FOBT's - Why you will never beat them!

"7. Out of the tens of thousands of people who play (not own) the roulette themed fruit machines across the UK, name just ten, no five, actually name one who has definitely found a long-term reliable winning system. I can’t name any as there is no reliable system!!

Actually Dave there is a reliable system

Its called

KEEP YER MONEY IN YER POCKET SON !!!! 🙂

Nice post Dave ............but these things , as we all know can take so much more than your finances................

Keep going Dave

Take Care

Kim xx

SS

A very good post

Keep going

Steve E

Thanks Ade and Steve for your kind comments.

Kim - you are 100% correct. I think I only pointed out the financial consequences (or certainly leaned towards them more than anything). On top of these there is the damage caused to others, wasted time and overall dreadful possibilities when you reach rock bottom.

Thanks for bringing this in to Kim x

Dave

Dave,

Spot on , this post makes you stop and think.

I been off the machines three weeks now , its a constant battle to stay off them but I have to say this site has helped lots.

I dont think going to GA would help and think the roulette machines of today help to develop OCD , something seems to have clicked in my head and for the first time in years my urge to gamble on these machines is slowing going , I know it will be a battle for life but they say as each day goes on the easier it becomes , I certainly hope so.

Your welcome as always Dave 🙂

I have had a bit of time on my hands today...up early jobs done ... friends at work etc etc ... anyhow i was reading some articles today and i picked out some bits .......

" To A gambler's brain, a near miss provides almost the same high as a win"

These near misses drew more blood to the reward regions in the brain, than a full miss did.

These near misses partially activate the so called reward pathway, which in turn releases pleasant doses of the brain chemical dopamine.

The article goes onto say that perhaps compulsive gambling may have less to do with the thrill of winning than with the downer of losing.

The gloom associated with losing might be the trigger that causes people to latch on to the gambling or other types of compulsive behaviour.

So rather than getting more of a high when you win, you get more of a low when you dont which drives to correct the deficit.

it also adds that "gambling hijacks the bodies natural reward sysytem"

How true???

Take Care

Kim xx

Lots of great points and excellent ideas in this thread.

And my viewpoint which helps keep me away from the next bet, is not to look at the next bet as a possible positive outcome, but as a definite negative outcome, because I know if I were to put just one penny in one of those fruit machines, it wouldn't stop there...it would then be just one more penny, then just one more pound, and before ya know it, it adds up to many hundreds and thousands of pounds...therefore I don't place that next bet or put "just one penny" in that fruit machine because I fully realize what self-abuse and self-destruction would occur from that.

YFIR,

Steve

Kim - excellent post and it certainly brings into debate that those who wrote the programmes for the machines without doubt did an enormous amount of research to understand the natural (sub-concious) reactions of the human brain.

I have never considered this side of the machines before.

Unfortunatly, what this means, is the machines were created for two things:-

i) get people sub-conciously hooked (and the sub-concious mind is far more powerful the the concious part) and

ii) extract every last penny from people and to hell with the consequences for them.

Playing on the sub-concious is evil really as there are natural human reactions that we cannot stop such as blinking so unless we keep off it is only ever going to end one way!

All very interesting.

Have a good day

Dave x

"Unfortunatly, what this means, is the machines were created..."

I'm not gonna post the links here, but there are websites out there whereby the gambling machine designers basically "brag" about how "effective" are their gambling machine designs from their standpoint of achieving the maximum profit...of course they would never use the phrase "making the machines as addictive as possible" for obvious reasons.

You see it all the time...folks who never hardly gambled in their lives or who didn't gamble much, start playing these gambling machines and get devastated by them...and I believe this happens more than the industry would care to admit, and we all know this.

The question is, do we do anything about the problem or continue to allow these gambling machines to ruin people's lives in which we all windup paying the costs.

Unfortunately, so far...I guess not...nothing seems to be done but the same old propaganda statements from the industry that most players gamble on these machines responsibly...what a farce to say that and naivety to believe it...in my opinion.

And as far as my recovery goes, I know this for sure, if I were to gamble today, it would lead to and cause self-abuse and self-destruction in my life, and I don't want that and I certainly don't need that.

Hope everyone has a gamble free day, today and everyday. 🙂

YFIR,

Steve

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Very strong thread. I think one can apply the list to any game of chance.

Today's win is tomorrows losses ( and then some ) - This is so true.

Hi Steve .......hope you are well

and as always something you write sparks something in this little ol' brain of mine 🙂

"The question is, do we do anything about the problem or continue to allow these gambling machines to ruin people's lives in which we all windup paying the costs."

This is such a difficult one isnt it?

I think that as human beings we all have this

built in self defence mech..... as in

"IT WONT HAPPEN TO ME"

You could apply this to any addiction, cos when all is said and done NOONE sets out to become addicted ........do they??

After all you dont know its a problem until is a PROBLEM do you??

I have worked in the industry ...... well a lot of years ...............hand on heart Steve the FACT that people do get addicted to gambling was something that NEVER crossed my mind, i didnt care....... why should I ??

Until BANG there it was right it the middle of my life........

It has taken me a long time to ACCEPT that there was nothing that i could have done differently...........

I think its the same with most things Steve, we only need educating...... after the event??

if that makes sense??

A thought........... your book

I dont know how many sales to date you may have ......... but how many people do you reckon will have purchased it before rather than after..........do we as human beings weigh up the pros n cons prior to particpating.... did you???

Sadly.......... we cannot make peoples decisions for them ......

Take care Steve

Kim xx

Hi Kim - Just a few quick notes about "meself" 🙂 so that the rest of the post is in better context - I am not for a nanny state and I am definitely not against gamblers, or believe it or not even against gambling in certain forms...I realize that there is gonna be stock market speculation which is a form of gambling, folks are gonna play poker and other card games for money in their homes and clubs, sports players are gonna bet amongst themselves as to who is the best at darts, etc...and I understand that and while I'm not going to condone it because I have witnessed some devastation amongst those forms of gambling as well...but what truly bugs me the most, by far, is exploitation...and it always did even when I was a gambler.

So staying on the thread topic and getting back to these gambling machines...there is no doubt in my mind, and frankly, I wouldn't think there is much or any doubt in most people's minds, that these gambling machines exploit, to the fullest degree, the weak and vulnerable in society, and ruin their lives, to the financial delight and pleasure of a few who grossly profit off all this...and to me that just isn't right and something should be done about it.

I don't usually compare addictions but I will in this thread to make an analogy...I'm not against smoking...I happen to once in awhile enjoy a good cigar...but would I be against a tobacco company that without public knowledge would put say C*****e in their cigarettes to make them more harmful and addicting...yes I would be against that because it would be exploitation. To me, in my view, many of the gambling machines of today are like cigarettes with C*****e.

We live in a free society with our various tastes and interests, and laws and regulations which are designed already to help protect the weak and vurnerable, and others as well. And I'll try not for this post to become a dissertation (LOL), so suffice to say I realize that gambling has gone on for many thousands of years and it will continue...but the exploitation doesn't have to go on, and to me and many others the exploitation involved in these gambling machines is more than obvious...it's blatant.

And yes, of course people can get addicted to virtually anything, probably there are some out there who get addicted to knitting but does that mean society should ban knitting needles? Well of course not...and technically automobiles are a huge killer of people with traffic accidents so should we ban cars? Of course not...but to me there is something quite insidious about a gambling machine designed to take as much money as possible, as often as possible from anyone weak and vurnerable, and again, that is simply wrong and something should be done about it.

Well, I could ramble on...but to wrap it up...something needs to be done to help prevent as many folks as possible from getting financially ruined playing these gambling machines...ban them altogether as they really provide nothing of benefit to society...or if we as a people overall feel that they should be allowed to continue as some form of monetary entertainment, then place strict restrictions on them such as a player's card needed to play them with loss limits placed on them either by law or by the player's family...and bold warning labels clearly placed in perfect view on these machines so that people can be readily aware of the addictive properties of these machines which by any reasonable definition these machines create addicts who weren't gambling addicts before...and limit their designs in some way whereby to reduce or eliminate all the flashy lights, whistles and bells, make them just a plain gambling machine that isn't designed to become so addictive.

Kim, I hope you and I can agree with this last comment...that exploitation of weak and vulnerable people is wrong, and there are a lot, a lot, of weak and vulnerable people out there, and even some strong people as well who succumb to gambling addiction when playing these highly addictive gambling machines.

YFIR,

Steve

Cant quite picture you chained to No 10 with your "BAN KNITTING NOW" placard Steve. 🙂

"We live in a free society with our various tastes and interests, and laws and regulations which are designed already to help protect the weak and vurnerable, and others as well. "

So Are you suggesting that a blind eye is turned in regard to gaming machines .... ?

There is definatley something in the makeup of these machines , that could draw anyone in.... not just the weak and vunerable members of society...... all walks of life Steve ... trust me i have witnessed it with my own eyes.

I do like some of your ideas, and yes of course i agree that Explotation of anyone is disgusting....... maybe i walk around with rose tinted specs on Steve (in my place of work) but i just dont see it.

Note to myself ................

Actually I do see it !!!!