Why do people gamble and become addicted? Causes and effects

Betting slips, scratch cards, slot machines, lotteries, casinos, online betting: there are so many ways to gamble. But why do people do it, sometimes losing entire fortunes? The motivations for gambling are varied and complex: chasing emotions and adrenalinebut also escape from everyday problems or hope to earn money quickly. L’education and the socialization that we receive as children influence our familiarity with play and even some personality disorders may be associated with risky behaviors such as gambling. Society has a ambivalent approach: on the one hand he strongly disapproves of it, but on the other he regulates it and creates various occasions to practice it.

What is gambling and some facts about the most common games

Gambling is arecreational activity linked to the possible obtaining of a award (money, material goods, etc.) for which you need to be willing to risk losing a more or less large sum of money or equivalent (one’s own goods etc.) and where the winnings are not largely influenced by the skill or ability of the player, but only (or almost only) by the case.

Among the most common gambling games we find the slot machineswhich in the USA are in first place in the category (61.8%), lotteriesoften state-run and which in 2020 generated over 89.65 billion dollars in the US, the sport bets ($85 billion globally) and the market of poker ($2.5 billion annually in the US). In Italy In 2022, gambling generated a turnover of 136 billion euros; the most common is scratch cards.

What Drives People to Gambling: The Causes

In the essay The Sociology of Gambling Herbert A. Bloch observe that humans gamble for several reasons:

Individual appearance: some personal characteristics make some individuals more susceptible to gambling. Many studies, for example, would confirm the association between the pleasure derived from risky activities (sensation seeking), novelty seeking and dependent personality. In other studies, moreover, a close link has been found between sensation seeking and the D4 receptor for dopamine (responsible for reward).
Recreational aspect: just as there are “social drinkers and smokers” (that is, those who adopt these behaviors only in certain circumstances, such as during an evening with friends), there are also social or occasional gamblers, for whom gambling offers an opportunity for recreation and socialization.
Ritual aspect: gambling functions as a belief system, where players’ beliefs create shared meaning (some players develop personal rituals: pressing buttons in a certain sequence, talking to the machine, using lucky charms. These rituals are practiced seriously and regularly, with the belief that they can influence the outcome of the game. This rituality is what gives order and meaning to their experience.
Influence of social class: in rapidly growing societies, cultural goals considered fundamental (success at work, in economic terms, etc.) are not always accessible and everyone is able to reach them with adequate means. Gambling thus becomes one of the ways that are considered viable to quickly achieve economic success.

Characteristics of a compulsive gambler

There gambling addiction It is defined at a medical and psychological level as a condition characterized byinability to resist the urge to gambledespite the negative consequences for the individual or his or her social and family network. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), symptoms include:

Need to play with ever-increasing sums of money to get the desired excitement.
Irritability or restlessness when trying to cut down or stop gambling.
Persistent thoughts on past gaming experiences, planning for the next game, etc.
Attempts to “chasing” lossesthat is, to return to play to recover the lost money.
Use of lies to hide the extent of involvement in the game.
Relationship breakdown significant, employment or educational opportunities due to gambling.
Relying on others for get money to address critical financial situations caused by gambling.

The development of the Gambling Disorder is influenced by cognitive distortions: we tend to perceive winnings more positively than losses (even if the former are less than the latter) and we think we can influence the outcome of the game. This behavior is defined as the act of “chasing losses“: betting increasingly frequent, increasing amounts of money to recover the money lost. The moment of victory (intermittent reinforcement), even if sporadic and after many losses, is interpreted as a confirmation that winning is possible, further reinforcing the gambling behavior.

From a sociological point of view, some recurring characteristics emerge in the so-called “addicted“:

subjects men;
people living in city;
belonging to social minorities and subordinate groups who are, at the same time, also those least likely to receive help

The influence of context on the development of gambling addiction

When we talk about gambling addiction, there is generally a clear prevalence of psychological, psychiatric and medical interpretations. However, sociological science, by its very nature, is interested in understanding the birth and the evolution from the problem gambler figure: the latter is a contemporary construction typical of consumerist societies that produce narratives that are also very contradictory to each other.

In particular, it is of crucial importance that context in producing guilt, de-responsibilization and so-called self-fulfilling prophecies towards those that society labels as “addicts” to gambling.

On the one hand we witness the spectacularization of gambling in all its forms. For example, we are encouraged to consume gambling even in places that were previously used for other purposes and that today instead host slot machines, betting slips, scratch cards (bars, tobacconists, hotels, clubs, shopping centers) or, on the contrary, in gaming environments catering services have been added to keep people inside.
On the other side, we have aaccusa and a marginalization of those who play “beyond the permitted limits”, that is, when the game from being pure “fun” becomes the center of an individual’s action, distancing him from being productive. Not only that: an appeal is made to his moral degradation, vices and disorderliness, arguing that it is all caused by individual responsibility. As we have seen, however, addiction is very difficult for the person to control.

Intervening on gambling addiction

In addition to the effects and impact it has on the brain and cognitive functions and the nervous system, addicted gamblers suffer economic, moral, social and family damage, as well as work-related damage, which leads the subjects to isolate themselves and to be isolated.

If you suffer from gambling addiction, there are several resources you can activate: