An Analysis of the Trigger to the Gambling Addiction of Angie Bachmann
The question on who should be held responsible for Angie Bachmann gambling debts has been a matter of debate over years, with various scholars holding her responsible for this. Other scholars associate the casino to be responsible for her gambling debts. Angie Bachmann is a pseudonym, but the events are real life happenings. Her gambling habits developed over years. She was married but didn't have a meaningful job.
Out of boredom and loneliness, Angie began going to gamble at the riverboat casino. After her first visit, she began attending to the casino once in a week, then twice in a week. Over 6 years, Angie Bachmann had become a regular visitor to the riverboat casino, gambling for over 3 hours in a day. Over decades of gambling, Angie remained a normal mom, under no influence of drugs. She could gamble and win at times, but losing was consistency in her gambling (Boing Boing, 2018).
As documented in the article by Boing Boing (2018), things went out of control when Angie Bachmann lost everything in gambling. She had lost a million dollar inheritance to the casino and placed a secret mortgage on her house. She could not pay for her $125,000 promissory notes, which prompted the casino to sue her for owing them $125,000 and $375,000 penalties. She was left with nothing, except her lawyer to defend her for had been held responsible for her gambling debts.
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However, Angie Bachmann should not be held responsible for her gambling debts. Her visit to the casino was not her own liking. Her gambling habits are defended by the neurological discoveries on the aspect of habit formation. Angie's pathological gambling behavior that led to huge losses is defended by three elements of habit formation. These elements include cue, routine and reward, which later build up the habit of regular gambling until she lost everything in a casino (Duhigg, 2012).
As documented by Duhigg (2012) the process of habit formation begins with a trigger. This is a force that drives someone to assume an automatic mode of action. It creates uncontrollable urge towards a particular action. In the case of Angie Bachmann, the stimuli that build up her gambling habit were boredom and loneliness. Whenever she was bored at home, she drove to riverboat casino to gamble.
Another cue that justifies Angie's gambling habit is her family. Whenever he picked up a quarrel or a fight with her husband or children, her next destination was the casino. In this case, her family can be held responsible for building up the gambling character in her.
The cue consequently builds up a routine, and Angie became a regular visitor to the casino. The frequencies of her visit build up an addiction, which made her a frequent gambler. The reward catalyzed the aspect of routine (Duhigg, 2012). Whenever Angie was bored or irritated, the casino seemed to be the solution to her dampness. The reward helps the person to determine whether a particular behavior is worthy to adopt in future. Based on the fact that Angie Bachmann gained excitement in the casino after experiencing depressions at home was justifiable for her to embrace frequent gambling habits.
Another element of reward that can defend her gambling habits is the probability of winning. Although it was not on regular basis, Angie won at times. In one occasion, she went to the casino with $80 in her purse, and after few hours of gambling, she went home with $530, enough to buy her groceries and pay for the home telephone bill (Boing Boing, 2018). Any rewarding behavior according to Duhigg (2012) is worthy to adopt, and this virtual established the gambling habit in Angie that later led to huge gambling debts and lose her million inheritance.
The gambling companies have adopted enticing tricks to retain their gamblers and earnest as much money from them. The 'power of habit' helped the casino to manipulate the behavior of Angie Bachmann. The casino took the advantage of the fact that there is no law that obligates a casino operator not to entice or contact gamblers that it knows or should know are compulsive gamblers and went ahead to entice Angie.
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An Analysis of the Trigger to the Gambling Addiction of Angie Bachmann. (2023, May 29). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/an-analysis-of-the-trigger-to-the-gambling-addiction-of-angie-bachmann/
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