This is episode 45 of the After Gambling Podcast. In this episode, we’ll talk about whether we are really chasing losses.
Hey there, and welcome to the After Gambling Podcast. My name is Jamie. I’m a compulsive gambler, and I’m also the host of this show. The last time I gambled was July 15th of 2010.
So, we often talk about chasing losses, right? We always talk about how gamblers chase losses. That’s the problem — they get in the hole, and then they keep chasing losses. And there’s a lot of truth to that. I’m not going to debate that. But today, I want to come at this from a different angle because I think chasing losses, I don’t know if there’s much we can take out of that.
I mean, yeah, we know we shouldn’t chase losses anymore, but this different angle, I think, is a little more eye-opening. Hopefully, it’s something we can all talk about. I think, for therapists, this is a great thing to bring up with people that are compulsive gamblers. And for those of us that listen to this show and have problems with gambling, I think it’s really eye-opening for us.
And it’s the reality that we’re not really actually chasing losses. At least personally, I never really chased losses. And what I mean by that is, what I chased was a win.
I chased recreating that feeling that I had when I knew I took $100 and ran it up to a substantial amount. And I knew I did that over and over again. And so, what I chased was the ability to recreate that win, but then not have that fall at the end.
To not blow it all at the end. And so, it’s not necessarily that we’re chasing losses. It’s actually that we’re chasing the win, but we’re trying to do so in a different way, in a way that we do it — quote-unquote — responsibly, since it’s Responsible Gambling Week.
But yeah, that’s just a different way of thinking about it. I think when we realize that what we’re trying to do is chase those wins, and we’re trying to chase those wins with a different outcome.
But we realize that the outcome is always going to be the same because, as I say, fast-forward to the whole story: Say I go and I run it up. Cool. Awesome. Great. I’m on top of the world, I’m feeling great, no problems, all those types of things.
But then the reality is, unless I quit right there, I’m going to end up losing.
My reality is, I’m going to keep going because if I’m gambling and winning, what incentive is there to stop? And again, I’m just going to keep chasing that win again. I’m going to try and recreate that experience.
And it’s like anything else — a good food experience, a good time out at the movies with friends. Anytime we have a positive experience, something that we view as a good experience, we want to recreate it.
And hitting a huge jackpot or winning a lot of money in gambling is one of those experiences, just like having a great meal or a great date or anything you want to talk about.
And so, what we do is, like I said, we try to recreate that positive feeling. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to change the outcome.
So, hopefully, this is a little bit different way of thinking about it because there’s that common phrase that we chase our losses, chase our losses. No, what we’re doing is we’re trying to chase the win with a different outcome.
And once we realize that there isn’t going to be a different outcome — because the outcome is simply going to be lose and end up in that pit of misery and despair that we were in, or win and then just get to the point where, like I said, there’s no reason to stop.
Why would you stop doing something that you’re being successful at?
So, for those of us that are compulsive gamblers, we’ll just keep pushing it up and up. And that’s where the progressiveness of gambling comes in.
Yeah, you win. You decide, “Okay, this is great. I’m doing well. I’m going to keep going.” But then you start wagering more money, and you start doing it for longer hours. And then you start wagering outside of what you should be doing, beyond the responsible guidelines.
And that’s why I’m hesitant to ever suggest that anybody try to follow the responsible gambling guidelines, because it is progressive. Things get worse. They develop.
And unless you go through life without a substantial win, I think it’s really setting yourself up for trouble down the road.
And while I’m not anti-gambling, I’m not going to come out and say, “Okay, they should eliminate gambling from the planet.” I do think introducing people to gambling in a responsible manner — without acknowledging the part where, once you get to a certain point, many people will develop problems — is irresponsible.
It develops financial problems, emotional problems, personal problems. Sharing that side of it, that’s responsible operating, responsible legislating, and responsible marketing. To say all of those things.
It can’t just be, “Okay, follow these guidelines and you’re going to be all set,” because it’s just not true.
I’m one of the people. I just read a Twitter post, and I’ve seen hundreds of people that have the exact same story. They started responsibly.
As the person said, they would clip coupons to get chicken at the store but would spend $500 to spin a wheel online.
And I was the same way. I mean, I come from a coupon-cutting family. I’m cheap. I buy everything on sale. But when it came to gambling? Yeah, I wouldn’t buy in with less than $400, and I’d walk in with $1,000 or $2,000 in my pocket.
So again, not chasing losses. What we’re doing is chasing a win with a different outcome, which, now we know — and if you listen to this podcast, you know — that the reality is, for a lot of us, there is no different outcome. It just doesn’t change.
So, hopefully, this helps again, change the narrative a little bit, think about things in a different light. And sometimes I think that really helps us to make progress because if we keep talking about and saying the same things, then we don’t do anything. We don’t make any progress.
Thanks for listening.
And then, for anybody that listened to the show that was an early release yesterday, hopefully you enjoyed me stumbling through the intro. Yes, these don’t always go perfect on the first try.
And sometimes, like yesterday, I wanted to get that out on election day, and we recorded it in the morning, and I missed a piece of editing. So, you got to hear me stumble through all sorts of an intro.
So, there were about 30 or 40 of you that got to enjoy that. I apologize. Hopefully, it wasn’t too bad for you, and hopefully you didn’t save that audio because if it wasn’t for me coming out on this podcast and sharing all my worst moments, something like that would be really embarrassing.
But in the grand scheme of things, hey, who cares? It’s clean now.
It was awesome having Keith on. Hopefully, you really liked what he had to say, and at least appreciate what he had to say, and we can move forward on that front on legislation.
But again, gamblers, we don’t chase losses. We chase recreating the win with a different outcome.
And before I go, remember, this is for educational purposes. See a doctor, see a lawyer, see somebody that is a professional to help you with your gambling problem, because it is a serious problem.
It’s something that you deserve the help of a professional for, so I want you to seek out that help.
If nothing else, it gets you another point of connection where you can have somebody you can vent with and talk with, and it’s going to free you up. I promise you that is how it’s helped me, and that’s the thing I believe in more than anything else. So, please seek out the help of a professional.
And music for the show is Something Elated by Broke For Free and is licensed under the Creative Commons License.
If you want, go give them a shout-out, say, “Hey, I listened to your music on a podcast and I love it,” because I definitely appreciate that they licensed that so we can use it on the podcast.
Thanks again, and like I said, I will see you in the next episode.
