I Need Help Before It’s Too Late! Feeling Foolish, But I’m Addicted to the Lottery!

Addictions have been known to ruin lives, and they come in all forms. You mostly hear about alcohol or drug addiction, but lottery (or gambling) addiction is very real. People who suffer from gambling addictions usually start because they won a decent amount and they want to keep on going. It’s completely understandable. Who wouldn’t want to get rich with little to no effort?

The problem with lottery addictions is that it may not seem like you’re addicted. You pick up a few scratch-offs and play your “lucky” numbers every day. In your head, you’re only spending a few bucks every day. Some people equate these purchases to buying coffee from an expensive coffee shop every morning. It all adds up. The only difference between a lottery addiction and a coffee addiction is that coffee won’t put you in financial ruins. Have you ever heard of someone filing for bankruptcy due to a coffee addiction? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

1. Can’t Say No

Let me first ask you this question: Do you purchase scratch offs or lottery tickets every time you enter a shop—even if that is not why you’re going into the store? Does it feel like a compulsion and you can’t resist that green machine? If you answered yes, this is a big sign. The compulsion to buy and play the lottery becomes a serious problem if you can’t even go into a store without playing something.

2. Robbing from Peter to Play the Lotto

You’ve heard that saying, “Robbing from Peter to Pay Paul,” right? You take a little bit of money from one bill to pay another. If you’ve fallen on hard times, you may be well versed in this methodology. You’ve got a problem if you’re taking money that is meant to pay your bills to play the lotto. Your intentions may be good (“If I take a few dollars from this credit card bill and buy a couple of scratch-offs, I’ll be able to pay the whole bill off once I win!”), but you’re ultimately short-changing yourself and making yourself go further in debt.

3. Thinking You Can Recoup Your Losses

You’ve just spent (and lost) $50 on scratch offs. If you have a lottery addiction, you may have it in your head that you can win your money back—and then some!—if you purchase a few more tickets. This kind of thinking is dangerous and stupid, plain as that. Most gamblers, be it a lottery or betting on other games, can’t understand that you are just throwing your money away. Yes, there are odds to win, but lottery addicts can’t comprehend that the chances of winning are just not in their favor. Many of these people believe that the next one is their big win. 99% of the time, that just isn’t the case… Unfortunately.

Just because you think you may have an addiction to the lottery, it doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for you. Like any other addiction, the only way to begin getting help is to admit that you’ve got a problem. Once you do that, you can start taking steps to get help. It won’t be an easy journey, but there are support groups that can help you overcome your addiction to the lottery and gambling. Don’t let your addiction to the lottery ruin yours or someone you love’s lives. Recovering from financial ruin because of your addiction is hard to overcome.