EDITORIAL - Know when to stop
Three crimes influenced by online gambling occurred recently.
The first happened last Monday morning when a man snatched the cellphone of a student riding in a jeepney in Cebu City, although he was later arrested after a chase. He said he planned to sell the cellphone to have money to bet online.
Later that same afternoon in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City, a man grabbed a bag from a woman riding a motorcycle taxi. Her bag contained her two cellphones and ?40,000 cash. After the suspect was arrested in Consolacion town, her cellphones were recovered but only ?2,000 of the cash remained. The suspect said he had had gambled the rest of the money and lost.
Two days later on Wednesday, a man in Talisay City who lost his day’s earnings to online gambling decided to rob a butane store so he could have money to bring home to his wife. While he did bring home ?12,000 after the robbery, it was his wife who later reported him to the police who came to arrest him.
As with our previous editorials about people who commit crimes out of a need to fund their gambling habits or as a result of it, the lesson remains the same: People should know when to stop gambling before they are driven to desperation or before it becomes an uncontrollable addiction.
Yes, there are people who gamble for the fun of it. There are also others who gamble because they need to but who know when to stop. But then there are others who also gamble because they need to but don’t know when to stop. People who belong to the last category can become especially dangerous to others around them --and not just to their families but even to total strangers-- if they decide to take drastic action to fund their vice.
It cannot be denied that small fortunes can be made if one gambles; but these are more the exception rather than the rule. There is a saying that goes “the house always wins”, meaning the game will always be rigged against gamblers, but in a world where people are always in need of a quick buck, gambling is always a quick fix.
But, if they aren’t careful then gambling can really become a fix.
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