gambling in las vegas

It started when I was in a conference in Los Angeles, the day before my trip to Las Vegas. On the platform was John Childers, a multi-millionaire talking about his next seminar. All his seminars are held in Vegas, because "there is gaming there". Here was a person who very obviously enjoys a spin at the tables! That started me thinking.

Then I got to Vegas and saw the gaming going on first hand. Chips changing hands, the croupier sweeping chips off the table, winning punters being given tall piles of chips…and each pile of chips worth hundreds and thousands of dollars. Money changing hands so quickly and so easily….

What Do You Think About Gambling?

What are your thoughts about gambling and/or the people who gamble?

Let’s say that you have "Play money" with you. "Play money" is that money which you have allocated each month, at the beginning of the month, purely for you to do whatever you wish with it. It is for sheer pleasure and for your enjoyment. Now, imagine that you are in a casino in Vegas.

Do you think along the lines of. . . . ?

• Gambling is a waste of money
• I would quite like to have a go, but I’m afraid I’ll lose my money
• There isn’t enough money to go around and gambling is frivolous

Or are your thoughts more slanted towards. . . .

• Why not? This is my play money, and is purely for me to enjoy myself with.
• I would enjoy having a flutter at the tables. It would be great to win something! And if I don’t, I would have had a great time.
• Well, I don’t really get much pleasure from gambling, so I’ll pass up and spend this money on something else I would really enjoy. Anyone else is welcome to have a bet, if they like.

What does your response tell you about what you think and feel about money?

The first group of responses is slanted towards the fear of losing money or the lack of money. The second set of responses is more about abundance – knowing that money will always be available - and that money is here to help us enjoy ourselves, and we can decide how we use that money. . . .as long as we feel good.

Money Is Our Servant

Money is here to serve us, not the other way around. Its primary purpose is to help us have a good time! Yet many people feel trapped by it, or the lack of it.

Money, like gambling, just is. Neither is good or bad. But what we think about it and how we allow it to affect us in our lives make it so.

There is no shortage of money as such. But when we focus on not enough, that is what we get back. Our mind will always seek to prove us right (remember the Reticular Activating System mentioned in the article "Can You Be Financially Free?"). Our ideas, our creativity and our results will therefore stem from how we are thinking in the first place. Thinking and feeling free about money helps it to flow more abundantly into our lives. If you think you don’t have enough money, then you don’t. Being short of money is only ever a temporary situation, unless you make it permanent by focusing on the lack of it.

Once you have it, the feeling of abundance - of not just enough but more than enough - is something that can never be taken away from you. Being truly abundant starts first in your mind and how you feel.

Since then, I’ve met someone whose husband is a professional poker player. Now, what are your thoughts around that?

Action Points

1. When you think about money, what are your dominant thoughts? Are they slanted towards "not enough" or are they slanted towards "always enough"”?

2. At what level of net worth would you begin to feel financially free? One million? Less? More?

3. What would it take to feel financially free NOW?

4. Play the virtual money game. Imagine that you have £500 to spend, over and over and over again, and you must spend it. How would you spend it? How does that make you feel? If you find yourself thinking, "But I haven’t actually got this to spend", then you will know for sure that you haven’t yet grasped Millionaire Thinking®. Keep on playing until it feels good to be spending so much money on so many different things!

Quote

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want" - Margaret Young

"Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant" - Phineas Taylor Barnum

"Prosperity is living easily and happily in the real world, whether you have money or not" - Jerry Gellis

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