes, I could do this, it
would be really really stupid, sounds just right for me." So, don't
beat yourself up because you think you can't be like all those other
people at the casino who seem to go and have a good time and there's
no problems. You don't want to be them. All gambling is wrong.
3. The real blame for all of this lies with our governments, who
allowed this to happen, who held us down while we were raped. An
almost equal proportion of blame lies with the creditors, credit
card companies, refinancers, loan sharks, etc who knowingly gave
credit, encouraged credit, entrapped people who they either knew or
should have known had no control, and raped them with usurous rates
and fees, and kicked them when they were down, and the governments
allowed them to do this. Thirdly I blame the casinos and venues who
merely could not bring themselves to walk away from a fool and his
money, and it's hard to blame them, especially the indian tribes who
have brought on themselves more problems than they ever bargained
for, and when they realize what they have done will eventually tear
the casinos down from within, as long as the Mob doesn't stop them.
4. Everyone who is gambling should stop, stop immediately, and stop
forever. Once you've stopped, just forget it and get on with your
life.
5. Anyone who is trying to get away from gambling should be wary of
any way out which involves further gambling. This includes harm
reduction and behavioural training for social gambling, even some
CBT, but it also includes GA, 12 step and other "disease"
or "recovery" oriented programs.

That's about it. No more finally's. Thanks.