Addiction is not a black and white topic. There are some certain similarities between addicts and how they’ve started with their addiction, but in fact there are as many shades of addiction as people around the globe.
Gambling addiction is one of the most common, and most destructive ones. It is often connected with alcohol abuse and mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. We can find thousands of different stories about gambling addicts, their history, their worse moments and if they managed, how they overcome their addiction. For some it was a slow process of sinking deeper and deeper into gambling until they become addicted, when for other all it took was one, winning bet to be doomed.
Is it really that bad to bet, gamble and play casino games/gry hazardowe? Is it always a straight path to addiction and ruining your life? Let us take a closer look on what are the motivations people have to start gambling, how does gambling influence our brain, and what are mistakes gamblers do that results in falling into addiction.
Why people gamble?
What drives us to gambling is never one thing. There are numerous reasons why people open their wallets and put their money on bets and stakes in casino. In most cases, there are more than one reason why we enter casino, gambling platform or bookie office. What are the most common motivations that lead us to start gambling?
Forbidden fruit effect
In many cultures, religions, societies and families, gambling is considered as a bad habit, sin and banned in many cases. There is no greater temptation than the one to things that are forbidden. We often state that we want to try this only once to know how it feels, what is it and why others say it is so bad for us. For some people it will truly be a one-time adventure, and they will not understand the hype and agree with others that it is bad, but for others it might be a whole new world of thrill, cash and hope to become rich without a hassle.
Financial problems
This motivation is particularly dangerous, because when one turn to gambling when in debts, that means that they are really desperate. Desperation and gambling is a bad mix, and it can result in quick addiction, because when among the first bets there happens to be winning one, desperate person begin to think that they might save their financial situation to gambling. All it takes is one jackpot. It isn’t much, right? Well, in most cases, these people leave the casino even more broke than when they’ve entered. It is common knowledge that almost no one leave casino rich, but that does not stop the desperate from thinking that they will be the ones to win big.
Entertainment
There are a vast number of people who enter the casino or betting platform just for fun. They want to play some nice games, add some thrill to the football game they watch by placing a bet, or simply compete with friends in the game of chance. The financial aspect of winning in casino is just an additional thing, and they are there mainly for fun and thrill of risk. These people loss relatively small amounts of money, and are less likely to become addicted. As long as gambling is simple entertainment, not an escape from problems and reality, this motivation is the least dangerous one.
Why gambling is addictive? – Human brain during gambling
Our brain is a magnificent machine working by impulses and chemical reactions. There are certain hormones that are especially important for our mental health, and the way our brain and whole organism work. These are adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. Which of these are involved in our brain reactions during gambling? Well, all of them. When you place a bet, and fell this weird fear and hotness inside while waiting to revelation whether you won or not, this is adrenaline working in your brain creating this feeling of tension.
It is even more satisfying when we, indeed, won and adrenaline is replaced by dopamine. This hormone is the main cause of addictions. Dopamine is released when we feel pleasure and its effects are short-term, so we tend to repeat the action that gave us the shot of dopamine to feel good again, again and again. Repeating something to feel pleasure is the base of every addiction. That is why addicts are often involved in more than one addiction.
The thing with dopamine is that you need higher doses of the activity to trigger the reaction. More money placed on bet, more alcohol, more cigarettes or stronger ones to make your brain feel the difference. That is why addicts typically use different sources of dopamine rush to achieve their target, pleasure.
What about serotonin? This is a hormone which level decide of our overall mental well-being and happiness. Suffering from the drop of dopamine, our brain gradually uses serotonin. Addicts usually have lower and lower serotonin level with time, because the only happiness and pleasure they can feel is from dopamine. That is why an addicted person is anxious, depressed and reactive when separated from their source of dopamine: the thing they are addicted to.
Is one bet all it takes? – Responsible gambling
You might hear stories of former gambling addicts telling that for them, it was, in fact, one bet that lead to destruction in their life. Justyn Rees Larcombe, author of bestseller book about his gambling fall and recovery, state that the first 5GBP bet he won was a trigger to his fall. He said that his life might be different if he had lost this bet. Is his story a template for everyone who enter gambling? Not for everyone, and not if they follow rules of responsible gambling. What are they?
Money limit
To be on the safe side during gambling, you should establish a strict budget for entertainment. This must be money you can spend on pleasure, and entertainment, and not need for bills, food and anything else in your life.
Never take your credit card to the casino with you, or do not attach it to the online casino account, because this way you can simply lose track of your spending and can be easily tempted to withdraw more and more.
Treat gambling like any other entertainment
You pay for cinema tickets, right? You pay to have fun in carnival. Treat gambling the same. You put money on bets to enter the game. You pay to play poker by the casino table, or craps, or pull the lever of a slot machine. The thing, that you can win money out of it, should be only a nice addition to it. It is hard to maintain this order of importance in your head, but as long as you are able to keep it that way, you will have more fun, and won’t fall into debts because of gambling.
Do not gamble when emotional
Gambling and strong emotions like angriness, extreme happiness or grief is not a good connection. Your feelings can quickly blur your judgement and make you lose more money, and time, than you are allowed to spend on this activity.
Thinking of gambling as a money source
Many turn to gambling as a last resort when they have financial problems. Desperate to solve their problems, they start to believe that they will be among the lucky ones and win big money. Gambling should be treated only as an entertainment and money is only there to give it more thrill. Instead of thinking “I gamble to earn money”, you should always have this statement in mind, “I spend money to gamble”.
So, is gambling a bad habit?
No, the activity itself isn’t a bad thing to do. Casino games players are known to have higher IQ and you can learn a lot during gambling. Bad things happen when we stop to control ourselves, and this can happen with every activity in our life, but this does not mean that the thing we are doing is itself bad. There are people addicted from shopping, but we are not banning malls for everyone. Gambling companies are doing their best to prevent people from becoming addicted, they offer help, they allow gamblers to ban themselves from entering a casino platform or building, and they cooperate with charities that help spread the rules of responsible gambling. If you want to try gambling in the safe environment, choose casinos, that support responsible gambling, like Energy Casino.