The addiction in me

[Daveyt1987]

Hi Nick Slots:

I watched your stream and wanted to get my opinion across on the addictive side of gambling towards certain individuals and in relation to your stream and others. I think a big point being missed towards what some people are trying to get a across is their own struggle with addiction and towards streamers. You provide a good show and offer support and advice towards anyone that feels they might need help. Therefore, your actions are genuine and if people don't like the entertainment platform you provide, or it hinders them, then watch cooking or something else.

The quotes of you being an adult and no one is holding a gun to your head should not be used as a sweeping statement to cut all aspects of what some individuals are trying to stress towards their own struggle and personal development in the realms of gambling addiction. Ok your an adult and you might not have done things right in the past, or be in a good mindset, but it about reaching a certain point in your life and having the desire to find a new you and control of yourself. To develop the desire to change and find the knowledge as to how is key and becoming a better you. I am on this stage of change and watching Nick slots or adverts on gambling is not going to affect me and my mission towards being someone that can eventually have a tenner spin in moderation, or cut out gambling altogether, if that is what I wanted.

Sadly, from a very young age my dad got me into gambling and with my addictive personality, means, this has lead to messing up time and time again. I am not blaming my dad, but his life is over and I still believe I have a chance to become established and maybe have a future. This is what some viewers are trying to stress as to their problem, which they have developed into over the years, which can affect them in many other ways such as emotions to suicide. Nick is not my Dad and I did not know him when I was younger, so my addiction is with myself and mindset towards control at this point in time. I am getting stronger and believe I will be ok.

All I know is I like Nicks entertainment and it has not affected the aspect of my addiction with gambling. I hope to get things in place and have a good job, have a bet in moderation and yes watch streamers like Nick and enjoy myself and all aspects of life, minus the previously embedded addictive side I developed since a young age. I want to watch a stream that entertains me and no not a cooking stream, so crack on Nick and smash out some more big wins.

 

[Nick]

Thank you for taking the time to write this very informative post that gives a clear insight into addiction.

It's hard for me to get into the mindset of an addict as even though i love playing slots and all forms of gambling and do so each week, i don't consider myself an addict.

I understand that certain individuals have this addictive personality and that it can be very dangerous to mix that with gambling.

I do my best to promote services such as GamStop on my stream, and have helped many people get signed up and received good feedback from doing so.

The way i see things is that it's not worth ruining your life for a spin on the slots, so if you really aren't in a healthy position to gamble, both mentally and financially, then i 100% recommend self exclusion and/or taking advantage of a FREE service such as GamStop (for UK players).

It's mental health issues like this that make me want to raise money for services such as MIND Mental Health Charity so more of us can talk openly about it.

MIND Charity Thread: https://casinogrounds.com/forum/topic/25389-raising-money-for-mind-mental-health-charity/

Once again, thanks for writing this post, and it has certainly opened my eyes to my viewers who may be suffering from similar addictive traits, and i will try and do more to assist these people.

 

[Guest]

Great post. Gambling addiction is one of the most destructive addictions there is. There are no physical effects like a drug or alcohol addiction. It is all in the mind and its incredibly difficult to stop the urge to gamble once you are in that area. 

I myself struggle with this addiction, probably more in the past than now, but you need to use all tools available to help you stop. Some people have an addiction to certain types of gambling. For me it was online gambling and I think a lot of that is to do with no cash changing hands, it doesn't actually seem real. You only realise when you have lost and can't pay your bills how serious the consequences are. Gamstop is a great tool and will change lives, but it needs to work better and I have already submitted a report on this to them as I don't think it goes far enough and can be easily circumvented.

The Streamers themselves provide entertainment on fairly reasonable stakes so no problem with them. What I would say is that these "Big win compilations need to have some more details behind them. These are highlights of 4-5 hours streams and last for about 2 minutes. I suspect some people may be thinking that gambling is easy when watching these compilations, that there is some skill involved when in fact its all pre-determined and is just your donald duck!!