- Problem gambling generally means gambling that involves more than one symptom but fewer than the at least five symptoms required to qualify for the diagnosis of compulsive or pathological gambling. Binge gambling is a subtype of compulsive gambling that involves problem gambling but only during discrete periods of time.
- Compulsive gambling is a legitimate mental health issue that responds well to treatment. The longer the compulsive gambling goes untreated, the greater the financial, emotional, or health consequences become. Co-occurring substance abuse and compulsive gambling treatment.
Last updated: 10/25/2018
Author: Addictions.com Medical Review
Author: Addictions.com Medical Review
Reading Time: 5minutes
Compulsive Gambling Symptoms
What is compulsive gambling? Compulsive gambling is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Compulsive gamblers may continually chase bets, lie or hide the behavior, and may resort to theft or fraud to support the addiction. Common symptoms reported by people with compulsive gambling.
In the same way that drugs, alcohol, and other substances can cause addiction and compulsive abuse over time, certain behaviors can also cause these issues. Gambling is one such activity which, though it may start out as a fun pastime or hobby, can become compulsive and addictive, causing many problems for the gambler as well as their friends and family.
It is important to be able to recognize the most common compulsive gambling symptoms. Even if your gambling seems to be under your control, you may need to examine it and ask yourself if you are not exhibiting some of these symptoms, or if you may be in danger of experiencing them in the future.
Financial Issues
When your gambling interferes with your emotions and psychological health you know you have a problem.
Nearly every individual who is experiencing issues with compulsive gambling has some kind of financial problem because of it. According to the USDA, “One of the clearest indicators of a serious gambling problem is borrowing money to gamble or to pay off gambling debts. This is the heart of the security issue, which is the gambler’s need for money.” Compulsive gamblers constantly need more money in order to pay off debts and to continue gambling.
Some other financial issues experienced by gamblers are:
- Chasing one’s losses
- This occurs when a compulsive gambler loses money and then returns to the same casino or other gambling establishment the next day in order to win back the money they lost. This can start to snowball for almost everyone who does it and, eventually, they wind up losing quite a lot of money.
- Using money meant for other things on gambling
- Money meant for rent payments, groceries, bills, things needed by their children or other family members, etc. should be understood to be off-limits by the gambler. But if the individual begins to use these funds to gamble with, it is likely that they are already feeling a compulsive need to gamble
- Tolerance for Monetary Amounts
- According to the Mayo Clinic, an individual with a compulsive gambling problem may feel the need “to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement.” This shows that the individual’s tolerance for gambling with the same amount of money every time goes up, and they need more in order to feel the same effects. This same issue occurs in substance use disorders.
Financial issues are one of the most common symptoms of compulsive gamblers, and they will affect almost anyone who cannot control their gambling addictions. Even if the individual does not seem to be in financial ruin as of yet, their behavior suggests that this issue could come about very soon.
Detrimental Behavior
A compulsive gambler will do anything in order to continue gambling. Even if they know that this activity is not good for them, they will not be able to stop. They will very likely even behave in ways that are extremely detrimental, even harmful, to them and to others. Compulsive gamblers are likely to be involved in many problematic and even illegal behaviors such as:
![Compulsive Gambling Symptoms Compulsive Gambling Symptoms](https://www.helpguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dying-woman-500.jpg)
- Lying “to family members, therapists or others to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling”
- Stealing from friends, loved ones, or others in order to have more money with which to gamble
- Committing acts such as “forgery, fraud, theft or embezzlement, in order to finance gambling”
- Acting out when unable to gamble to the point of violent and hostility
- “Losing a job, relationship, education, or career opportunity due to gambling” (NLM)
- This occurs because, in the case of compulsive gambling, the individual will not care about anything as much as they do about being able to gamble, causing other, more important matters to fall by the wayside.
A compulsive gambler will break promises, commit illegal acts, lie, steal, and do many detrimental things all in the name of gambling. They will not be able to stop themselves because their activity of gambling is just that, a compulsion. These issues also stem from the way gambling makes them feel, which are also common compulsive gambling symptoms of note.
Emotions of Compulsive Gamblers
A compulsive gambler will likely feel a certain way when they are able to gamble; they will usually feel a different way when they are not. Most compulsive gamblers also start out doing it for common reasons. According to the NLM, “gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety” is a common symptom of compulsive gambling.
Compulsive Gambling Withdrawal Symptoms
Individuals who feel this way will start to believe the only way they can find happiness is through their gambling. But it takes an incredibly large toll on their life. There are other emotions you may feel about gambling that point to an addiction to the activity. These are:
- Feeling restless, irritable, or depressed when trying to quit gambling
- This is akin to a withdrawal syndrome, often experienced by drug abusers. Most compulsive gamblers try to quit or cut back but they are usually unable to, partly because of these feelings coupled with those of regret, loss, and failure. “Making many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling” is another common symptom of compulsive gambling.
- Feeling extremely excited or happy when winning money and extremely sad when losing
- These feeling will be much more intense in a compulsive gambler than someone who gambles socially.
- Only feeling happy when gambling
- If someone is only able to experience feelings of happiness, of completeness when they are gambling, it is a common symptom of compulsive gambling
- “Feeling bad after [they] gamble, but not quitting” (NLM)
- This is common in addicted individuals
Other Common Symptoms
Individuals who truly have a gambling problem will think about gambling all the time. They will always be trying to think of ways to get more money or “remembering past experiences” of gambling (NLM 1). People also have a higher chance of becoming compulsive gamblers if they are “children of pathological gamblers” (CRB).
It is important to realize that gambling can cause many of the same symptoms and behaviors that addictive substances can cause. Being able to recognize the common symptoms of compulsive gambling is necessary and may help you seek treatment before your condition worsens.
Gambling, for some people, is a leisure activity that offers a night out on the town enjoying time with friends and family, with a distant possibility of winning money. For other people, the stakes are higher. After all, gambling is a $40 billion dollar industry in the United States. In Las Vegas alone—the unofficial gambling capital of the world—the casinos bring in over 10 billion dollars from people placing bets. Though many of those people only gamble once in awhile, there are people who make gambling the center of their universe. In other words, they are addicted to gambling.
The temptations to gamble are everywhere and you don’t need to be in a casino to try your luck. Every state in America, with the exception of Utah and Hawaii, offer some type of legalized gambling—from old-school slot machines to sports-betting apps and everything in between. The accessibility to gambling has only amplified with the Internet. Based on various surveys in recent years, it is estimated that two million people in the US are addicted to gambling. But that figure has the potential to increase at anytime, because those same surveys revealed as many as 20 million people noting that their gambling habit had begun to interfere with their work and social life. That type of behavior falls into the category of “compulsive gambling,” which is the stage before gambling addiction.
What is Compulsive Gambling?
“The shortest version is that compulsive gambling is, as its name implies, a compulsion,” says Lance Dodes, MD, author of THE HEART OF ADDICTION: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors. “Compulsive gambling leads to an addiction, which is a psychological symptom that is well-understood and treatable with psychotherapy oriented toward that understanding. It is not a biological, genetic or moral issue, and it is not fundamentally different from other compulsive behaviors or addictions.”
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Usually, people start out gambling for fun, and then they lose money they didn’t mean to, and they end up chasing that loss until all their money is gone. And in many cases, people are gambling because they have faced emotional and financial losses and they are trying to console themselves.
There is a misconception among many people that problem gambling, another term for gambling addiction, is not a big deal. “Most people don’t realize that problem gambling is a real disorder, just like alcohol or drug addiction,” says Shelia Moran, director of communications and marketing at First Choice Services, a nonprofit agency in West Virginia dedicated to mental health issues and problems. “They think it’s just a bad habit that can be easily ended. The good news is that we find most people who get treatment are able to successfully stop gambling.”
Gambling and Co-Existing Mental Health Conditions
Sadly, it is estimated that over 80% of people who suffer from some type of gambling addiction never seek treatment, no matter how bad their problem is. Other statistics reveal that while there are people who do seek treatment for their gambling addiction, over 70% end up returning to the world of betting. People with this type of disorder are more likely to suffer from other types of mental health and substance abuse issues. Many gamblers also have an alcohol disorder or addiction, and over half were nicotine dependent.
The emotional toll it takes on people is devastating, and in many cases a gambling addiction can also bring bouts of depression, and in extreme situations may lead to suicidal thoughts or tendencies. People with a gambling addiction are also prone to anxiety, high stress and extreme sadness. When a gambler loses everything, their life will suddenly become hopeless and they fear what the future might bring.
Gambling Addiction Symptoms and Signs
As with other addictions, there are warning signs to look out for. These include:
Compulsive Gambling Articles
- Keeping gambling habits a secret
- Having trouble controlling their gambling habit
- Continuing to be involved with a gambling habit when they cannot financially afford to do so.
- Resorting to illegal activities to pay for their gambling habit
Physical symptoms of excessive gambling include problems sleeping, weight gain or loss, dark circles under the eyes and extreme headaches.
Diamond reels casino login. How can you tell if someone has a gambling disorder? The American Psychiatric Association has developed guidelines and says that a person requires at least four of the following issues to take place during the past year:
- A person feels the need to gamble with an increasing amount of money in order to achieve the desired excitement.
- A person becomes angry, restless or irritable when someone tells them to cut back on their gambling, or to stop it altogether.
- A person will have unsuccessfully tried to cut back or stop gambling on their own.
- A person has frequent thoughts about gambling, including reliving past gambling adventures, planning their next gambling outing, and thinking of ways to get money to gamble with.
- A person will often gamble when they are feeling distressed.
- After a person loses money, they return to try and “get even” (referred to as “chasing” one’s losses)
- A person will not hesitate to lie to hide their gambling activity.
- A person will jeopardize or lose a significant relationship, job or educational/career opportunity because of gambling.
- A person will begin relying on others to help with money problems caused by their gambling habits.
Treatment Options for Gambling Addicts
If you suspect that someone in your life is addicted to gambling or a compulsive gambler, you should know that there is help. Here are treatment options to consider:
- “Behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy are recommended for compulsive gamblers,” says Katie Hurley, LCSW. “Behavioral therapy uses systematic exposure to the behavior to teach skills to reduce the urges, while cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhealthy and irrational thoughts and replacing them with positive/adaptive ones. Family therapy is another option,” Hurley explains.
- Apps can help instill healthy habits and encourage consideration of events and emotions that lead to compulsive behaviors. Addiction AVERT app can help curb cravings. BreakFree can help people who use their smartphones to gamble spend less time on their phone.
- Adaptive coping strategies like exercise, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness, and meditation are all positive options. There are even meditation apps that can help anyone who doesn’t know where to start.
Tropicana gold casino. According to the American Psychiatric Association, as of 2016, there are no FDA-approved medications for the treatment of gambling disorder. There is, however, emerging scientific research that has shown that medications can be effective in reducing the intensity of urges and cravings for gambling.
Finally, Gamblers Anonymous has been beneficial in the lives of people who have an addiction; however, they must first admit they have a problem, which is often times the most difficult thing to do. If someone is unable to find an accessible chapter of Gamblers Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous addresses many of the same behaviors.
Just as anyone can become addicted to gambling, anyone can stop.