Section Two

Denial plays a big part in a compulsive gambler’s life. Many compulsive gamblers are in denial once they realized it is too late. “Denial like it is peer in pop psychology, codependency, has been worked to death in the last couple of decades an can now be applied to nearly any situation, however remote from actual psychological context, without drawing the least little notice” (Raabe). Tom Coates, a credit counselor, counseled a couple who put themselves into a six figure debit by gambling. They borrowed against their pension, their cars, and their home, and maxed out as many credit cards as they could. When questioned they said they had a debt problem, and not a gambling problem. This is a perfect example of denying a gambling addiction. Sometimes the whole family is in denial for years before the problem is addressed.
People with compulsive gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines compulsive gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:

· Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble
· Needing to gamble large amounts of money in order to feel excitement
· Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
· Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
· Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
· Gambling large amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
· Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
· Committing crimes to get money to gamble
· Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
· Needing to borrow money to get by due to gambling losses

In people who develop compulsive gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems (Pathological Gambling).

Compulsive gambling has received a great deal of attention recently. In June 1999 the congressionally mandated National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) completed two years of deliberations and issued a report calling, among other things, for greater attention to compulsive gambling from the states with lotteries and licensing and taxing casinos and race tracks. The gambling industry especially the casino segment, has acknowledged that compulsive gambling is a byproduct of gambling expansion and has begun promoting responsible gaming. National television network programs dealing with compulsive gamblers and their families also have increased in numbers. Despite all this, compulsive gambling remains very much a hidden addiction, despite the fact that it is every bit as real as an addiction to alcohol or other drugs (Coates).

The view of compulsive gambling as an addiction is strengthened by a good deal of evidence that chemical dependency and compulsive gamblers are related. About half of the members of Gamblers Anonymous and compulsive gamblers in treatment have had a serious chemical addiction at some point in their lives and often for long periods of time. In addition, about ten percent of people receiving inpatient treatment for alcohol and other drug addiction are compulsive gamblers.

In many instances people with addictive personalities have difficulty controlling their extreme desire to overdo everything they approach. Because of their addictive personality they can not control the situations they find themselves in. When someone of an addictive personality tastes the success of winning, they easily become addicted to this euphoric feeling. Winning when gambling becomes like a drug. The gambler becomes addicted to the feeling of winning and this becomes their downward spiral into yet another addiction. Once they start losing their money they never know when to stop because they are in denial so this leads them to losing everything they own. In the next chart, we show the frequency of visits by these casino gamblers. At least half of these people are very infrequent (one to two times per year) gamblers.

Less than ten percent of the gamblers (or less than one percent entire population) visit eleven or more times in the last twelve months, which puts a cap on the number of potential addictive/compulsive gamblers.