What Are The Risks of Gambling?

Gambling is now enjoying its peak in popularity. A huge number of people spend their time playing games or betting. However, not everyone is aware of the fact that such entertainment can have a harmful effect on the person. The government of many countries sees gambling only as a threat and forbids this business in their territory. In this article, we’ll see if gambling is really dangerous, whether it causes addiction and whether the latter can be avoided.

Does Gambling Addiction Really Exist?

Gambling does cause psychological addiction. You can find out more information about it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_gambling. However, we should immediately add that its occurrence is an exception to the rule rather than a regular pattern. Yes, some people are prone to its effects more than others. Yet, many players have control over their emotions and can easily spend their time gambling without the emergence of any addiction.

Risk Zone: People that are Most Likely to Suffer from Gambling Addiction

Often, this disease develops in two categories of people: single players with depression and those who see gambling only as an opportunity to make money. The first type of gamblers is prone to the emergence of addiction because they are trying to fill personal loneliness through gambling. However, if they lose, their condition only worsens and their depression moves to a new stage. To improve their well-being, such people begin to play casinos uncontrollably, betting more and more often, regardless of the amount of losses.

Users of online gambling sites that are experiencing financial difficulties are also prone to the development of addiction. Their main goal is to win a large sum of money that can cover all their expenses and solve their problems. After a few wins they find it increasingly difficult to stop. Even a series of failures will not have a positive effect because there will be a desire to win back. Such gamblers again spend money in casinos, take loans, and only worsen the situation.

How Gambling Addiction Occurs

Many psychotherapists compare gambling addicts to people who have problems with alcohol or drugs. This is because their neuropsychological mechanism of addiction has similar characteristics in terms of formation. In total, there are four main stages in the development of this disease. The table below offers some details about them.

Winning	After receiving the first win, a person begins to feel the taste of victory. Often it is accompanied by the emotion of excitement, which is achieved by the awareness of earning easy money. Even minimal amounts of winnings can be the beginning of addiction development. After all, they trigger a mechanism that provokes the need to feel these emotions as often as possible.
Losing	After losing money, especially large sums, some players want to recover what they lost. To do this, they may even go into debt, take loans and sell personal items, doing everything in order to win back.
Recklessness	This is a turning point that changes a person’s mental consciousness. At this stage of the disease, the person begins to distrust everyone and considers all those who are trying to help him as enemies. In order to achieve his own goal, he may even resort to robbery and murder, justifying such terrible things with personal motives.
Hopelessness	This is the final stage in the emergence of gambling addiction. It is considered the most difficult stage because it plunges a person into severe social disadaptation. As a rule, at this point, a person ceases to experience a sense of joy and serenity. He feels only disappointment in the game and his own life but he can no longer stop.

 

Often gambling addiction is accompanied by the development of other addictions. This is especially true of the last two stages of the disease’s development. In order to improve their own mental state, the addicted people begin to abuse alcohol or illegal drugs, which only worsens the situation.

How to Prevent Gambling Addiction?

Gambling is destructive to those who do not master the technique of self-control. In order not to become a hostage to gambling, one must learn to control his or her own emotions. This is what helps a lot of people to stay sane and follow the rules of responsible gambling, such as

• start gambling only at the age of majority;
• visiting a casino should not be just for the purpose of making money;
• losing is part of the gameplay, which is as constant as winning;
• betting time should be restricted on a daily basis, for example, a couple of hours a day;
• be sure to set spending limits, saving only as much money as you can afford to lose without consequences;
• never take loans to go to the casino;
• do not start the game in a bad mood because irritability and depression are not conducive to good luck;
• never play slots or other games while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

This is only a part of the significant rules that will help the gamer to prevent the development of addiction. It should not be forgotten that many online sites, such as the Golden Lion casino, present demo versions of slots. They allow you to bet completely free of charge, without losing personal money. Thanks to this gamers can quench their own thirst for gambling entertainment, as well as gain valuable experience and knowledge necessary for the further game.

Signs of Game Addiction

We have already found that some gamblers are prone to gambling addiction. In order to effectively deal with this disease, it is important to recognize it in its first stages. For this purpose, it is important to be able to distinguish the signs of the development of gambling addiction:

• the gambler hides his hobby from family and friends;
• the gambler loses control of himself and is ready to lose all the money in the hope of winning;
• the casino user begins to place bets without having personal money for it;
• the person becomes interested solely in the theme of the game.

Having recognized the development of addiction in time, you can protect yourself from the emergence of severe consequences and also get completely cured of addiction. The main thing is to have clear control of your actions and understand that it is required to give up visiting the online or land-based casino for some time (detailed information can be found at https://www.britannica.com/topic/casino-gambling-house). In conclusion, it should be said that gambling addiction is not the only outcome of gambling entertainment. When playing responsibly, users can spend years in the casino, turning it into a major job.