What is compulsive gambling?
Compulsive gambling, also called gambling disorder, is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling means that you’re willing to risk something you value in the hope of getting something of even greater value.
Gambling can stimulate the brain’s reward system much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction. If you have a problem with compulsive gambling, you may continually chase bets that lead to losses, hide your behavior, deplete savings, accumulate debt, or even resort to theft or fraud to support your addiction.
Compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives. Although treating compulsive gambling can be challenging, many people who struggle with compulsive gambling have found help through professional treatment.
How to tell if you are addicted?
Signs and symptoms of compulsive gambling (gambling disorder) include:
- Being preoccupied with gambling, such as constantly planning how to get more gambling money
- Needing to gamble with increasing amounts of money to get the same thrill
- Trying to control, cut back or stop gambling, without success
- Feeling restless or irritable when you try to cut down on gambling
- Gambling to escape problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety or depression
- Trying to get back lost money by gambling more (chasing losses)
- Lying to family members or others to hide the extent of your gambling
- Jeopardizing or losing important relationships, a job, or school or work opportunities because of gambling
- Resorting to theft or fraud to get gambling money
- Asking others to bail you out of financial trouble because you gambled money away
Unlike most casual gamblers who stop when losing or set a loss limit, people with a compulsive gambling problem are compelled to keep playing to recover their money — a pattern that becomes increasingly destructive over time.
Some people with a compulsive gambling problem may have remission where they gamble less or not at all for a period of time. However, without treatment, the remission usually isn’t permanent.
Of course, as with any other addiction, the hallmark sign of a gambling problem is that you feel you cannot stop. If you feel like you need to try just one more time, or if you feel anxious when you think about quitting, it is highly likely you are suffering from a gambling addiction. If you think you or your loved one may be suffering from a gambling addiction, call to talk about the signs of a gambling addiction and your individual situation.
When to see a doctor or mental health professional
Have family members, friends or co-workers expressed concern about your gambling? If so, listen to their worries. Because denial is almost always a feature of compulsive or addictive behavior, it may be difficult for you to realize that you have a problem.
If you recognize your own behavior from the list of signs and symptoms for compulsive gambling, seek professional help.
Are There Different Types of Gambling Addiction?
Gambling is a diverse activity, so different types of gambling addiction exist as well. It is not always obvious when someone is addicted to gambling. Contrary to popular belief, the act of gambling is not restricted to slot machines, cards and casinos. Purchasing a lottery ticket, entering a raffle or making a bet with a friend are also forms of gambling.
Gambling addiction can occur when a person feels that they are in financial ruin and can only solve their problems by gambling what little they have in an attempt to get a large sum of money. Unfortunately, this almost always leads to a cycle in which the gambler feels they must win back their losses, and the cycle goes on until the person is forced to seek rehabilitation to break their habit.
Another type of gambling addiction results when a gambler plays the games and makes risky bets to experience the emotional high associated with taking huge risks that occasionally pay off. In both cases, the person affected by this addiction must have the desire to stop the behavior, not just to please family and friends. If you, or a loved one, want to stop gambling but don’t not know where to begin, call our hotline at for the resources necessary to start the recovery process.
Causes:
Exactly what causes someone to gamble compulsively isn’t well-understood. Like many problems, compulsive gambling may result from a combination of biological, genetic and environmental factors.
Many factors can contribute to a gambling addiction, including desperation for money, the desire to experience thrills and highs, the social status associated with being a successful gambler, and the entertaining atmosphere of the mainstream gambling scene. Unfortunately, once a gambling addiction takes hold, breaking the cycle is difficult. Severe addictions can take hold when someone feels desperate financially and wants to make back what they have lost. Once the person finally wins, while they may end up collecting a massive amount of money from that win, it is rarely enough to cover what has already been lost. Most gamblers never even come close to breaking even.
Risk factors:
Although most people who play cards or wager never develop a gambling problem, certain factors are more often associated with compulsive gambling:
- Mental health disorders. People who gamble compulsively often have substance abuse problems, personality disorders, depression or anxiety. Compulsive gambling may also be associated with bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
- Age. Compulsive gambling is more common in younger and middle-aged people. Gambling during childhood or the teenage years increases the risk of developing compulsive gambling. However, compulsive gambling in the older adult population can also be a problem.
- Sex. Compulsive gambling is more common in men than women. Women who gamble typically start later in life and may become addicted more quickly. But gambling patterns among men and women have become increasingly similar.
- Family or friend influence. If your family members or friends have a gambling problem, the chances are greater that you will, too.
- Medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease and restless legs syndrome. Drugs called dopamine agonists have a rare side effect that may result in compulsive behaviors, including gambling, in some people.
- Certain personality characteristics. Being highly competitive, a workaholic, impulsive, restless or easily bored may increase your risk of compulsive gambling.
What are the further complications of gambling?
Compulsive gambling can have profound and long-lasting consequences for your life, such as:
- Relationship problems
- Financial problems, including bankruptcy
- Legal problems or imprisonment
- Poor work performance or job loss
- Poor general health
- Suicide, suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts
Emotional Symptoms of Excessive Gambling
Excessive gambling often causes a multitude of emotional symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts and tendencies. In extreme situations, these thoughts may lead a gambler to actually making an attempt to end their life. Losing everything to gambling is devastating and leaves many people feeling completely hopeless.
Physical Symptoms of Excessive Gambling
Because gambling can cause depression, anxiety and self-harming tendencies, several physical signs are to be watched out for. Depression and anxiety sometimes lead to sleep deprivation, which may result in pale skin, weight gain or weight loss, acne and dark circles under the eyes.
Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of a Gambling Addiction
Gambling is associated with many additional effects, in both the short- and long-term. Gambling addiction frequently results in other addictions that serve as coping mechanisms for people who are stressed out by the activity. Many gamblers turn to drugs, alcohol and other activities to alleviate the anxiety brought on by the gambling lifestyle. Even if a gambler never experiences financial ruin as a result of the lifestyle, they may struggle with drug and alcohol addiction for the rest of life after self-medicating to deal with the stress. Also, relationships are often permanently damaged as a result of gambling.
Is There a Test or Self-Assessment I Can Do?
If you think you may have a gambling problem, ask yourself whether you would be okay if you stopped gambling right now. If you feel anxious or as if you shouldn’t stop yet, chances are you are suffering from a gambling addiction. However, if you are not sure, call our hotline any time at to speak with someone who can help you assess whether or not you have a problem and need help to recover.
Medication: Are There Drug Options for Gambling Disorders?
While gambling cannot be directly treated with medication, it is possible to alleviate the anxiety and depression that results from gambling and often lead to it in the first place. If you have any questions about medication options and treatment for your gambling addiction, call us at .
Drugs: Possible Options
The most common way to treat a gambling problem with medication is to prescribe anti-anxiety and antidepressant medicines. Feeling depressed and anxious often exacerbates gambling addiction, so treating these disorders may make it easier to break the cycle and get back to a normal life.
Medication Side Effects
As with just about any medication, certain side effects are associated with antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. Some of these medications may make you feel worse before you feel better. For detailed information on the side effects of various depression and anxiety medications, consult your psychiatrist, or call our hotline at for advice. Remember, you should never try to self-medicate for anxiety or depression. These disorders are serious, and self-medication can be extremely dangerous.
Antidepressant Drug Addiction, Dependence and Withdrawal in Gamblers
While anxiety and depression medications are often highly successful helpers on the path to recovery, it is possible to become addicted to these medications as well. For this reason, it is often a good idea to enroll in an inpatient treatment center while you recover from your addiction, so a trained team of professionals can monitor you for dependence and withdrawal symptoms related to your medications.
Medication Overdose
One of the major problems associated with medications is that many of them do provide a high if you take more than the prescribed amount. Many gamblers are looking for that high, so prescription drug abuse is rampant among gamblers who are in the process of recovery and feel the need to get that high from something else. Overdose is one of many risks associated with substance abuse, and it is one of the reasons inpatient treatment centers are always recommended for anyone recovering from an addiction to gambling.
Depression and Gambling
Because gambling addiction is often associated with depression, watch out for signs that you are, or your loved one is, suffering from this debilitating disorder. Lethargy, fatigue, change in appetite and unhappiness are several symptoms out of many that someone is suffering from depression. Depression is often not something that can be controlled easily. If you suspect you or your loved one is suffering from depression, call us at .
Dual Diagnosis: Substance Abuse and Gambling
A dual diagnosis means that someone who is suffering from an addiction to substances or gambling is diagnosed with the addiction along with a mental health disorder. Dual diagnosis treatment is needed to effectively address both issues.
Getting Help to Quit Gambling
Quitting gambling is no easy feat, but it can be done with the help of a solid support group and treatment program. It can be difficult to get started on the path to recovery without the assistance of professionals who have helped people through the process before. Supportive friends and family are vital to a full recovery, but they might not know how best to help you.
How to prevent your betting or gambling addiction?
Although there’s no proven way to prevent a gambling problem, educational programs that target individuals and groups at increased risk may be helpful.
If you have risk factors for compulsive gambling, consider avoiding gambling in any form, people who gamble and places where gambling occurs. Get treatment at the earliest sign of a problem to help prevent gambling from becoming worse.
