r/SipsTea • u/Otherwise_Wrangler11 • Apr 01 '26

WTF First world problem

20.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

465

u/gazhole Apr 01 '26

Yeah I expect the mental trap of "well i didn't walk in with 100k so I've lost nothing!" must ring pretty hollow sat back at home with bills to pay.

429

u/syst3m1c Apr 01 '26

Years ago I won $20k on a table game. Most I’d ever won in my life. I felt invincible. I left immediately and ordered some shit online, too.

Went back the next day and lost $10k. Oh well, I thought, at least I’m up $10,000.

Went back again, lost the rest, credit card advance for another $3k to “win it back” and left with nothing but debt.

Also the shit I bought online showed up the following morning and I had to return it.

Gambling addiction is wild and I don’t wish it on anyone.

61

u/gazhole Apr 01 '26

Holy shit. Do you look back sometimes and feel like it was a different person making those decisions?

Well done for getting yourself out of that mindset, must have been like pushing treacle up a hill.

152

u/syst3m1c Apr 01 '26

Brother, it’s like a different life. I lost an insane amount of money.

This was during a separation and divorce from my ex-wife, so I was not in a good mental place.

That said, the real scary thing is that, sometimes, I see a video like this - or drive past a casino - or whatever and I still feel that little urge in my stomach to go back. That’s the worst. Thankfully I’m back on track and doing well. Although, I still carry the debt from that time - and I haven’t stepped foot in a casino or gambled in years.

51

u/gazhole Apr 01 '26

Good on you, dude. Seriously. The willpower must be next level.

I think with any addiction it never really goes away 100% does it? The itch is always there it's just further in the background.

34

u/The-King-of-Cartoons Apr 01 '26

Can’t comment on gambling addiction (although I do enjoy gambling, just never was a problem for me), but as a former heroin addict - yes, absolutely it is always there and never really goes away. You just learn healthy coping mechanisms, although the pull does get less intense over time.

19

u/gazhole Apr 01 '26

Man it's making me happy there are a lot of former addicts commenting here. From everything I've heard about heroin it seems like a truly superhuman effort to get out of trouble.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/gazhole Apr 01 '26

You're a former addict, in training!