Recently I was around a physical bet shop close to my area and I observed a man who was shabbily dressed walking in the gambling house. I got into the place to observe what his intentions were. He walked straight to the gaming attendant, placed his bets in a highly coordinated manner and quietly walked out of the physical gambling house. From the way he was well organized, you will never know that he was mentally unsound apart from his dirty clothes and unkept hair and beard.
When I inquired from the attendant, she said he was a regular customer and that he usually raised money for gambling through the manual jobs he does around the area. She also told me that he has never misbehaved and acted violently in the gambling house so she was comfortable with him.
My question now is are there any moral, ethical or legal obligation to bar a person from gambling after physically observing that he is mentally unstable?
Certainly not, but I doubt that any country prohibits certain people from gambling or that any casino requires a medical certificate from all its customers.
The main characteristic that differentiates a pathological gambler (who has a mental problem or addiction) from a responsible gambler is the cognitive distortion he has about the game. Calm down, I'll explain better....
Cognitive distortion is defined as an illusion of control over the game, that is, of controlling the results (which we know are random). This illusion of control can be manifested either when the person believes that they have already "mastered" the moves or when they believe that they know how to interpret certain "environmental signals" that are not actually influencing anything in the game.
In addition to this characteristic, pathological gamblers also display traits of impulsivity that probably emerged in childhood, and use gambling as a way of seeking a form of psychological pleasure.
The responsible player knows the limits and risks of the game, is always playing according to the odds and knows when to stop... something that a person with mental problems would be unlikely to achieve.
Players who have this type of problem and cannot control their excessive gambling behavior should seek psychiatric treatment and stay away from gambling.