Section One

There is a distinct difference in the gambling traits between men and woman. Males were more likely to have gambling problems than females. Compulsive gambling usually begins in early adolescence in men, and between the ages twenty and forty in women. It is more common in adults living within fifty miles of a casino. Compulsive gambling is a brain disease that seems to be similar to disorders such as alcoholism and drug addiction. These disorders likely involve problems with the part of the brain involved with behaviors such as eating and sex. This part of the brain is sometimes called the “pleasure center” or dopamine reward pathway. In people who develop compulsive gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems (Medline).

Children of compulsive gamblers are at a greater risk than others for developing gambling problems themselves. One study found that fifty percent of the children of compulsive gamblers were also compulsive gamblers. In one group of fifty female members of Gamblers Anonymous, forty percent reported growing up in a household where one or both parents were addicted to either alcohol, or gambling (Heuer).

Compulsive gambling destroys homes, marriages and relationships. Compulsive gamblers will do anything to support their habit. They will steal the money they need to pay the bills and once the money is gone they lie to their partner about where the money is going. In extreme case utilities are shut off, automobiles or furniture is repossessed, house hold items are sold, and even worse they are evicted from their apartment or they lose their house because they have not paid the mortgage. Spouses of compulsive gamblers are harassed by bill collators and often end up with bad credit.

Compulsive gambling can also lead to gamblers losing their jobs. At work compulsive gamblers experience a range of problems that depend on whether they are self employed or employed in supervised jobs or employed in an unsupervised job. The lower the supervision the greater chance that gamblers will take advantage of the low supervision. They come in late after gambling, they leave early to gamble they use their extended lunch hour to gamble, they take sick days so they can gamble. Between sixty nine and seventy six percent of compulsive gamblers say they have done this before.

Compulsive gamblers resort to criminal actives to support their addiction. They do things like steal from their own family. They steal from other people other than their family. They steal money from their jobs. Once they exhaust savings, rent money, credit cards, banks, credit unions, loan sharks, and other resources, they resort to illegal activities like loan fraud, borrowing under false pretenses, forging their spouse’s signature on loans, and bouncing checks. Some become bookmakers or work in the illegal gambling world to finance their gambling. Further on they will embezzle from work, forge checks, engage in tax evasion and fraud, or otherwise engage in white collar illegal activity.

Compulsive gambling can also lead to medical problems .Given the marital , occupational, and legal problems, it is not surprising that in the later stages of their gambling, compulsive gamblers experience depression, insomnia, intestinal disorder, anxiety attacks, cardiac problems, high blood pressure, migraines, and other stress related problems. In a study of 217 admissions to the impatient gambling treatment program at Brecksville, Ohio, Veterans Administration Medical Center uncovered thirty nine percent with major cardiovascular disorder, and twenty six percent with allergies, and seventeen percent with respiratory problems, sixteen percent with nerve and sensory system disorders, fifth teen percent with musculoskeletal disorder, forty three percent with serious oral and dental disease, and thirty percent who were obese (Pavalko).

Compulsive gambling overlaps with other disorders. Major depressive disorder is the most commonly reported, with between seventy and seventy six percent of compulsive gamblers being given this diagnosis on a lifetime basis. High rates of hypomanic and bipolar disorder have also been found in some studies but not others. There is some evidence that rates of depression are lower among compulsive gamblers in the general population than in treatment samples, but still higher than among controls and that it declines following treatment for compulsive gamblers. Panic and anxiety disorders have also been reported as occurring more commonly among compulsive gamblers than in the general population (Pavalko).

Of the high rates of anxiety and depression, compulsive gamblers have very high rates of suicidal ideation. Between twelve and eighteen percent of GA members have made potentially lethal attempts at suicide; forty five to forty nine percent have made plans to kill themselves; forty eight to seventy percent have contemplated suicide; and eighty percent state they have wanted to die (Pavalko).

Compulsive gamblers have excessive use and chemical dependency is also common among compulsive gamblers, with forty seven to fifty two percent of compulsive gamblers receiving a substance abuse diagnosis. Conversely between nine and fourteen percent of substance abusing population have been diagnosed as compulsive gamblers. Studies of methadone populations have found similar results, with nine –twenty percent diagnosed as compulsive gamblers (Pavalko). Compulsive gamblers do not ingest, inject, or inhale substances as chemically addicted people do. Just what is it to which you become addicted? When this question is asked to compulsive gamblers, the answer is action. Action is an aroused, euphoric state involving excitement, tension, and anticipation of the outcome of a gambling event. It is the thrill of living on the edge. Compulsive gamblers describe action as a high similar to that experienced from many drug. Some experience these sensations when just thinking about gambling, as well as when they are actually gambling. Action also has been described as a rush that may include rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, even nausea. It is not uncommon for compulsive gamblers to describe being in action as better than drugs, as and better than sex. When they are in action, they lose track of time and sleep; food, water, and using a bathroom become lower priorities than staying in action.