Gambling is one of the oldest practices or sins committed by man. Just like womanizing, gambling has affected mankind across all cultural, social and ethical backgrounds. Gambling is exciting at the very beginning, especially if you win in the first few attempts. The desire to earn more and more, stake more and more and get richer by the minute, grabs you till you get caught in the trap. The disadvantage of gambling, like any other form of addiction is that you want more and more of it even if you know you are steadily slipping into hell and misery.

The game of gambling affects the psychology of the gambler drastically but he/she realizes it much later in life. The worst affected in a gambler's life is his social standing. History has it that families have broken apart due to the obsession with gambling.

However, all is not lost if you are an addicted gambler. There are ways to keep gambling as a form of entertainment. You just need to gamble responsibly. Be prepared to lose and learn how to accept it. It is a difficult thing to do but if you try, you will be able to master it within a few days. Accept it that the majority is meant to lose. Only then can the minority win. And this rule applies to everything in life. Take for example the wars that have ripped apart nations and friendly neighbors. It is only to satiate the blood-lust of a minority that millions have laid down their lives.

Counseling, intensive care and severe restrictions have often been tried out on professional gamblers to make them give up gambling. But, these organized or institutionalized methods have bore very little fruit. What matters most in overcoming gambling is self-discipline. You can come out of gambling only if you really want to. All the tools to give up gambling lie in your own hands.

· Inform others of your addiction and seek support
· Take full control of your own finances
· Chalk out the circumstances that have turned you towards gambling
· Think of how you see gambling. Only if you think it is incorrect, can you change your habit
· Change your money-handling habits - let your partner collect your salary; leave your credit card at home; pay your bills directly from the bank
· Gambling takes up a lot of time. Take up some sport or activity or start socializing to minimize the "gap"
· Relax completely. Agitation, impatience and inability to do what you love most strongly urge you to go back to gambling
· A positive attitude (even if it means self-talk) can relieve you of missing gambling
· Think about good things in life other than betting
· Try to recover relationships that have gone sour due to dishonesty. Be honest to yourself; only then you can be honest with and to others
· Keep working at it till you give up thoughts of gambling altogether.