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Gambling: They call it Lady Luck

Thanks to the Lotto and scratch cards and online casinos, more women than ever before are developing a gambling problem.

According to government figures, 60% of adults in the UK spend up to £50 per month gambling at the betting shop or on Lotto. As the result of changes coming shortly, the amount spent in this country per year is expected to go up from the current £42 billion to £60 billion.

30 million people regularly buy UK Lotto tickets in the second largest of the 192 lotteries across the world. And despite official figures telling us that a mere 1% of these have developed out of control gambling habits, Gamblers Anonymous are finding that they’ve had an increase of 17% in calls for help. GamCare has also seen an increase in requests for their counseling service.

Women have always dominated the Bingo scene, where they outnumber men, 70% to 30%. The average age is under 50 and the average spend for a night (including food and drinks) is £20.

Women tend not to visit casinos and betting shops, and favour on-line gambling instead where they have the perception of its being safer, less intimidating, more fun, more tempting and where they can remain anonymous.

As they are seduced by the escapism of on-line shopping, developing an internet gambling addiction, as they are encouraged by the on-line sites to create alternative realities: a different identity; and play along with the fantasy that it’s not real money they’re playing with.

There are something like 1700 gambling websites, including casinos, bingo halls, lotteries. Something to meet everyone’s tastes. And of course, they’re open 24 hours a day.

As says Lysette Offley of Sounds Positive in Henley on Thames, where hypnotherapy for gambling addiction is used: We’re fast approaching a time when the number of people in the UK with broadband access to the internet will overtake those still on dial-up, so access and availability to on-line gambling is increasing. Not surprisingly, problems are expected to increase.”

So what can a person do about it if they feel their habit’s getting out of control?

“Get help now. Don’t let it go on and on,” says Lysette. “There is plenty of professional help available and many ways to stop gambling. I see people regularly who are able to turn their lives around and with just a little help learn how to stop gambling. And of course there are self-help products too which can help enormously. Why would you play the victim of your habit when you really can do something about it?”

Sounds Positive specialises in fully downloadable self-help hypnotherapy products, incorporating other psychology techniques such as NLP and EFT. Stop Gambling is available from their website.

Photography Tips: Planning For A Photography Trip

Oh my God! It happened. Again. I went for a photography trip to one of the most beautiful cities in the US, Saint Louis, Missouri. I had my camera in my hand, food and drink in place, and GPS fully charged. The 5 hours driving from Fairfield, Iowa, was really fun. Until I realized that I left my camera battery being charged at home. The photography trip was now just a trip.I’m pretty sure at some point in your career as a photographer, you will be in a situation like this. For this reason, I would like to share some tips with you for when you plan photography trips.1. Months before leavingPlanning for a photography trip starts at this time. As soon as the trip is confirmed, try to look for the highlights of the places you will be visiting. I would do a little bit of research about where to take photos from and what to take photos of. For example, if you are coming to Indonesia in the middle of August, you may encounter independence day events there.Early bird bookings for hotels and flights will cost you less. Book a hotel which gives you easy access to your photography spots. I would write down a list of locations where I will be taking pictures from, and then decide the best location of my hotel.2. Weeks before the dayI would spend more time on planning what photos I want to capture at this stage of planning my photography trip. For instance, if I were to travel to Indonesia in the middle of August, I would be taking photos of the independence day ceremony in the morning, fun events in the afternoon. Then in the evening I would take photos of the local sunset.By properly planning your photography trips, you will be able to dig deeper for more thoughts and ideas. Look at pictures available on the internet and get inspired by them. But not only from the internet, you can also search local photographs from libraries, image directories, photo books, local websites, and tourism guidebooks.This is a process which may take some time because you never know when inspirations hit.At this point of the photography trip planning, I would also check my equipment. I would check if any of my gear is not working well and have them repaired right away if necessary. Servicing them now is the best because they must be ready by the time you depart.3. Few days before the tripKeep in mind that some places don’t provide internet access. Therefore it is much better if you write down, or print, every note you would need, such as local shops, tourist office, and local sunrise and sunset time. Weather forecast is also an important information to be noted.It would be better if you start making a list of what to bring for the photography trip. Sometimes you might forget some items if you think of them 1-2 days before the trip.4. 1 day before the tripI would pack the camera and its equipment first. The last thing you want to discover is missing your spare battery or camera lenses at home. Have a last check on the weather forecast. Print all documents you will need for the photography trip. Make sure you have the memory card(s) ready.5. D-dayCheck and recheck for the last time before you leave. It doesn’t hurt you to have an extra checking, rather than regretting that you left an important piece of gear at home. Camera lenses, formatted memory cards, spare battery, and your travel documents should be rechecked.Insurance, cash money, taxi reservation, flight ticket, and passport are usually the most important travel documents which you should not forget to bring. Other than that you are set and ready to go.I hope these tips will make your photography trip be more fun and memorable. Have fun and enjoy your trip!

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Gambling Addiction

First we have to know what is addiction. It is a big issue in present era and most of people are suffering from it. An addiction is nothing but only a psychological craze or dependence towards anything specially any activity. Addiction occurs when someone fails his or her control and continuously by any mean that activity is making some harmful effect to him or her. Accordingly it can take place in anything like drugs, alcohols, food, and sex and when it comes to gambling field; it becomes really a serious issue among the gamblers.

Unlike any other type of addiction this addiction is hard to identify. But generally it is seen when a person experiences win in several gambling and accordingly feels that they cant control their deep impulses to gamble and they can make a nice deal and gain more and more money through that type of activity without facing any trouble, that mainly play role in making addiction towards gambling field. Gambling addiction makes the gambler so impulsive that they can’t give any single thought to be involved again in this activity and in the winning stage the gamblers become so excited with their earnings that they don’t want to quit gambling by any mean. With that they feel their increasing intensity to gambling field. Even sometimes it is found that they are deterred by recurrent losses as they think that they can win again and get their money back. The addicted gamblers forget to think although it is a form of harmless entertainment and fun yet that can become a devastating illness too and can affect them negatively. It can lead the players very badly to big financial problems (when they start to borrow huge amount of money), mental restlessness, relationship stress and many other activities related to their lives.

Thus a recreational sport gambling turns out to be a denting experience to any gambler when he gets addicted to this betting field. Like winning phase and losing (as discussed above) there is also desperation stage which can lead a gambler to get addicted horribly. Keeping hope in mind that they can earn more and more through this betting process and eliminate their losses which they may even face on every alternative day of their playing they become mentally fatigued. Unmanageable state of their increasing debts makes them desperate to face gambling every day. Desperately the gamblers are found engaging in illegal activities to finance their gambling. They may suffer badly by hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, even arrest, divorce and any other drug exploitation. That surely leads to a complete breakdown of an addicted gambler.

Although gambling addiction cannot be identified so easily, there are some signs which can denote that addiction a little bit. That includes constant discussion about gambling, making gambling plan, gambling at any odd time, getting into a long debt circle, giving priority to only gambling not even to personal life and responsibilities and feeing the need to gamble to wipe off any practical issue or stress. It is only a concept but deliberately the sign of addiction is not confined among such behaviors only. There may be many other signs which assign gambling addiction.

There are some treatment programs also for the addicted gamblers. The therapies and medication are supposed to be the most successful way to be cured from this addiction. Counseling with various support groups can also help to remove this type of addiction. But above everything for successful result in this treatment firstly it is required that the addicted person has to admit that he or she is facing restlessness with such type of activity and is feeling to give it up as soon as possible, unless and until the recovery process will not go make any further step.