The Gamblers Anonymous Program teaches us that we have an incurable illness. We always get worse, never better. But we’re fortunate in that our incurable illness can be arrested, one day at a time, as long as we don’t place that first bet. High-toned academic research and ivory-tower studies to the contrary, we know from experience that we can no more control our gambling than we can control the ocean tides.
Do I have any doubt that I am powerless over gambling?
May I never fall prey to any short-term research results that tell me that compulsive gambling can be cured, that it would be safe to begin gambling again, supposedly in a responsible manner. My experience – and the experience of others in GA – will outshout such theories. May I know that, if I took up gambling again, I would begin where I left off – closer than ever to prison, insanity, or death.
Be wary of new theories.