I haven't experienced the same depths of despair that masu has, but I've been around the same block. About three years ago, I thought I could make a little side money from sports gambling, which I thought I was pretty good at before I really got into it. Turned out I was wrong. I had plenty of hot streaks but even more cold ones and ran up enough credit card debt to choke a pig. And I was no kid, either. I'd been gambling on and off in Las Vegas since the early '80s and had some success. But when I got serious about it three years ago, I increased my unit size considerably and increased my wager volume even more. Bad idea.

About a year ago, after running up all that debt, I said good-bye to gambling and to this forum. I stayed away from this forum for about ten months and I'm still paying off that debt with the salary from my job. I did NOT want to declare bankruptcy and destroy my credit score, and the debt has been steadily declining for the past year. During the previous ten months, I really didn't miss the gambling (I didn't place a single wager), which I think is a strong sign that I managed to avoid a hardcore gambling addiction. But that doesn't mean that everyone on this message board can also avoid that addiction.

A couple months ago I finally felt like I could recognize gambling for what it should be: an entertainment expense. I now believe that every amateur who enjoys gambling should live by this rule:

Gambling is an entertainment expense, not an investment for profit.

As an entertainment expense, gambling should be integrated with your personal financial budget and scaled to match your income. If you earn $50,000 a year, you might budget $100 a month towards gambling. If you lose that $100 on the first day of the month, stop gambling for the next 29 days. If you turn that $100 into $1,000, have fun and go crazy as long as the money lasts. But don't even think of tapping into your bank account for more gambling funds if you go broke.

As long as I follow this rule, I think I can enjoy gambling the rest of my life. The most important concept to understand is that your "gambling budget" must be entirely separated from your "real life budget." If you ever begin spending money on gambling that you really need for real life (as I once did), then you need to quit cold turkey until you can straighten out your priorities.