Gambling is often referred to just like an addiction similar to smoking, drinking or taking drugs. This is not done just like that – many pathological gamblers tend to give away all their wages and financial reserves for gambling. Sometimes even taking debts or selling relicts of the family for a song is a welcome option for quenching the thirst of gambling.
In order to do something against such a sickness, the affected person needs a substitute. Just like people, who want to quit smoking, try to keep their mouth and teeth occupied with toothpicks or chewing gum in order to distract from the physical habit of having a cigarette in the mouth or hands, a gambling person needs a substitute activity in order to “forget” his need to play the one-armed bandit. Playing some computer-games not connected to cards, fruit machines or roulette, reading books or flower bed edging are, among many others, good ideas of how to step away from gambling. But of course, it’s all only possible, if the affected person him- or herself wants to be cured from his or her addiction.