Man Spent $30k on 4D in 2 Months After Winning $50k in March

Last Updated on 2021-01-06 , 12:16 pm

Addiction can take various forms.

These include a dependency on substances like alcohol, drugs, and bubble tea.

Bubble Tea Addict: It’s not an addiction, it’s a passion.

Unfortunately, the human brain seems to be wired for addiction, and while we might think we’re very different from drug addicts and alcoholics, we’re really not.

And it’s not just substances we can develop an addiction to, of course. This man’s vice, for example, is gambling, and it has compelled him to make some rather imprudent decisions.

Man Spent $30k on 4D in 2 Months After Winning $50k in March

A man who won S$50,000 in a 4D draw in March blew more than half of his winnings within two months.

Speaking to Lianhe Wanbao about the incident, the man’s wife, Lin, said her husband only developed a gambling addiction after he won the top prize in a 4D draw.

Prior to the incident, her husband gambled occasionally, so she never made a big deal out of it.

But that all changed in March this year.

Lin said her husband entered his car plate number in a 4D draw and ended up winning the top prize. However, when Lin asked her husband if he had won a large sum of money, he said he had only bet “a little bit”.

Lin wasn’t convinced, though.

So, when her husband was showering, Lin went through his wallet and found that he’d bought “10 Big and 10 Small” for his car plate number.

This meant that he had won S$50,000.

“I also found more than 10 ticket stubs in his wallet, the money paid for each ranged from S$20 to S$200. It made me very worried,” she said.

He should have saved his winnings for retirement or invested them, but his addiction had taken hold of him.

When Singapore Pools reopened its outlets after the circuit breaker, Lin’s husband returned to place even more bets, except he was betting up to three times a week now.

He spent around S$2,000 each time and ended up blowing S$30,000 within the span of two months, from June to August.

Lin fears her husband’s addiction will continue to worsen and might lead him to predatory loan sharks.

Why Do We Get Addicted to Things Like Gambling?

Remember how I said the human brain seems to be wired for addiction? I wasn’t exaggerating.

It all goes back to the time when humans were hunter-gatherers.

Back then, there were no people to swipe on Tinder nor shows to binge on Netflix; our only job was to survive.

So when we managed to kill an animal or foraged enough food to bring back to our families, our brains would get a big emotional reward.

This reward, in turn, motivated humans to kill more animals to get that reward again, which helped them survive.

“In simplistic terms, our brains are designed in such a way that they seek rewards”, said  Dr Cyrus Abbasian, an addiction specialist at Nightingale Hospital in London.

This reward is dopamine – a chemical in the brain that makes us feel good.

These days, most of us don’t actually kill the animals we consume or gather our own food, so we often seek this reward elsewhere.

Things like alcohol, drugs, and gambling send the dopamine on overdrive.

“Gambling affects a primitive bit of the brain, a bit of the brain that, from an evolutionary perspective is less advanced and it’s more about immediate gains”, Dr Abbasian said.

Some people are more genetically predisposed to develop addictions, however.

Many people think addicts lack willpower, that quitting is simply a case of mind over matter.

But it’s the brain itself that is powerfully driving these people to seek these rewards over and over again. Saying no, without help, is often impossible.

Those who are struggling with a gambling addiction can seek help at the National Council for Problem Gambling. The council offers professional counselling over the phone at 1800-6668-668 or via their live support online.

Featured Image: Tang Yan Song / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)