what are your views on gambling and its effects?

Gambling is a social ill. Together with alcoholism and drug addiction, they constitute the major problems that societ) is facing now.
In our country, gambling is widespread. Legally a person can patronise the 4-digit shops, the turf clubs and the casino at Genting Highlands. Illegally a person can patronise a multitude of gambling operations run by thugs and racketeers. Be it legal or illegal, gambling is big business that does not show any sign of abating.
If we just look into one of the many 4-digit shops when it is open, we will no doubt see a crowd of peopi jostling with one another to buy their numbers. Often so numbers are sold out very quickly. There are also certain 'hoc numbers that the shops refuse to sell, for they have a habit being drawn often
Just why is it that people willingly spend their hap earned money on pieces of paper that are designed to ma money for the operators?
The reasons are complex. However one of I: friends, who buys 4-digit tickets regularly, gave me a rea on why he gambles. He told me that he started buying cert, numbers hoping to win a prize. As time went by the numb still did not come out. After a year of buying the numbers could not possibly stop. He feared that if he stopped, one his numbers might come out and he would have missed chance. He would have lost a lot of money. He figured it stupid to invest so much money only not to win any in ret because he did not buy the numbers at one particular draw
So he keeps on pumping his money on a shaky jream. Even If he wins something eventually, most likely his .vinnings cannot cover the amount he has "invested" He is a :ertain loser.
I suppose many other punters share his opinion. They :annot stop. They have staked too much already. In short, :hey are hooked
So these gamblers carry on regardless what happens -.0 them. I have heard of people who borrow money to gamble . Some of them even steal to finance their gambling needs. I -c:now a friend who gambled his college fees away on horse-
-acing. His father gave him a proper lecture and he promised
:0 repent. Alas, he never did. His father had to personally pay all the fees. Even so, this chap somehow or other would get some money from somewhere just to visit the turf club. He is Jerpetually broke. We avoid him like the plague. He is an example of a person who would do almost anything to feed ~.is gambling habit He has cried and lamented in front of me 'or a few ringgit. He has no dignity left. I do not know what to :0 with him except give him some advice. Advice is of no avail anyway.
Such is the state of hard-core gamblers. They have ost touch with reality. They are living in a world of shattered ~opes and dreams They convert their houses into all-night ,ahjong dens. They neglect their families and involve :nemselves in illegal activities They sometimes dwell in black ~agic to ask for "luck" and favours in their gambling pursuits, -,at realising they are virtually selling their souls to the devil.
-heir lives deteriorate Their relationships with friends and
'amilies become strained. They are strangers onto others and :nto themselves.
Without a strong will and some outside help, an addicted gambler has very little hope of getting out of his :redicament. Unless he changes his attitudes and lifestyle he ,'Iould probably carry on as he has always been doing. He will -at find any happiness anywhere. Gambling can give him nothing but grief

Shattered lives, broken homes, poor health, poverty and overwhelming problems follow the person who becomes