Gambling Addiction

Gambling is betting any amount of money on a uncertain outcome on a Win/Lose basis, it can range from betting on sport games to even relationships (how long the relationship will last) etc. Gambling addiction or compulsive gambling affects more than 15 million people in America alone, 3 million of which have been diagnosed as severe problem gamblers, gambling addicts or pathological gamblers. There are over 250,000 problem gamblers in the UK.

There are many symptoms to identifying a problem gambler.

These include

• Increasing the amount of time and money spent on gambling
• Constantly thinking about gambling in your free time
• Chasing losses, investing larger amounts of money to try and win back the smaller amounts.
• Continuing to gamble despite consequences such as debt, bills and other financial commitments.
• Feeling a sense of euphoria or happiness during the time in which the person is gambling.
• Borrowing money or finding other ways to obtain money to gamble.
• Denial of how much the person has lost and only mentioning winnings.

Problem gambling is a serious addiction which affects the sufferer physically, mentally and financially; it can also affect the sufferer socially with their relationships with others. It can lead to anxiety, depression and is known to lead people to contemplate suicide.

Reasons for gambling

The majority of the public ask the question “Why would you gamble?” and “When you win, why don’t you take the money and stop?”

Most people start gambling because of greed, the desire to possess more than the person needs or deserves. Money is very influential as it decides the financial quality of your life so it’s pretty obvious why someone would want to gain more money and some do this through gambling for that reason.  Some use it to escape the stresses of daily life.Others gamble because of a low self-esteem, gambling makes you feel better especially if you win and when you lose it affects the esteem level more bringing it lower and some continue gambling for the sense of that good feeling that it brought and so begins a cycle of a problem.

Many are lured into poker, there are various types of poker but the most popular is Texas Hold em. You receive 2 cards and there are four stages, pre flop, flop, the turn and the river. Each stage the person has a choice whether to make a bet to make others fold or to try and get more money, checking which is seeing the rest of the hand providing no one else bets and folding which is laying down your hands and you are out of that hand. This type of gambling provides choice and gives the gambler a sense of control, this is particularly inviting to the gamblers with low self-esteem which are living in a world they feel they have no control.

Adrenaline concept

The excitement of gambling also draws people in as when you gamble you release adrenaline into your system, it is secreted in your glands in your body when there are high levels of excitement or stress. The adrenaline puts you into a “fight or flight” mode when you are winning you will feel great and a overwhelming euphoria can ensue, most want to continue this feeling so play on. When you are losing the adrenaline will either make you flee or play on dependant on personality and willpower. When you are winning, history has taught us that human beings will always want more and it takes a great deal of willpower to resist playing on when you are on a “Winning” or “Lucky” streak.

You can read about the adrenaline at:

Click to access The-Adrenaline-Rush-Of-Winning-And-Losing-%28ebook%29.pdf

Online gambling 

Online gambling first occurred in 1996 when Wagerlogic finished its first licence ; Intercasino, since then there are now over 2000 sites operating taking real money wagers. According to statistics, Internet gambling has doubled every year since 1997 and in 2001 it was valued at 2bn. Many more people have started to gamble as they can do it from the convenience of their own home where people can keep their addiction secret. Casino sites lure people with “Welcome bonuses” which are on the vast majority of the sites. When you win, some sites have a waiting period to withdraw around about 5 days and within that time you can reverse the withdrawal and take back winnings to gamble with. That can create addiction. The number of compulsive gamblers in general has risen but those that are female have dramatically risen due to mainly online bingo. Women are targeted into the sites with influential colour schemes such as Barbie pink and have male pin ups, making the gambling seem fun, enjoyable and inviting.

You can read about the uprising of female gamblers at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/17/women-gamblers-online-addiction

My Experience

I have a problem with online poker  and have lost a considerable amount. At first I was winning a considerable amount but then I suffered a bad beat which was a pair of Aces (best hand pre flop) vs a pair of 3’s (considered to be a bad hand pre flop for All-in) The person with 3’s hits another 3 and I suffer my first loss. From there it spiralled as I would invest more money to chase what I had lost and not been in the right frame of mind and luck not been on my side I would lose. I would constantly think about playing, lose much sleep playing late into the night and actually borrowing money off STL sites such as Wonga.com. It also affected me socially as I would avoid socialising to gamble more. The cycle would continue to the extent where I was in debt. It took its toll on me physically as I was tired every day, mentally as I got into a state of depression about the amount lost and stressed as well. I believe online gambling is far more dangerous than casino gambling this is because of my concept of “Fantasy money”. Fantasy money is the money you see on screen, you are not physically holding it or possessing it, it’s just figures on a screen that you wish to increase. The money is not in your account; it’s in the casino account in cyberspace. Therefore, there is little attachment to this money and the person may make decisions they wouldn’t do on the outside world with the money present such as the decision to go “All in” or “chase” cards which can result in heavy losses. The money on screen only develops meaning when it’s no longer there to gamble with and the realisation of reality occurs. In my opinion, I would suggest not to try gambling at all, no matter what your nature is as greed is a powerful emotion.

Gambling Help + recovery

Most of the gambling sites now have installed as they call them “safeguards” in which a player can set daily, weekly and monthly deposits but in my opinion a problem gambler would rarely use them. Most sites have installed the option of self-exclusion which means the gambler cannot access the site for a limited period of 6 months or more.

Recovery isnt always easy but finding things to occupy the time you would have otherwised gambled helps alot. Its relatively easy to quit but resisting slipping back into it requires will and determination.

http://www.gamcare.org.uk/    – gives support to addicts with 1 to 1 chats offering advice, it has forums which share the stories of other people also suffering. I would recommend Gamcare as it helped me through my ordeal. There are also many other sites and programmes targeted to deal with problem gambling.

Cognitive therapy is very useful to help problem gamblers with such things a four step programmes which help the addict change the way they think about gambling.

The British medical association wants gambling to be a recognised addiction in the NHS, and the money the gambling industry, through the Responsibility gambling trust, pays into treatment programmes – £3.6m in 2007 – raised to at least £10m annually.

You can read more about problem gambling at the following sites:

http://www.divisiononaddictions.org/html/publications/shafferinternetgambling.pdf

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/gambling_addiction.htm

Thank you for reading my post.