When the High Roller Falls
The slippery slope of gambling and how to break the cycle
Written by Mi Chuinda Levy, Lifestyle Editor
Illustrated by Thalia Powell, Contributing Illustrator and Designer
Content Warning: This article discusses addiction and Moda Madison does not claim to have the medical authority to advise people on how to overcome it. The information below is from published research and scholarly sources.
It can start small: betting on sports games, playing penny slots, indulging in online games or even weekends at the casino. It’s just for fun right? But what happens when you just can’t get enough and you can’t seem to pry yourself away from just playing one more round? After all, this might be the time you win, right?
When many people hear the word addiction, they immediately think of drugs and alcohol, but how often do they think of gambling? Addiction can be categorized under two definitions: “a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors or nausea) upon withdrawal” or “a strong inclination to do, use or indulge in something repeatedly” (Addiction definition & meaning, n.d.). Gambling tends to fall under the second category. Many people get addicted to the feeling of winning, but as the 19th century phrase says, “what goes up must come down.”
The gambling addiction cycle can be broken down into four phases: winning, losing, desperation and hopelessness (Grohol, 2022).
The Winning Phase
This is the phase where the addiction begins. Like many other addictions, gambling stimulates the ventral striatum or reward center in the brain. When stimulated, the reward system releases dopamine which is a hormone that enhances the feeling of pleasure (Gateway Foundation, 2022). Jackpot. Nothing feels as good as winning big. You just might have the lucky touch.
The Losing Phase
Win. Win. Win. You are hooked on the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction of success and there is nothing you want more than to keep winning. You have worked your way up from slot machines to the roundtable but this time, you lose, and you lose big. Now what do you do? You keep playing. Why?
The reward deficiency model kicks in. You need to make up for the money lost and stimulate the reward center again (Gateway Foundation, 2022). The harder you fall, the bigger your comeback, right? You’ve exhausted your funds, but you refuse to go down without a fight so you borrow some money. You’ll make it back two-fold, you tell yourself. They always say go big or go home, and you are not ready to go home. You are all in. Chips in the pot and cards on the table.
The Desperation Phase
Lose. Lose. Lose. At this point, you feel like you have lost your lucky touch that you knew oh so well, but you can’t stop now. Your ego is hurt and you’ve got debts to pay. You’re ready to beg, steal, cheat, borrow or do whatever it takes to win just one more time. You’ve isolated yourself from loved ones and are beginning an emotional spiral (Gluck, n.d.). What can you do now?
The Hopelessness Phase
Marriage? Failed. Friends? Gone. Bank account? Drained. You feel like there’s nowhere to go and you are willing to do whatever it takes to escape. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. All you want to do is make it stop, but how?
As sheepish as it might sound, the first step is to admit there is a problem. Although there is no linear path to recovery, most resistance-free paths begin with someone admitting their flaws. Researchers and doctors have found many ways to combat addiction and repair its damage to a person, ranging from self-help solutions to professional treatment options.
Research psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Schwatz created a four-step solution to break obsessive-compulsive behaviors, such as addictive gambling.
The four steps are relabel, reattribute, refocus and revalue. In relabeling, the hold gambling has on a person is stripped away and its meaning is reduced to be nothing more than a symptom of gambling addiction––a treatable condition. In the reattribution step, an individual has to separate themselves from the urge to gable, while still acknowledging they have to take responsibility for their actions (Grohol, 2022). Refocusing is the step where the urge to gamble is present, but the individual does not give in, distracting themselves with a task completely unrelated to gambling (Grohol, 2022). Revaluing is one of the hardest steps. Revaluing is taking the time to reconstruct the ideals and flawed thoughts a person has about gambling (Grohol, 2022).
At face value, the four steps can seem relatively easy to understand and achieve, but recovery is a long process that is not a goal to meet but a lifestyle to maintain. Doctors and researchers have found therapy, medication and/or support groups to be beneficial to people with addictions (Tarrant, 2022).
Both cognitive and behavioral therapy can help an addict reduce their need and desire to gamble by helping them understand the toxic behaviors gambling creates, find techniques to combat gambling urges and help them revalue their feelings and thoughts surrounding gambling (Gambling addiction and problem gambling, n.d.).
Although not always right for everyone, medication has also been found to be greatly beneficial to gambling addicts who have underlying health conditions that affect their mood, increasing their likelihood to indulge in addictive behaviors (Tarrant, 2022).
Lastly, many medical professionals find it helpful for addicts to participate in self-help groups, such as Gamblers Anonymous. These groups help build connections between people just starting their recovery journey and those further along their recovery journey (Gambling addiction and problem gambling, n.d.). If anyone knows what someone struggling with a gambling addiction is going through, it would be someone who has been there before.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling addiction, please know you are not alone and there is help available. Here are some valuable contacts and self-help resources:
National Council on Problem Gambling
24-hour confidential National Helpline
Call: 1(800)522-4700
Text: 1(800)522-4700
Chat: www.ncpgambling.orrg/chat
Self-help Groups
Gamblers Anonymous is a self-help group for people struggling with gambling and who is on or would like to begin their recovery journey.
Gam-Anon is a self-help group for family members and loved ones of people who are experiencing an addiction to gambling.
GamTalk is an online moderated peer support forum and it is available 24/7.
Sources:
About Us. About Us | Gamblers Anonymous. (n.d.). Gamblers Anonymous.
Gambling addiction and problem gambling. HelpGuide.org. (n.d.).
Gateway Foundation. (2022, August 8). How gambling affects your brain. Gateway Foundation.
Gluck, S. (n.d.). Phases of a gambling addiction. HealthyPlace.
Help & treatment. (2021, July 21). NCPGambling.
Home. GamTalk. (2020, December 7). Gamtalk.
John M. Grohol, P. D. (2022, March 18). Phases of gambling addiction. Psych Central.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Addiction definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster.
Office, G. (n.d.). Welcome. Gam-Anon.
Tarrant, G. (2022, June 28). Gambling addiction: Symptoms, causes, cycles, and treatments. PsychoTreat.