How the media is responsible for your addiction
by Tim Estes
So I must admit that I was raised in a pretty naïve world. Just ask my wife! Until the ripe old age of 40 something I believed that all legal entities always acted in our best interest as US citizens. I believed that our government loved us and would never hurt us. I believed that all police were here to protect us. I believed that the CDC and the FDA would never lie to us and only allow safe food, drugs, etc. to be given to us. Boy was I about as FAR off as you could possibly be. I guess me being extremely naïve had a lot to do with my southern Baptist upbringing but marrying a Yankee from the brutal north east has opened my eyes to how life really is.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good people in this country and throughout the world but this latest discovery of mine has really opened my eyes further and has really made me a bit angry. What I am talking about here is the fact that major marketing firms and legalized betting companies are definitely targeting addicts to get their tentacles into bank accounts. And, in my opinion, they are doing so in a very sneaky way. I am an extreme NFL football fan. I love the Dallas Cowboys, I love the NFL and everything that it brings to society. Two years ago I started getting invitations to play an innocent little guessing game on who was going to win what games on a particular Sunday in the NFL. If anyone reading this knows what I’m talking about, NBC and Fox have spent millions promoting their free game where are you pick the winners of each game and enter your pics only to follow them live as the games are happening to make the NFL day that much more engaging and exciting to those who download the app and play the game. Both NBC and Fox have called it everything except for what it is, free online legalized betting. Anyone with a cell phone can download these two apps and begin betting on what teams will win what games every Sunday. The way they are getting around calling it legalized betting is the fact that they charge you nothing for the app or to play game. And the pay out, if you are fortunate enough to guess all the games correct and win the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the jackpot is very lucrative.
Who would not want to win $100,000 and not come out of pocket a single penny to play the game?
But, here is where I have a slight problem with this scenario. Although these two apps charge you nothing to play, they are work hand in hand with the same companies and networks that are operating like a regular betting company. Here’s where it started to grab me. And yes, I am a hardcore recovering drug addict. Actually, I’m addicted to everything and anything that produces a little bit of endorphins in my brain. I caught myself this week researching how to make an actual bet after I picked Detroit to beat Arizona in my “harmless” free game. Had I made that actual bet with a real legalized gambling firm I could have turned $100 into $3000. Do you see how the free game has already begun it’s twisted work on my addictive brain and personality? Gambling is one addiction that hasn’t ripped my life to shreds yet, but had I not caught myself it was well on its way to doing so.
Listen, this is America and I guess it shouldn’t be the gambling companies responsibility to keep me from going overboard and having a gambling addiction ruin my life. But, I do feel like trickery in the marketing industry should be regulated. I’m definitely not someone who blames my addictions on everybody and everything under the sun when it is my responsibility to get my act together. But I do think people with addictions and people in recovery need as much help as they can get and I just feel like these free gambling games were meant to do one thing and one thing only, and that would be to get us addicted to the act of gambling and the prospect of winning a lot of money.
I also feel like we need to educate our professional sober coaches, life coaches and any other professional in the addictions industry. What I mean by this is that we need to educate our addictions professionals to make them aware that there are little tricks are that marketing companies will play with your addictive mind to open up Pandora’s box and a whole new addiction that will make their companies a large amount of money. If you are battling with a gambling addiction, or any other addiction for that matter, you can get the industries top trained professional coaches by contacting The Addictions Coach at Life Coaching & Recovery Coaches | The Addictions Coach by calling 1-800-706-0318
Want to get trained as an addictions coach? Check out The Addictions Academy or call 1-800-706-0318
