How To Cope With Addiction Of Gambling?

Posted by Unknown October 20, 2017

How To Cope With Addiction Of Gambling?

After more than 30 years in the betting industry, I have seen my share of the problems connected with betting and gambling. Just as I have seen the problems connected with nicotine after being a smoker for 25 years, or seen how close friends have struggled with alcohol.

Fat and unhealthy food is another risk, and even though you might be 10–15 kilo overweight, you can still buy what ever kind of food you want, right?

I have been living a long life in many different environments, and have for sure learned the meaning of the word addiction, and the consequences that addiction might lead to.

This blog is about gambling as an addiction, not all kinds of addiction. But I believe in putting things into perspective. Only then are we able to understand, or at last we can try to understand.

The only certain way to completely remove addiction, is to remove the actual source of the addiction.

Just remove all nicotine, alcohol, drugs, unhealthy food and gambling from the face of the earth. Problem solved. The problem is of course that this will not happen, it simply can’t be done. And if someone tried to pull that off, illegal black markets would pop up all over the place, making the problems with addiction even worse.

At the end of the day, it’s a question of whether or not we should be able to define our own destiny.

Is it fair that some members of parliament can decide that we can’t have a drink, or that we can’t spend 20–30 Euros at a card table?

No, of course not.

But what they could, and should do, is make sure that addiction problems are at an absolute minimum. Most civilized communities have laws and regulations for this purpose. Some rules makes sense, and others not so much.

What causes gambling addiction?

Back to gambling problems. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what triggers gambling addiction. In the end, it’s quite different from other physical addictions, like drug addiction or alcoholism. But maybe they are not so different after all?

Gambling releases a dopamine kick and dopamine is a precursor of adrenaline.

The tension and excitement is building up, and getting the result, such as a sports bet win, is the releasing factor of a quite powerful physical reaction. This reaction can be highly addictive, and very difficult to cure if it has been able to grow and create roots over time. Unfortunately, the higher the stake or risk is, the stronger adrenaline we feel.

Thinking of it, it’s really quite irrational to gamble. You stand a very little chance of winning in the long run, since the gaming companies keep their margins. So why do we gamble?

I have a theory that the need for action and excitement is planted in our genes, a result of thousands of generations that had both these things all the time. The fight to survive gave us that excitement.

The adrenaline kick gives us a feeling we are longing for, maybe a feeling of being alive, something our regulated societies, regulated lives have taken away from us.

Keeping these instincts under control, is the cornerstone of most civilized countries. It’s a way of displaying law and order, and showing how perfect and orderly our developed societies have become. Maybe that is the way it has to be on our overpopulated planet.

How big is the problem with gambling addiction?

I have read numerous statistics the last 30 years, and the only certain thing is that no one really knows for sure.

The numbers I have seen indicate that in Europe, up to 3% of the adult population have some kind of problem with addiction in gambling, whereas in Norway, this number is 0.7%. and in Sweden as low as under 0,5%.

Compared to alcohol addiction, which is as high as 5.2% in some countries, these numbers are quite modest. But that certainly doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly.

In order to reduce the problems with addiction, the authorities must have sensible and clear rules, which minimizes the risks for people to end up in addiction. In addition, the gaming companies themselves must have clear guidelines and tools on how to deal with responsible gaming.

Having state monopolies is not a clever idea in that sense. It is an expensive way of running a company, and they are not better suited to deal with addiction problems than other companies. It is also close to impossible to stop foreign competitors with a monopoly; free trade is free trade.