Hi guys,
I really appreciate all of your responses, and I apologise for my delayed response. My gf has been winning lately (the last few days at least) and, subsequently, my life is feeling a little better. This, however, is bittersweet. More winnings only bring her more to spend when she is spiralling, and therefore more pain and suffering for the both of us.
I hate the fact that I can’t deny that this is a severe problem. I want it to stop, but all I see online and in reality is that it doesn’t. After one big win I thought that, finally, it might be enough for her to call it quits. It was nothing compared to everything she had lost prior, but it was enough to temporarily allow her to consider quitting. But, as you might guess, the gambling continued. Every time that she wins, her behaviour is reinforced.
I am not sure where all of you hail from, but in Australia, there is literally a pub with poker machines on every corner. Our government pretends to care, in light of the enormous revenue it produces, but does nothing except trivialise the issue. Gambling is addictive because of its actvity in the same areas of the brain responsible for drugs and behavioural reinforcement – and poker machines are programmed to take advantage of this. Plain and simple. It is a juiced up version of the rat and lever experiment (I cannot remember the theorist). I dont know if gambling issues in the US present as table/card gambling or not, but it is a huge problem over here.