Testing my self-control at the casino

I don't like the idea of addiction. I have been subject to some minor addictions in my life (tobacco, TV) and I had a hard time getting rid of them. For a long time, I did not want to enter a casino to gamble, because I was not sure I would not become addicted to gambling.

In 2002, I was feeling good about my self-control, and I decided to test it at the local casino in Richmond, BC, where I was living. So, I wrote a plan:

• Whenever I win $100, I will stop gambling for a week.
• If I lose $1000, I will stop gambling forever.

I was gambling at the roulette on a dozen, starting each series of bets with $10, the minimum, and adding 50% of the total bets in the series each time I lost. Whenever I won, I would start another series.

As the maximum bet was $500 on a dozen, losing 13 times in a row will make me reach the $1000 limit, and then I would stop gambling.

I was able to stick to my plan. For 13 weeks, I won around $100 dollars a week. Then, on the 14th week, I lost $1200. So, I stop going to the casino, and since then I have never gambled in a casino, even when we spent 3 days in Las Vegas with my brother Philippe in 2005.

This exercise did not cost me any money (I was even $200 ahead at the end), provided me some free entertainment (watching people gambling is fascinating) and I was happy to realize that indeed I had enough self-control to stick to my plan and that it was very unlikely that I would become a compulsive gambler. At least, not in casinos.