Did anyone stumble upon gambling in middle age?

In my adult like, I was never interested in gambling, until I had some really bad luck that negatively impacted my health, my energy level, my earnings and my forward progress. I became vulnerable and tempted by the "Hail Mary pass" to so-called luck, known as gambling. So from age 18 to 50, no interest in gambling. Then my personal bad luck and low energy coincided, time-wise, with the building of a new casino where I lived in Pennsylvania. I then became a gambling obsessive.

But I look back on my childhood. I did like to bet, when I was in grades 5-8. Not for large sums. Just a dollar here, a dollar there, on football games, mostly. Sometimes on heavyweight famous fights, like Ali vs Frazier. I thought at the time it was just for fun. Maybe it was. My dad was also an influence. He used to bring home the football betting sheets. He got a commission on them. He was an intermediary with the bookie. But at that time, I guess I wasn't obsessed with betting, as I didn't continue it into high school. Later in life though, I became that disgusting thing known as a gambler.

I too never gambled until I was 45. I am not sure why I even started other than taking a medication that where one of the side effects is compulsive behavior.

At first it was little bit here and there then it was every couple of weeks and then weekly until it became daily. I found myself hitting the local deli before work, at lunch, after work telling myself I was waiting for traffic to die down. Yeah Right!!! 11:00 P.M. I think traffic is pretty much dead.

I would win lots of money and not leave until I put almost all of it back in. I hocked my jewelry, lost my great job, car, home and the final blow was stepping over the line and taking from my employer to cover my losses and try to pay my bills. Did I pay my bills???? no I took the "dirty money" and gambled it.

I am so ashamed and facing the consequences for my actions. I am in recovery and taking it one day at a time. So, so, sad that I went into self destructive mode and ruined my career, family, self respect and lost everything that mattered. I never thought I would cross boundaries between right and wrong, but this addiction sure messed up my mental state.

If you can get off the gambling train please do so and don't wreck your life!!!

Hi BGL: I got interested in gambling from an early age, because my parents used to go to Vegas and Reno, bringing me along. I remember looking through the windows while standing outside the casino, at the people playing the slot machines, being dazzled by the sounds and flashing lights, and wishing I was "big" so that I could play too.

However, your post reminds me of people who start gambling because they want to escape their negative situations. I remember seeing a disabled person in a wheelchair gambling large amounts of money on pai gow poker; constantly betting and losing something like $600 a hand.......it made me think he was being self-destructive.....which reminds me of how some say that some gamblers are either masochistic or they just want to punish themselves for some reason, by being financially self-destructive.....I'm not a psychologist, but sometimes it sure seems like it's true.
Others tell themselves that one big win will solve their problems, but it's all delusional and a lie.
Either they never win and go further into debt, or if they should happen to win, they never quit.

Yes bgl I did! At the age of 54! Never gambled in my life before that! How and why? Well I am not really sure, maybe because I had recently retired so I had enabler number one money! Then I also had enabler number two, time. And I think enabler number three was boredom.

whthavidn wrote: I never thought I would cross boundaries between right and wrong, but this addiction sure messed up my mental state.

Best wishes to be free of this addiction and for recovery.

58gambling wrote:I remember seeing a disabled person in a wheelchair gambling large amounts of money on pai gow poker; constantly betting and losing something like $600 a hand.......it made me think he was being self-destructive.....which reminds me of how some say that some gamblers are either masochistic or they just want to punish themselves for some reason,

Yes, I think that for me, it was a way to punish myself. Though paradoxically, at the same time, it was an escape from low feelings. That guy you mentioned at pai gow -- we had one like that at the place I played blackjack, a younger man who was in a wheelchair with some sort of paralysis. I could see him sitting there and I know that he was there to escape, and I realized that he and and I were in the same boat, both not wanting to inhabit our bodies, so trying to find some way to numb out.

gran wrote:Never gambled in my life before that! How and why? Well I am not really sure, maybe because I had recently retired so I had enabler number one money! Then I also had enabler number two, time. And I think enabler number three was boredom.

Gran, were attracted to the seemingly friendliness of casinos? For me, I was attracted to gambling but also I think, being around people at the tables, the chit-chat, the casino "friendships" (which never, for me, seem to go beyond the casino.)

Not for me, I took the opposite approach. Began at the age of 18 and gambled everything wins, losses, savings, borrowings until aged 32!

Heres hoping my middle age is a lot more productive then the last quarter!

I started at 64. I am addicted. Just lost 717.00. I’m retired now @ 67. 717.00 was over half of my Social Security check.