Topic: The connection between gambling and addiction behaviours? (Read 238 times)

People are overreacting on gambling as if that is an addiction that could be the worst, like it is somehow worse than many other addictions, which is quite incredibly wrong. If you are addicted to drinking then you may die from liver failure, if you are addicted to smoking then you may die from lung cancer, if you are addicted to food then you may die from diabetes, these are all "legal" addictions by the way, you can do all of these and still die and it is sold right around the corner, there is absolutely no protection against these, they are free as you wish and kills you. What does gambling do? It takes away your money.

So, we have 3 things that we counted that could kill you, all those booze, cigarettes, high calorie fast foods everything like that kills you, yet they are super free to do and nobody bans you from it, yet something that takes away your money is somehow illegal? That just doesn't make sense to me.

They said a child if disciplined early, you won't have a problem when he grows up but if you only decide to discipline when they are teenager, you will be the one to be disciplined by them and you can't do anything about it cause you are going older and they are a lot stronger than you now. To avoid such things to happen, parents should consider not to spoil their child and continue to guide him every time he done wrong. Because when a person thinks that no one can stop him on his habit, that is where he will fall into some sort of addictions.

I think there might be some kind of genetic trait (traits), that generally make people more predisposed to any kind of addiction. Thus, certain people with a prevailing portion of such genes can have bad self-control and better stay away from both gambling and alcohol. On the other hand, others can control themselves perfectly, and no amount of gambling or alcohol will lead to addiction.

I don’t think one thing can lead to the other, it’s rather a person that easily becomes addicted will become addicted to anything he/she is exposed to.

In addition, environmental factors play a role, such as parenting and a circle of close friends, that form our behavior.

To support my idea I’ll provide an excerpt from an article by Harvard which states that certain genes may be involved in drug addiction:


While it only provides information regarding drug addiction, there’s a reason to assume that similar factors may stand behind other addictions as well, since the above-mentioned genetic factors impact the whole reward system, and the latter is known to play a crucial role in all types of addictions.

I think your opening paragraph is actually untruthful in reference to poker and blackjack - those are perhaps the only two gambling methods that actually can be profitable for somebody who has the right skills. Out of the many different casino games you could have picked - slots, sports betting, roulette, etc. you actually picked two examples where it is possible to get an edge over the house/other players. However, for 99.9% of people they will never have the mathematical mind, patience and sheer nerve to beat other players in poker so it is still best avoided. If you're knowledgeable with blackjack and the game is setup in a certain way, it is possible to do (perfectly legal) card counting. I would say that the use of gambling products by drinkers/drug takers is more about the loss of self control than trying to fund a habit - they quickly learn that is not realistic, it's just a form of entertainment at that point.

The usual pattern is when you get hooked and become too attached to what you do, it is considered an addiction. And that evaluation is broad and there's always attachment for those huge gamblers.

I agree for those people that don't accept defeat, usually, those that get addicted, they won a few times and when they've been in a losing streak. No one can stop them until they've recovered everything.

whenever I hear about someone addicted to gambling I never hear that the person is also addicted to drugs and alcohol, in fact the addicted to alcohol and drugs seems to be a bit far from gambling


i don't know what life is like in europe or america but from what i see in africa drug and alcohol addicts are not anti-social people, on the contrary they are very social people and bad companies have led them to the path of drugs and alcohol


I don't know, but from what I see the addiction Is consequence of people not accepting defeat or thinking they need to get rich or famous fast in the world of gambling

I don't know if that's coincidental though, probably it's the available thing for them to drown themselves and numb the pain, remember that there's illegal substances too so it's not just alcohol. Addiction is a spiral behavior that can lead you to more and more misery if you let it be that way.

i gamble but i dont like to drink and if i loose i only found ways to get a relief like playing a video game or watching a good movie .
what you share here is another possible connection but for now we are only talking about the connection between the two .

@op anything that is pleasureable can trigger an addiction so theres no secret that gambling can be one of that

I think gambling is accompanied by alcohol if you think if you lose a lot of money you will be sad and hurt and will look for a way to numb that pain. Alcohol is what gamblers and addicts think is the best decision for them to help them cope from their losses. Then it is a vicious cycle where they try to get the money they lost back and when that does not work out they go back to drinking. 

This article seemed strange to me - it is quite obvious that a person suffering from some kind of addiction will easily fall into dependence on something else. Gambling or drugs are just a way to release certain chemicals that make the brain feel good. It is quite obvious that a person who does not have self-control in order to limit himself in such pleasures will easily try various ways to get the desired high.

But if they have plunged into gambling it will be very difficult to leave the game, for sure they will come back with bets that bring to entertain them but in reality even what they want is money that is expected, when you lose there sometimes patience has to happen keep this in mind that gambling will be very difficult to recover after a few tries the game.

Because there are so many reasons for addiction that we have to reveal, but it feels impossible not to write more, because we already understand a little how to see addictions that often play several times, so the reason for leaving gambling will indeed be more difficult than the commitment.

Well i think every adult person is aware of the fact that overall the house always wins, because if that would not be the case than there would be no casinos of course. That does not mean though that it is impossible to make a nice profit while gambling. It is also no surprise to me that people who are in general more prone to develop an addiction are also more prone to develop a gambling addiction, that is just common sense. In the end it is the responsibility of every gambler themself to never spend more money on gambling that you can afford to lose, if you are risking to much money and then you lose it you just want to win it back which in most cases just lead to an even bigger loss. So just play it safe and gamble for fun.

We all can define gambling in our own way whether it can have a bad impact or not on health, mental, financial and social. There are varying degrees of addiction experienced by gamblers and we know that some of them are even quite severe and difficult to cure. The alcohol, cocaine and marijuana that can be consumed temporarily in some casinos may be an attempt by gamblers to calm down when they gamble, but still the side effect of these sedative are addictive.

It really depend on how gamblers react to their losses and wins from gambling. If they can control themselve and their emotion while gambling, perhap drink or other sedatives aren't necessary. But yes, losing too much and continuing to chase wins is probably the pattern most likely to make them addicted to sedative.

We all know that gambling can give a full of entertainment and profit or money to the player that's why they get more likely to play gambling and one of the reasons is it's an easy money all you need is to understand the mechanics of the game and play all of your skills and knowledge some of the people already win a lot of money and some people don't and they want to take back all of their loses that causes more gambling games to play. Once you win or lose the game its too hard to step back again and ignore the gambling this is the reason why people get addicted on this, if you want to step better you are really committed to give up and not taking back anymore.

Anything that's being abused could lead to addiction that will ruin our lives in the future. This kind of pattern could be somehow true because vices are mostly connected to each other. What we need is self-control and discipline to avoid gambling, alcohol, or even drug addiction. Temptations are everywhere but we should also know how to avoid them.

There is one very prominent pattern I have seen in few of my distant relatives which leads to addiction. That is the greed to overcome the losses occurred by gambling itself. Few of my distant relatives are very active in cricket gambling. During their initial days of gambling they had won a huge amount of money using which they had purchased their first cars. But eventually they started tasting the defeat. They became addicted just to recover that losses occurring from gambling. So they gamble more to recover their loss and started lossing more. Their initial winning remained as their inspiration to continue with this malpractices. I am sure that's another psychological parameters that lead to addiction!

You're a bit retarded on the part of drugs, you just shrug that off as part of society and entertainment? I mean have you seen someone change their lives for the good because they're using or addicted to drugs? Obviously I am talking about illegal drugs here like cocaine, crack, meth, weed, and heroin. Yes you can't blame them but there should be a way to prevent them from causing you addiction.

That depends on the gambler's preference but knowing that a lot of people drink alcohol it's not that surprising to see gamblers who are addicted to alcohol as well.

I doubt online casinos could help in some way because if anything it'll only encourage them to drink alcohol or smoke as they're likely going to lose money in the process. Like what acro mentioned certain gamblers have their own way of controlling their stress and even if it's not related to alcohol there's still a lot of bad options when it comes to dealing with stress.

Then how can we distinguish between gambling and competition? Both are on the odds, then something is at stake, where the race is betting the registration money while the same is risking money or something of value and value.
Addiction is an out (result) of an action, whether it is an action that is produced by consuming alcohol, or one that encourages people to become addicted.

regarding your question which is "Is there a pattern of gambling that leads to any of these addictions?.
How addiction can enter the pattern of gambling, while addiction is. so type addiction or not then I don't think it can be categorized. There are still many people who gamble but can control their addiction, and there are also people who gamble who cannot control their addiction.

You can't blame gambling for people being addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc. These activities are now part of society and entertainment.

Since gambling is a form of entertainment, there's no way people can avoid being exposed to other sinful activities.

There is always a connection but that is something common, usual and more importantly, it can be controlled.

If you are hooked on gambling and become something that you can do without to the point that you are spending a lot  then it's an insidious human vice, but if it's something that you do to take out the stress of your day job or to give yourself a break, then gambling serves it's purpose to you


they go together because compulsive gamblers want something that will relax their tension when they are betting the longer they play the more they want to play and relax their body for their next round of betting, that is why casinos offer lots of drinks, hard and energy drinks to keep them going

And not all of us like alcohol when gambling, maybe it dominates to dominate, but we gamble so just gamble, without the need to drink alcohol at all. We still enjoy. All the research on avoiding gambling in casinos, that's what online casinos can do to minimize avoiding alcohol. So here we are quite neutral because it depends on the gambler himself, even before gambling, he used to drink alcohol regularly.

Anything that is way above the normal levels of use can be considered addiction. It may not only be on illegal substances and whatnot but also on gambling and other activities. Once the "hooked" feeling starts, what follows is the "urge" to play more even without enough money to cover the session. Then it will lead to other undesirable things just to get that fill of gambling on your system, until such time that you're already an addict since all you think about is playing and how to play even more, or how to prolong your gambling sessions. There are lots of links, and they should even be obvious, too.

What the study says is very interesting, it is also for this reason that when we are in traditional casinos they serve a lot of alcohol and food, I think that at the level of games this makes the player lose concentration, if he discovers a winning pattern it causes those to be distorted ideas.

The fact of combining alcohol with gambling is very bad, it enters something much beyond randomness and produces total losses, of course if there are people who use drugs plus alcohol together with smoking, it translates into guaranteed loss.

Obviously, many vices join, and if the person seeks to play more alcohol is a very bad combination, sometimes some do not even drink liquor but lose because of the system alone, and that already represents a problem for their integrity, when we see that there is alcohol and other substances if rapid action is needed by a doctor or psychologist.

I guess the only pattern might be attributed was to be "not to be bored while gambling/playing", that's the nearest pattern I think that may lead to addiction on both or may lead to one these addiction. I think most gamblers are tend to be on the alcoholic side compared to the drug abuse. Why I say, well, you said in the OP that it's some sort of casino hospitality and I think that could lead to be emulated even on remote gambling too or if they get excited like winning or mad when they get lose.

I mean the only reason why people even suffer from falling into addiction (sometimes) is due to alcohol. Alcohol IS the one that kills the persons capability to think properly and let's be real here, gambling requires you to be fully conscious of your actions ALL the time since if not, then you can only fall to the depth and go bankrupt for how much funds you have on your pocket then (or account, whatever it is). Saying that alcohol pushes someone to addiction is wrong though. Calling it a first stepping stone might be the best description one could give? Especially since you can stop once your senses come back in the next morning. You may have lost your funds for that session, but it's not like you spent everything no?

Maybe the gambling pattern can lead to alcohol because when they go to an offline casino, they can ask for a drink and the bartender will give them alcohol available on that casino. Maybe if they drink one glass will not be a problem, but if they also drink while playing gambling, that can trigger them to get drunk. Once they are drunk, they will not see or think clearly, which can lead them to lose more money. If they do that for a long time, let say for a year, there are possibilities for them to get addicted to gambling and alcohol at the same time.

The problem will be bigger if they consume cocaine as a "calm down" medicine to reducing their tension, they will become addicted, which can lead to a crime if they really need money. But we do not know the truth as we can only say without experience, and I think more patterns can appear along with that activity.

Addiction is a behavior that is excessive and also continuously done so that when uncontrollable behavior or urges appear in their brains of course it will make them continue to gamble even though they have to sacrifice their lives and usually this kind of behavior has a destructive pattern that is dangerous for psychological, financial, and social in the long run, I think gambling behavior is like someone who is so addicted to alcohol that when they start doing it, they can't stop.

yeah, just like what the article says,  gamblers tend to use alcohol, drugs, etc.. as a coping mechanism to the stressful activity of gambling. I mean, repetitive action of this would eventually become a habit and if it is not moderated it would eventually lead to an addiction to whatever substance the gambler is using.

the articles you shared actually answers your question. also, the link you shared is quite informative. thanks for sharing.

I think almost anything that is done in excess is always cause for an addiction, I think the reason behind those addiction is that it's a behaviour that could be prevented if during the formative years of a child, they're able to teach them the right things and such.

Gambling is staking something of value on a game or event whose result is dependent on chance. Gambling is one of the most insidious of human vices, as it presents the illusion of easy money yet can quickly lead to financial ruin. The odds are never in your favor whether it is poker, blackjack or anything else; gambling is a successful industry because the house always win.
 A study from psychguides.com evaluation shows that and I quote "People with a substance abuse disorder are more likely to have a gambling disorder. Alcohol use disorders are particularly common in people who are diagnosed with a gambling addiction.
Alcohol disorders have been found to have the greatest link to gambling addiction, and alcohol is served at most casinos.
On the flip side, one pattern that is commonly seen among people with a history of alcohol dependence is the development of a gambling problem—even after being in recovery for many years.
Additionally, gamblers may use drugs and alcohol to celebrate a win or to cope with depression after a loss. Some also use it to deal with the guilt and shame associated with gambling.
Gambling and cocaine abuse may occur together as part of a broader antisocial lifestyle. A person who uses cocaine may view gambling as an acceptable method to acquire money to support their drug habit. They might also have increased energy as well as an inflated sense of their gambling skill because of cocaine use and believe that they can’t lose".
Is there a gambling pattern that eventually leads to one of these addictions?

https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/gambling-addiction/symptoms-and-effects/

https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/gambling-addiction/