Gambling: The Addiction and How

Gambling: The Addiction and How to Kick the Habit

How does a person know if he or she has a gambling addiction. How easy is to kick a gambling habit? How many people in America are addicted to gambling? Has the Internet played a part in people getting addicted to gambling? And are there organizations that help addicted persons kick the habit? All these questions and other issues around the gambling problem will be reviewed in this paper.

What is the definition of "problem gambling" -- and when should an individual begin taking stock of his or her problem? According to the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), when a person's life is being "disrupted" in any of the following areas, that person has a gambling "problem": psychological, physical, social or vocational (NCPG).

The National Council on Problem Gambling also said there are more categories within the "problem gambling" concept. Those categories include "pathological" or "compulsive" gambling. Pathological / compulsive gambling is a progressive addiction characterized by "increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money more frequently," and a kind of "restlessness or irritability" every time the person tries to quit gambling.

Also, the NCPG states that a person who is compulsively addicted to gambling tries to "chase" losses in a desperate attempt to catch up. What is meant by "chasing" a gambling loss? Nan Little writes in the Insight Journal that "…loss chasing occurs when a gambler continues to gamble" notwithstanding heavy losses "…in hopes of winning their money back."

Of course the chances of winning back money after a desperate attempt following a big loss are slim and nearly none, but persons locked into gambling addiction don't see it that way. In order to try and find out if there was a difference between the brains of those individuals who engage in "chasing losses" and those who showed some restraint when losing money at gambling, an experience was conducted in England, Little explains.

The Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford performed an experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) on participants who were willing to participate in the research. Those who chased losses "…showed an increase in activity in the cortical areas of the brain," those areas which connect to cells that deal with "incentive motivation and expectation of reward" (Little, 2007, p. 2). The bottom line of this research, reported by Little (p. 2), was that those who chased their losses valued the possible reward of "winning over the fear of risk"; and those who stopped after a loss, "weighed the risk of losing more over any possible winning" (Little, p. 2).

The organization called Gamblers Anonymous explains that a person who has a compulsive gambling problem finds that "…gambling has caused growing and continuing problems in any department of his or her life."

Moreover, Gamblers Anonymous explains that compulsive gambling is "an illness, progressive in its nature, which can never be cured, but can be arrested." In other words, it is not easy to totally kick the habit. The person who is willing to admit that gambling has them "licked" is rare, but those who do turn to organizations like Gamblers Anonymous must admit to himself or herself that never again can they attempt to gamble, not even a small bet.

Why? Because that first bet to a gambler is "..like the first small drink to an alcoholic," Gamblers Anonymous states. "Once a person crossed the invisible line into irresponsible uncontrolled gambling he or she never seems to regain control," Gamblers Anonymous continues. Some gamblers have gone through therapy and tried just a small bet, for the sake of experimenting, and the results are "always disastrous," the Gamblers Anonymous group reports.

Also, the Gamblers Anonymous group insists that: a) most people who are into heavy gambling -- if they are honest -- recognize that they do not have the will power to quit; b) going on an occasional "gambling binge" means that you are indeed a compulsive gambler even if you only go on one or two a month; c) the way to get one's gambling under control is to adhere to the key words ("Honesty, Open mindedness, and Willingness" to face reality); and d) if you are a dreamer about how you will spend the big winnings -- seeing yourself leading a life with "servants, penthouses, nice clothes, charming friends…" -- you are quite likely a compulsive gambler.

The Gamblers Anonymous group makes the point that they are not affiliated with any particular religion, but they have spiritual tenets within the structure of their recovery program. They also indicate that compulsive gambling is not a financial problem; it's an "emotional problem" and along with the addiction the individual involved can begin experiencing problems with his or her marriage, with employment, with friends and with the law.

The Mayo Clinic says that compulsive gambling is an "impulse-control disorder."

What that means is that the person involved is not able to "…resist engaging in behavior that's harmful to you or to someone else." (Mayo Clinic). Those with impulse-control disorder generally receive a feeling of "emotional arousal or excitement" prior to engaging in whatever behavior they are obsessed with. Following the emotional arousal and excitement, the person -- when he or she actually begins physically engaging in gambling -- gets a big dose of "pleasure and gratification" followed, in most cases, by "guilt" or "remorse" when the money is gone and no big winning is forthcoming (Mayo Clinic).

One of the predictable outcomes of being involved in compulsive gambling is denial. It is "almost always a characteristic of addictive behavior," the Mayo Clinic explains. That having been said, the Mayo Clinic presents the list of things that tells a person his or her gambling is out of control. Your gambling is out of control if: a) it is affecting your relationships, your work life or your finances; b) if you devote more and more time to gambling; c) you've tried to stop but keep going back to it; d) you hide your gambling from family, friends, and your doctor; e) you start stealing or defrauding others to get money for your addiction; and f) you begin asking friends to "bail you out of financial woes because you've gambled money away" (Mayo Clinic, 2010, p. 3).