Is Gambling Bad For You

Going broke from gambling is a true risk for someone with a gambling addiction. You attempt to recover losses by gambling more. This feature of gambling addiction is known as “ chasing.” As their gambling losses continue to accumulate, compulsive gamblers maintain the belief that “one more bet” is all they need to win back everything. 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.

Are you or a loved one dealing with a gambling problem? Explore the warning signs and symptoms and learn how to stop.

What is gambling addiction and problem gambling?

Gambling problems can happen to anyone from any walk of life. Your gambling goes from a fun, harmless diversion to an unhealthy obsession with serious consequences. Whether you bet on sports, scratch cards, roulette, poker, or slots—in a casino, at the track, or online—a gambling problem can strain your relationships, interfere with work, and lead to financial disaster. You may even do things you never thought you would, like running up huge debts or even stealing money to gamble.

Gambling addiction—also known as pathological gambling, compulsive gambling or gambling disorder—is an impulse-control disorder. If you’re a compulsive gambler, you can’t control the impulse to gamble, even when it has negative consequences for you or your loved ones. You’ll gamble whether you’re up or down, broke or flush, and you’ll keep gambling regardless of the consequences—even when you know that the odds are against you or you can’t afford to lose.

Of course, you can also have a gambling problem without being totally out of control. Problem gambling is any gambling behavior that disrupts your life. If you’re preoccupied with gambling, spending more and more time and money on it, chasing losses, or gambling despite serious consequences in your life, you have a gambling problem.

A gambling addiction or problem is often associated with other behavior or mood disorders. Many problem gamblers also suffer with substance abuse issues, unmanaged ADHD, stress, depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. To overcome your gambling problems, you’ll also need to address these and any other underlying causes as well.

Although it may feel like you’re powerless to stop gambling, there are plenty of things you can do to overcome the problem, repair your relationships and finances, and finally regain control of your life.
The first step is to separate the myths from the facts about gambling problems:

Gambling addiction signs and symptoms

Gambling addiction is sometimes referred to as a “hidden illness” because there are no obvious physical signs or symptoms like there are in drug or alcohol addiction. Problem gamblers also typically deny or minimize the problem—even to themselves. However, you may have a gambling problem if you:

Feel the need to be secretive about your gambling. You might gamble in secret or lie about how much you gamble, feeling others won’t understand or that you will surprise them with a big win.

Have trouble controlling your gambling. Once you start gambling, can you walk away? Or are you compelled to gamble until you’ve spent your last dollar, upping your bets in a bid to win lost money back?

Gamble even when you don’t have the money. You may gamble until you’ve spent your last dollar, and then move on to money you don’t have—money to pay bills, credit cards, or things for your children. You may feel pushed to borrow, sell, or even steal things for gambling money.

Have family and friends worried about you. Denial keeps problem gambling going. If friends and family are worried, listen to them carefully. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help. Many older gamblers are reluctant to reach out to their adult children if they’ve gambled away their inheritance, but it’s never too late to make changes for the better.

Self-help for gambling problems

The biggest step to overcoming a gambling addiction is realizing that you have a problem. It takes tremendous strength and courage to own up to this, especially if you have lost a lot of money and strained or broken relationships along the way. Don’t despair, and don’t try to go it alone. Many others have been in your shoes and have been able to break the habit and rebuild their lives. You can, too.

Learn to relieve unpleasant feelings in healthier ways. Do you gamble when you’re lonely or bored? Or after a stressful day at work or following an argument with your spouse? Gambling may be a way to self-soothe unpleasant emotions, unwind, or socialize. But there are healthier and more effective ways of managing your moods and relieving boredom, such as exercising, spending time with friends who don’t gamble, taking up new hobbies, or practicing relaxation techniques.

Strengthen your support network. It’s tough to battle any addiction without support, so reach out to friends and family. If your support network is limited, there are ways to make new friends without relying on visiting casinos or gambling online. Try reaching out to colleagues at work, joining a sports team or book club, enrolling in an education class, or volunteering for a good cause.

Join a peer support group. Gamblers Anonymous, for example, is a 12-step recovery program patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous. A key part of the program is finding a sponsor, a former gambler who has experience remaining free from addiction and can provide you invaluable guidance and support.

Seek help for underlying mood disorders.Depression, stress, substance abuse, or anxiety can both trigger gambling problems and be made worse by compulsive gambling. Even when gambling is no longer a part of your life, these problems will still remain, so it’s important to address them.

How to stop gambling for good

For many problem gamblers, it’s not quitting gambling that’s the biggest challenge, but rather staying in recovery—making a permanent commitment to stay away from gambling. The Internet has made gambling far more accessible and, therefore, harder for recovering addicts to avoid relapse. Online casinos and bookmakers are open all day, every day for anyone with a smartphone or access to a computer. But maintaining recovery from gambling addiction or problem gambling is still possible if you surround yourself with people to whom you’re accountable, avoid tempting environments and websites, give up control of your finances (at least at first), and find healthier activities to replace gambling in your life.

Making healthier choices

One way to stop gambling is to remove the elements necessary for gambling to occur in your life and replace them with healthier choices. The four elements needed for gambling to continue are:

A decision: For gambling to happen, you need to make the decision to gamble. If you have an urge: stop what you are doing and call someone, think about the consequences to your actions, tell yourself to stop thinking about gambling, and find something else to do immediately.

Money: Gambling cannot occur without money. Get rid of your credit cards, let someone else be in charge of your money, have the bank make automatic payments for you, close online betting accounts, and keep only a limited amount of cash on you.

Time: Even online gambling cannot occur if you don’t have the time. Schedule enjoyable recreational time for yourself that has nothing to do with gambling. If you’re gambling on your smartphone, find other ways to fill the quiet moments during your day.

A game: Without a game or activity to bet on there is no opportunity to gamble. Don’t put yourself in tempting environments. Tell gambling establishments you frequent that you have a gambling problem and ask them to restrict you from entering. Remove gambling apps and block gambling sites on your smartphone and computer.

Finding alternatives to gambling

Maintaining recovery from gambling addiction depends a lot on finding alternative behaviors you can substitute for gambling. Some examples include:

Dealing with gambling cravings

Feeling the urge to gamble is normal, but as you build healthier choices and a strong support network, resisting cravings will become easier. When a gambling craving strikes:

Avoid isolation. Call a trusted family member, meet a friend for coffee, or go to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting.

Postpone gambling. Tell yourself that you’ll wait 5 minutes, fifteen minutes, or an hour. As you wait, the urge to gamble may pass or become weak enough to resist.

Visualize what will happen if you give in to the urge to gamble. Think about how you’ll feel after all your money is gone and you’ve disappointed yourself and your family again.

Distract yourself with another activity, such as going to the gym, watching a movie, or practicing a relaxation exercise for gambling cravings.

Coping with lapses

If you aren’t able to resist the gambling craving, don’t be too hard on yourself or use it as an excuse to give up. Overcoming a gambling addiction is a tough process. You may slip from time to time; the important thing is to learn from your mistakes and continue working towards recovery.

Gambling addiction treatment

Overcoming a gambling problem is never easy and seeking professional treatment doesn’t mean that you’re weak in some way or can’t handle your problems. But it’s important to remember that every gambler is unique so you need a recovery program tailored specifically to your needs and situation. Talk to your doctor or mental health professional about different treatment options, including:

Inpatient or residential treatment and rehab programs. These are aimed at those with severe gambling addiction who are unable to avoid gambling without round-the-clock support.

Treatment for underlying conditions contributing to your compulsive gambling, including substance abuse or mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, OCD, or ADHD. This could include therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes. Problem gambling can sometimes be a symptom of bipolar disorder, so your doctor or therapist may need to rule this out before making a diagnosis.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy. CBT for gambling addiction focuses on changing unhealthy gambling behaviors and thoughts, such as rationalizations and false beliefs. It can also teach you how to fight gambling urges and solve financial, work, and relationship problems caused by problem gambling. Therapy can provide you with the tools for coping with your addiction that will last a lifetime.

Family therapy and marriage, career, and credit counseling. These can help you work through the specific issues that have been created by your problem gambling and lay the foundation for repairing your relationships and finances.

How to help someone stop gambling

If your loved one has a gambling problem, you likely have many conflicting emotions. You may have spent a lot of time and energy trying to keep your loved one from gambling or having to cover for them. At the same time, you might be furious at your loved one for gambling again and tired of trying to keep up the charade. Your loved one may have borrowed or even stolen money with no way to pay it back. They may have sold family possessions or run up huge debts on joint credit cards.

While compulsive and problem gamblers need the support of their family and friends to help them in their struggle to stop gambling, the decision to quit has to be theirs. As much as you may want to, and as hard as it is seeing the effects, you cannot make someone stop gambling. However, you can encourage them to seek help, support them in their efforts, protect yourself, and take any talk of suicide seriously.

Preventing suicide in problem gamblers

When faced with the consequences of their actions, problem gamblers can suffer a crushing drop in self-esteem. This is one reason why there is a high rate of suicide among compulsive gamblers. If you suspect your loved one is feeling suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. at 1-800-273-8255 or visit Befrienders Worldwide to find a suicide helpline in your country.

Four tips for family members:

1. Start by helping yourself. You have a right to protect yourself emotionally and financially. Don’t blame yourself for the gambler’s problems or let his or her addiction dominate your life. Ignoring your own needs can be a recipe for burnout.
2. Don’t go it alone. It can feel so overwhelming coping with a loved one’s gambling addiction that it may seem easier to rationalize their requests “this one last time.” Or you might feel ashamed, feeling like you are the only one who has problems like this. Reaching out for support will make you realize that many families have struggled with this problem.
3. Set boundaries in managing money. To ensure the gambler stays accountable and to prevent relapse, consider taking over the family finances. However, this does not mean you are responsible for micromanaging the problem gambler’s impulses to gamble. Your first responsibilities are to ensure that your own finances and credit are not at risk.
4. Consider how you will handle requests for money. Problem gamblers often become very good at asking for money, either directly or indirectly. They may use pleading, manipulation, or even threats to get it. It takes practice to ensure you are not enabling your loved one’s gambling addiction.

One of the most common searches on the internet is: “I lost all my money gambling – What do I do?” Trust us when we tell you this: You are not alone.

Gambling addiction is a problem you can solve.

There are plenty of gamblers who have lost it all because of their addiction. This is a serious problem, which has seen thousands of people completely ruin their lives. It can happen to anybody belonging to any walk of life.

Gambling habit can start off as a harmless diversion for anyone. You never know when it will become an unhealthy obsession with huge consequences. It hits you from out of nowhere.

If you’ve hit rock bottom, stop thinking about the negativity. It is time to take matters into your own hands.

In order to resolve any problem, you need to first understand it. Crying over how “gambling ruined my life” will never help. You need to understand the full extent of this dangerous addiction so that you can fight it.

Is Gaming Bad For You

Contents

• 4. Make it Impossible to Gamble
• 5. Look for Alternatives to Gambling

What is Gambling Addiction?

Understanding gambling addiction can help gamblers regain control of their life. It will also help people close to them get a better perspective on the situation and help them out. Gambling addiction is an impulse-control disorder.

Is Gambling Bad If You Win

If you are a compulsive gambler, you find it hard to control your impulses to gamble, no matter how bad the consequences may be. It is almost like nothing really matters to you.

A lot of people see themselves betting on one thing after another knowing that the odds are not in their favor or if they cannot afford to lose. This addiction is actually related to different mood or behavior disorders.

Many gamblers also suffer from substance abuse, bipolar disorder, anxiety, ADHD or depression. In order to overcome your gambling addiction, you need to work on the underlying reasons so you have a fighting chance.

Here are the steps you should follow in order to overcome your gambling addiction. For friends and family members of compulsive gamblers, you should use this information to help them on their road to recovery.

1. Accept That You Have a Problem

You need to accept the fact that there’s a problem. For those who have hit rock bottom, it’s obvious. You have lost all of the money you worked so hard to earn. What more do you need?

Those who have not hit rock bottom yet, you do not want to wait for the day you go home and say “I’ve lost all my money at the casino” to realize that you have a serious problem.

Just take a deep breath and reflect on yourself. Look for the signs of a gambling addiction problem. Do you feel the need to be secretive about your gambling?

A prominent sign of a gambling problem is that you gamble till you lose all your money and then you want to gamble even when you’ve lost your last dollar. You’ll feel like doing anything to get more gambling money.

And the last sign that confirms the problem is that you have trouble walking away from gambling. Once you start, how easy is it for you to walk away no matter how good or bad your odds of winning are?

Seeing these signs and actually acknowledging that you have a problem is the most important step. Friends and family members need to help their loved ones with a gambling problem recognize these signs if they can’t on their own.

2. Self-Help for Gambling Problems

Acknowledging that you have a gambling problem is tough. It is important to recognize that as miserable as it can make you feel, there is hope. Remember the fact that you shouldn’t try and overcome it alone. It’s too tough.

First of all, you need to learn how to relieve the unpleasant feelings you have in a more proactive way. Majority of people gamble when they’re lonely, bored or when they are stressed out. Look for healthier distractions.

Instead of using gambling as a distraction, find better and healthier ways to manage your mood. Try exercising, spending time with friends who don’t gamble or perhaps even taking up yoga. The important thing is to stay away from gambling.

Perhaps your gambling problem derives from mood disorders. Substance abuse, depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety are some of the things that can both provide the initial trigger for gambling and even make it worse. It’s very important to address them.

Joining a 12-step Gamblers Anonymous group recovery program can help. It is a program planned following the effective Alcoholics Anonymous program to help gambling addicts. Finding strength in numbers and support from others is the best way to recover.

Ask yourself something: will a casino give you your money back? No. They are places designed to make you think you have a chance of winning but in the end, the casino makes the money and gamblers always lose.

3. Stay In Recovery

For a lot of gamblers, it is not quitting that is the problem. In fact, the biggest challenge for most gamblers is to successfully stay in recovery after they quit. Committing to the decision to stop gambling is very hard.

A lot of former gamblers find themselves feeling that they can probably make up for everything they have lost by chasing losses. Gambling is a lot more accessible now because of online gambling.

Maintaining recovery is still possible if you surround yourself with people whom you are responsible for. Avoid being in environments that can tempt you to think all those negative thoughts again. Find healthier ways to substitute gambling in your life.

4. Make it Impossible to Gamble

One way to stop gambling and stay away from it for good is to remove the things which allow you to gamble again. Replace them with something else. Here are the three important elements needed for a person to gamble:

Money

Make someone else responsible for your money. Give your credit cards to someone you can trust and someone who is invested in helping you stop gambling. It helps to not have access to the money to gamble away.

Time

If you do not have the time, you will not even be able to resort to online gambling. Schedule things to do in your free time and stick to the schedule so you don’t get time to gamble.

Game

If there is no game or any kind of activity for you to bet on, there’s no opportunity for you to even think about gambling. Remove yourself from any tempting environments.

5. Look for Alternatives to Gambling

A lot of the battle against gambling addiction is about maintaining your distance from the habit. Remember that you do not want to be the person who was known to say “I lost all my life savings” because of gambling.

Here are some alternatives that you can schedule for yourself in order to replace the gambling habit. These are recommended activities you can do based on the possible reason for your gambling habits and triggers. Now let’s go through them.

Rush of adrenaline

Take up a new sport. It should be something challenging. Maybe take up mountain biking, hiking or rock climbing. They’re all activities that give you a rush of adrenaline. You won’t have to rely on gambling.

Boredom or loneliness

Find something that you are really invested in. Sports, art, reading or music are good options. Look for other people with the same interests and start hanging out with them. It will be a good distraction.

Unpleasant feelings

If you’re plagued by a mood disorder or unhealthy thoughts and they trigger your gambling problem, the best thing you can do is to seek professional counsel. Try going to a therapist. It will really help.

Interacting with people

If you gamble to meet and interact with new people, discuss this with your family. Try and meet new people through them and increase your communication with your family. Join a social group.

6. Fight Cravings

Gambling cravings will come and hit you out of nowhere. If you have not lost everything to gambling, do not give yourself the opportunity to do so. If you have lost everything, fight the urge to gamble again.

Is Sports Betting Bad For You

Look to your friends and family for help whenever you crave gambling. Isolating yourself will never help. Call a friend over, go out for a coffee or perhaps even go to a Gamblers anonymous meeting that is happening near you.

Remember that if you are not able to deal with the cravings and you experience a relapse, you should not be too hard on yourself. Do not make a relapse an excuse to give up. Everybody slips up.

Is Gaming Bad For Your Health

Be kind to yourself. If the gambling addiction is getting really bad, try getting into a recovery program. Every gambler’s addiction is unique. Getting into a program will provide you a solution made for you. Remember to hang in there.