>>41525261There are a few ways to go about this issue of combating emerging gambling addiction.
One way is to go cold turkey. Restrict yourself heavily on any game of chance at all costs. The best way to drive this in mentally is to imagine yourself as being exceptionally risk averse; losing isn't worth the money loss nor the time loss, so how would anything but a guaranteed win be worth it.
The other option is the one I prefer. Become fetishized to the idea of improving your odds of "winning" to be as high as possible. If the odds are better, but the rewards not as high, go for the option that gives you the best odds. To put this into perspective, I stopped buying YuGiOh and Magic packs once I learned I could buy the single cards I wanted online for less $$$ than the amount of cash in terms of packs I was purchasing. Saved me a lot of wasted allowance money as a kid, and a crapton of closet space for bulk storage too. Most popular TCGs, Pokemon included, come out with premade/preconstructed decks with a set cardlist. Whenever my little cousin's birthday comes up, I make a point to buy him one of those premade decks rather than a "tin" with a few packs in it.
