|
Serious compulsive gamblers are very sad and unbalanced people. The need for "action" is stronger for these people than virtually any other need. This includes food , family, sex, or their physical health. I've met people first hand who have lost jobs, homes, cars, families and still couldn't break their dependence on the "thrill" of the risk taking that makes gambling exciting.
I personally know someone who earned 30K annually that lost 70K betting on the NIT in one weekend. Same person travelled 150 miles on New Years Day to "generate action" with a fellow gambler since most normal betting outlets were dead on New Years. The two sat at a rest stop and placed bets with each other on everything from the number of Yellow M&Ms in a box from a vending machine to the time it took a random person to walk into and out of a restroom. If it had not been for the intervention of GA (Gamblers Ananymous) this person would have probably had to deal with some serious pain from the people he placed bets with. Bookies and loan sharks usually don't kill welchers, too hard to get paid from a corpse.
Sounds like you ran into a compulsive gambler that had reached a crisis. Think you're lucky his mania and desperation was directed at himself. There's no predicting what people will do in those extremes. Be glad our obsession is with cars.
__________________
|