Angie Bachmann – Gambler: Victim Or Dependent

Charles Duhigg has introduced Angie Bachmann in chapter 9 of The Power of Habit. The reason we do what we do in life and business. Angie Bachmann is a stay-at home mom who finds her days boring. Bachmann becomes more and more isolated from her family. Bachmann was becoming less dependent on her children as she grew older. Her husband was a Land Surveyor, so he would leave at morning to get back in the afternoon. In an effort to pamper herself, she decided to dress up and visit the casino. It was a reward that she could only get once a week. Bachmann flew to Tennessee every week to visit her parents after they were both hospitalized in 2000. Her family was not in need of her so she decided to travel to Tennessee to see them every other week. Bachmann was a long-time gambler and had built up a lot of dangerous credit. This was before she realized that it was a problem. Bachmann was deep in debt. Her husband knew nothing about it until 2001. She attempted to change her behavior, believing she had defeated the compulsion. But she wasn’t. A couple of years later, she filed for bankruptcy. Angie’s lawyer said that Angie gambled because of her habit, and not out of choice.

There has been much debate on the issue of Angie Bachmann being held responsible for her gambling debts over the years. Numerous scholars have held her accountable. Others have attributed her gambling debts to the casino. Angie Bachmann’s pseudonym is not true, but these events are real. Over the years, her gambling habits have developed. Although she was married, her job wasn’t meaningful. Angie began gambling at the riverboat casino because she was bored and lonely. She began visiting the casino twice a week after her first visit. Angie Bachmann visited the riverboat casino six times a week, spending more than three hours per day. Angie was a normal mother, despite her decades of gambling. While she could win and gamble at times, losing was her main concern in gambling (Boing Boing). In an article by Boing Boing (2018), it is reported that Angie Bachmann’s uncontrollable gambling caused her to lose all of her possessions. Her million-dollar inheritance was lost to the casino. She also placed a secret mortgage against her home. She was unable to pay $125,000 worth of promissory bills. The casino sued her, claiming she owed them $125,000 and $375,000 in penalties. With the exception of her lawyer, she was left with nothing.

Angie Bachmann cannot be held responsible if she gambles. Her visit was not of her choosing. Neurological discoveries regarding habit formation support her gambling habits. Three elements of habit formation are the key to Angie’s gambling addiction that resulted in huge losses. These elements include routine, reward and cue. This helped her to form a gambling habit that led to huge losses (Duhigg (2012)).

Duhigg (2012) has shown that habit formation begins at the trigger. This is an impulse that prompts someone to take an automatic action. It causes an insatiable desire to perform a specific action. Boredom and loneliness were the main stimuli for Angie Bachmann’s gambling addiction. She drove to the riverboat casino when she felt bored at her home. Angie is not alone in her gambling habits. She would go to the casino whenever she got into a fight with her children or husband. Her family is responsible for her gambling personality.

Angie began to frequent the casino as a result of her routine. She became addicted to gambling because of the frequency with which she visited. The reward drove her to routine (Duhigg (2012)). The casino was Angie’s solution whenever she felt bored or annoyed. The person can evaluate whether the behavior is worth continuing. Angie Bachmann, who had suffered depression at home, found joy in gambling and decided to try it out. The chance of winning is another element that could help her gamble. Angie was able to win occasionally, though not often. Angie won $530 after she gambled at the casino for $80. She was able to buy groceries and pay the phone bill.

Duhigg (2012) deems any reward behavior worthy of being adopted. Angie’s virtual gambling addiction led to enormous gambling debts that eventually cost her millions.

Gambling companies use enticing tactics to keep their players and make as much money as possible. Angie Bachmann was controlled by the casino’s ‘power to habit’. The casino took advantage that Angie Bachmann is not subject to any law that would require it to contact compulsive players. The casino offered her credit, suites, and free booze. Her lawyer stated that the casino exploited her inability control gambling and preyed upon her (Duhigg 2012).

However, it is possible to change your habits. After an assessment of the results, there is an option to alter one’s habits. Rat Park experiments indicate that addiction does not exist as a physical force (Slater and co. 2005). Angie Bachmann could have managed the situation if she had not lost at the first stage of her gambling. Her lawyer does not believe that addition is the driving force behind her gambling debts. Although she acknowledged that she was able to lose a lot of her money, she lost so much over the years that she gambled. It is not her fault that she gambled despite losing many times. The casinos have an attractive design, which encourages optimism even after losing. Reza Habib, cognitive neuroscientist and researcher on gambling, explained how these operators take advantage of psychopathological gamblers. The three main provisions of most casino slot machines are win, lose, and near miss. Modern machines have more features for manipulating gambling habits.

Reza Habib’s experiment showed that problem gamblers do not consider the ‘near misses’ to be a loss. The gambler does not gain anything other than an attractive note. This warning is meant to warn them not to gamble again. However, pathological gamblers are often livid about gambling. They believe they can win because they have already lost a lot. Angie’s gambling behavior had made her a pathological player. She was always looking forward to winning. She gambled more on losses, and the near miss perception drives her to gamble more. Her zeal to win back what she lost to the casino (Boing Boing 2018).

Angie Bachmann’s gambling debts are not her fault, according to the power of habit theory. Pathological gambling was what she was exposed to. It was built around routine, reward, and cue elements that revolved around her family and the casinos. The circumstances that brought her to gambling led to her losing a lot of her property and money. To exploit her, the casinos used her existing gambling habits. These arguments were made by the lawyer, but the court did not agree with them.