By Dr. Mario Di Nunzio, Psychologist
That's why you can't stop buying "Scratch Cards"
The game clouds the mind, hypnotizes and cancels the reasoning.
It has been played for years, you don't win or you win little, but the hope of a winning ticket continues without ever decreasing.
They do not impress the sums of money already spent, because the ticket is cheap. Only if you think about how much you spent in a year, then surely the sum you spend makes you think and think; calculate online:
Psychological Status of the Player
Gambling is based on the state of need and the illusion of a win that would change your life.
It often happens that you buy a ticket, you scratch it and you don't win anything. You're pissed because you're disappointed at the moment.
But it is as if nothing had happened. Think: "Sooner or later that moment must come! The others have won. Sooner or later it will happen to me too! Woe to me if I am not there. If I do not play, my lucky ticket will be taken by someone else! This must not happen!"
Next time it's the same, the ticket never goes out, or you win a paltry sum that has the effect of creating even more hope and attachment.
But the conviction is stronger, irreducible: "It is only a matter of time ... sooner or later it must come out!"
Meanwhile, we continue to throw money. The ticket is cheap, you don't even notice the money spent.
It is difficult to give up the dream of a win: it is hoped that everything can happen at any moment.
Sometimes you think you should calm down, but you can't: you are as if immersed in a spell, a perverse mechanism that makes you believe that you can win too!
The reality is that it is very unlikely to win because the winning tickets are so few, dispersed in a sea of ticket offices. Few winning numbers on a sample of millions of players, spread all over Italy.
But what are the mental and psychological mechanisms for which, despite repeated failures, one is kept in the game?
The link to the game is triggered because the belief that "you can win" has been installed in people's minds.
They have installed in the minds of the people that with a small sum you can take a sum of money that can change the life of you and your family!
"If you don't buy a ticket, you're a fool. It is your fault if you throw away all that good from God. The probability of winning is low, but it is possible. It's just a matter of time!"
All this hypnotizes, makes you dream, doesn't make you think. Cancel your ability to reason.
It does not make you think and does not make you realize that you have been playing for years, that you have spent a lot of money, you have won only small amounts of money, often re-played and that you have only fixed to the fantasy of sure victory.
You say to yourself: "Sooner or later it has to happen. I guess that moment ... I am grateful and I discover a good win. Just the money that I and my family need!"
You already see yourself celebrating with your family, you see the bank account that goes up and all the worries that end.
All a dream. All illusions. A blunder that has lasted for years.
A virtual reality that does not make you stand with your feet on the ground and that hides the hard reality of every day, a difficult, tiring reality that you do not accept.
How can it be done? How can we get out of this state of hypnosis?
The game is not a charity
The game does not come to your aid, it does not interest you or your difficulties. It is useless to look for shortcuts and help. Open your eyes and accept reality. Even if you distract yourself with dreams, that's your reality you don't want to accept.
The reality is that you don't win or at least only very few people win.
A dream and harsh reality remain to you.
The game is devised devilishly just to grab money.
A mountain of money for the benefit of a few people, disreputable subjects who live blissfully in their tax havens.
Meanwhile, however, the "scam" reigns. There are those who speculate on people's needs; the State does not intervene and does not even manage to get its due.
But you don't care about those people who live in those dream villas or about the gain of the state, don't you?
You care about the chance to win. The ticket is cheap and offers a dream of millionaire winnings.
But are you really sure that one day this win will come? Dive into the mind of a casual player
This morning I took the usual walk with the dog and the usual stop at the bar.
I bought a ticket.
I didn't win anything.
Even though I knew it, I was equally disappointed.
I am angry because the failure to win has interrupted the hope of help
for a small accumulation of my project.
I left the house happy. I have a plan to implement, with help I can carry it out. With a small win I would have increased the savings of the modest sum set aside.
I'm disappointed, like how much you hope for something that doesn't happen.
I realize that unconsciously I am considering the game as a parent to ask for help.
A parent who has done so much to deceive us: "Don't worry, it's me. When you need something, you can count on it. It is so easy to win. Just play. I will take away any economic worries! "
You feel reassured and continually renew your bet to get help.
You keep betting without ever earning any money.
We think of the game as a good parent who helps. Over time you discover that this "parent" is interested in your money, he is indifferent to you, insensitive to your problems and that he is cheating you with continuous promises of winning that he will never keep.
It's just an illusion, it's not a good parent.
The trick of those who designed this money machine is to have convinced everyone that the game helps in times of need.
You realize that you don't give a damn about the game. You do not exist, your problems do not exist, you have a total disinterest for your concerns and your expectations.
We think of the game as a good helping father. When you discover that you have not won live the emotions of disappointment, anger and a sense of abandonment.
You feel ignored, put aside, abandoned on one side that should be close to you in times of need. Continue to play with the unconscious hope of repentance, to notice the presence of those who really need it and to help.
The rational part reproaches us for these feelings and the inability to send the game to hell, but now an addiction has been created.
Addiction is believing in a spell, a spell, a magic wand for something we need and can't do without.
Gambling addiction is a form of immaturity, a way to look for shortcuts in life, a refusal to grow and to face reality.
But the game is just a trick to take, without giving anything.
The "scam" is in having convinced everyone that it is easy to win, and it is our only fault if we fail to break away.
