Drinking culture and gambling culture have long gone hand-in-hand, from the steamboats of Mississippi to the hotels of Nevada and the millions of poker nights that take place at homes across the world. But, in reality, it’s quite a dangerous concoction isn’t it?
There are many dangers to drinking and gambling, not least because they can both lead to pretty severe addictions requiring private alcohol rehab care or gambling treatment. Of course, both can be enjoyed in moderation too, but it’s important to be careful when the twain do meet. And here’s why…
Alcohol will impair your decision making
One of the main dangers of gambling while under the influence of alcohol is the impairment booze causes on the cognitive functions. That’s especially the case when it comes to decision making, and if there’s one thing you need when gambling, it’s your decision making skills.
Alcohol loosens the inhibitions and increases our risk-taking nature. Of course, it may pay off in the short term while gambling, but it’s almost certainly not going to in the long.
It’ll heighten the financial risks
As a result of that, the financial risks become much more prominent, not only with the risk of losing bigger once, but the fact that people can then try to chase losses can lead to significant financial problems, including gambling more than you can afford and leading to financial hardship.
It’ll increase your vulnerability to addiction
As we’ve mentioned, both drinking and gambling have the potential to form into addictions, and when they are together they can reinforce each other and cause that risk of addiction to heighten. The two can become intertwined and form a really destructive cycle for your entire quality of life from physical health to mental, your relationships, finances, career and more.
It can heighten mental health challenges
Big losses after nights drinking can really contribute to heightened anxiety and conditions like depression. Alcohol is a depressant and will by its very nature increase the risk of mental health conditions, but combined with gambling it has the potential to make things much, much worse often manifesting itself in self-destructive behaviour.
It’ll affect your relationships
Finally, the impact of all of the above is not only going to significantly affect you, but also the relationships you have. As a start point, alcohol can lead to an increased chance of conflicts, which is never good around any form of gambling table, particularly in a casino setting, while at home it can increase the chances of falling out over certain outcomes around the poker table, for example.
Following on from that, any financial strain you put yourself under as a result of drinking and gambling will come out in the wash and can cause a real burden on families. It can make paying the bills difficult, looking after children and more, and all because you took that one or two extra drinks and went all-in as a result.
You’ve got to ask the question, is it really worth it? The answer is probably not, but if you are struggling, then it’s important to speak up and reach out to friends and family or professionals who can help with the likes of addiction, counselling and ensure you don’t make the mistake again, or the mistakes that so many people do.
For more information about alcohol rehab and drug rehab, we recommend an organisation such as Rehab 4 Addiction.