It's often said, “Experience is the best teacher”. From experience, I would sincerely define Gambling as a greedy, addictive, risky and emotional habit of staking something of value with a desire to double or increase the outcome.
There are certain terms I used in defining gambling and these words have their significance. The most crucial word there is risky.
Ever since I was a child, I had vowed to myself never to be involved in any form of gambling due to some stories I heard about my late uncle. My uncle was a taxi driver who loved stopping by joints to drink, play some betting games and sometimes win or lose but he was so good that he won 80% of the time. My uncle's prediction of games was so excellent that his colleagues there began to suspect that he used charm or cheats. One day, he didn't know some group of people planned to spoil “business” for him. After he had made like 500 bucks from his taxi work, he branched by the joint.
He won six consecutive games and his 500 bucks was multiplied 8 times. One of the gang leaders there implicated my brother by saying he often used charm which he never did. My uncle lost his wife at the early age of their marriage due to an accident and so the one gift he got from his wife is the Rosary(the Catholic necklace). My uncle puts on this Rosary all the time to remember his late wife. So the gang leader said the Rosary was his amulet and everyone he had won in the betting game revolted against him and they went violent on him.
He sustained serious injuries and they took all he had leaving him with only his dress and taxi keys.
After my dad told me this story, I vowed to myself never to gamble in my life but that was during my young age. Now I've grown to be a youth, I feel that vow was made out of childhood mentality and fear of death, lol.
I was afraid of gambling because I was afraid of losing not because of my uncle's story but not until one day when I got influenced by a friend of my mine. Do you want to know how my gambling life story began? Let's discuss it.
During a break from school, I was so broke and I only hoped on the little money my parents and siblings promised to send to me. One of the days I had nothing important to do with my phone, I just loaded one of the games. While I was playing, I saw a drop notification from one of the telegram channels I am a subscriber. One of my friends who has won an online bet and was so happy decided to be benevolent or should I say extravagant and decided to do a giveaway in the group. He then sent his winning ticket from the bet and asked for the first five people to react to that photo to get a cash prize from him.
That was a big chance to get free money and I couldn't afford to miss such. I wasn't first to react, I was second and after I received my prize, I sent him a private message asking him to guide me on how to make money.
Abel sincerely told me that he engages in online gambling with his phone to make some cash. Once I heard the word “gambling”, I was demoralized but I had no choice but to ask him to teach me how to gamble because I need money. Abel was not good in Maths in high school and I often helped him out so he didn't hesitate to teach me everything he knew about gambling. One statement he used most often was “Sometimes you win, most times you lose”.
He taught me everything I needed to know. Certain terms I learned were:
Cook: To cook games means to carefully predict the outcomes of those games before staking one of them.
Cut: If one's cooked game cuts, it means one has lost the gamble as well as the money or anything staked.
Ticket: After cooking a game and staking it, the whole thing is called a ticket.
One-cut: this is a feature in most online gambling sites where after selecting many options to multiply your stake, if one selection cuts your ticket, you will still be paid but if two or more selections cut the ticket, your stake is gone.
There are many other jagons when it comes to gambling but I would stop here.
From my definition of gambling, I remember saying it's very addictive and borne out of greed. I have always hated going to gambling joints but I prefer online gambling which I can stay in my comfort zone to gamble without tampering with my reputation because, in my area, gamblers are often seen as lazy people. I feel they are wrong, it's a hustle because one has to be wise to win. Gambling is very addictive as that feeling of doubling or increasing one's money will never die as long as one has bet for once. That's greed, never satisfied with what one has is the driving force to gamble.
I can remember the first time I started gambling, I was always losing. I went on a mission of “earn-to-bet”.
I had many betting and gambling-related apps on my phone to help me make appropriate selections and check if my games were going as predicted. Most of these apps were suggested to me by a friend as well, Michael a pro gambler. Most of the earnings I made on Hive were invested into gambling and I lost a greater percentage than that which I won. I can remember one night I almost died of depression when my ticket cut. It was the start of the Premier League and I had already selected my favorite football clubs I would stake on. I began to save my HBD on Hive and before the start of the season, I was able to save 20 HBD. I withdrew everything and staked the day. The sad news was that the ticket cut. The 20 HBD I made in approximately 30 days vanished in less than 20 hours.
That night, I felt like I was the most stupid person to ever start gambling in the first place. I was so depressed and didn't know I would wake up the next day. I began thinking of things I would have probably used the lost money to do. It seemed I began life from scratch. I wanted to develop hatred for my friend who introduced me to gambling but I remembered what he often said, “You win sometimes but lose most times”.
That was the sad and worst day ever in my gambling life. But things changed in one of my lucky days. Just like I said, gambling is very addictive. Even after I lost 20 HBD, I still went ahead some other day, let's say three weeks later after I had earned a little money, remember I was on a mission of “earn-to-bet”. So whenever I lose, I go and make money to bet again.
That fateful day, I had 7 dollars on me. I staked everything on one ticket and I was lucky all my selections and predictions went right. That 7 dollars was multiplied and I cashed out 73 dollars that night. That night was my happiest ever.
I forgot all the days I had been losing and felt like gambling was the best way to make money. It's a life story my children will enjoy to hear, I'm sure.
But the bad news is, since that day, I paused my gambling life. I had to rest because, with that happiness of winning big, I might want to stake more and end up losing bigger and becoming more depressed than ever. So I had to go on self-exclusion for two months meaning I couldn't gamble for that period. I wouldn't say I have ended gambling, I'm just on a break for now and I hope I will have sweeter stories of wins and not losses when I begin again.
This is my entry for the the #octoberinleo prompt for today, day 10 as well as my entry for the #cleanplanet sixth biweekly prompt.
Since this is a #cleanplanet community, I didn't fail to carry out my cleaning activity for the day. I can't miss it for a day.
Here are the photos of my cleaning activity for today:
Finally, after gathering the trash in the picking bag, I made sure the waste was properly disposed of.
Like I often say, “No complete cleaning activity without proper disposal”.
Thanks for reading.
ALL THE IMAGES ARE MINE
To know more about the #cleanplanet prompt, check it out HERE dropped by @nwothini335 in the community.
I would love to invite @marynn, @fashtioluwa and @kingsleyy to participate in this contest.