It is interesting and instructive to look at the differences
between disease and addiction.
Getting a disease, of course, like cancer or alzheimer's,
appears to be non optional.
Addiction to cigarettes,
alcohol and gambling is choice driven and, while it
is argued by some
to be genetic based, it is far more likely to be "brain
driven".
Do people who are long
term "users" no longer respond to cost and
benefits information?
In fact, the observations
by many researchers indicates that the longer term
users of drugs
have a better chance of quitting than short term users.
What's all this got to
do with gambling and how you how should gamble, you
ask? Read on.....
A lot of gambling and
other behavioural patterns of "addiction"
are voluntarily self destructive and are harder to
deal with. People and gamblers don't make all choices
based on economic rationalism and a lot of the decisions
we all make may not be being made with long term objectives
in mind.
We foolishly decide,
often on the spur of the moment, what is the best
thing to do "right now" - which may not
be the best thing to do for the overall
result of the day or the week or the month or the
year.
We live under these overlapping
circles of time in which we make choices, which may
be in direct conflict with long term benefits and,
in conflict with other "time circles".
For example - look at
the choices made by people who smoke cigarettes. They're
not smoking in order to get cancer.
They're smoking in order
to make the next five minutes more pleasant. If you're
asking what's the best way to spend the next ten minutes
and you're a smoker the answer is have a cigarette
- especially if they haven't had a cigarette for an
hour.
However, if you asked
the same person do you want to be a lifetime smoker
with a 50% chance of getting a smoking related disease
well naturally they're going say "of course not".
When they're smoking,
they're not making that long term rational decision
-- they're just having one more cigarette. The same
applies to everyone who's going on a diet - it's always
going to be tomorrow.
So if you're a gambler
- what are your objectives? What decisions are you
making NOW?
Are you trying to achieve
a positive result over the next year or are you trying
to achieve a "quick fix winning high" right
now? Do you want to win over the space of today and
"let tomorrow take care of itself" or are
you serious about winning long term this year?
People being people,
we always take a little too much of whatever we like
the best and that doesn't matter what it is - cigarettes,
alcohol, surfing the net, shopping, sex, gambling
- you name it - if we like it, we always want it more.
Thousands of years ago
the ancient Greeks put forward the view that moderation
is the best policy and probably moderation is still
the best approach to betting on horse racing for pleasure.
Don't bet in every race - that is a loser's game.
Be selective in which
races are good enough to interest you and claim part
of your staking effort and, above all else, have a
long term view of what you are trying to achieve and
not just be looking for a quick fix.
Any betting methodology
that is non selective in the races you invest on MUST
LOSE and that is the gospel truth!
