Problem Gambling Y11 Eald

Problem gambling

Background information:

Gambling is one of the most popular leisure activities that Australians do. From the statistics, there are over 80 percent of Australian adults experienced some kind of gambling, which is the highest rate in the world (Gambling in Australia, Wikipedia, 2016). In definition, gambling means to bet on an uncertain event by using money or evaluative items (eg. Jewelry) in a hope of earning profit. This indicate that gambling can refer to many activities that people do. Gambling can be classify into two main groups, casino gambling and non-casino gambling. Casino gambling includes games such as slot machine or poker games. While non-casino gambling refers to any form of betting which can be played outside of casino, including sports betting, coin tossing, Mahjong and lotteries.

Gambling Problems

Although Australian government regulated both types of gambling within Australia, casino are restricted heavily by the government. Even though casino gambling can provide a huge revenue to the government, there is a huge concern that casino games can lead to addiction to gamble.

Gambling addiction, also been known as problem gambling, ludomania or compulsive gambling. It is a term to describe a person wants to gamble in a desire despite it has harmed the gambler or others.

In Australia, problem gambling is a severe social issue. Within Australia, it is estimated that there are 80,000 to 160,000 adults are addicted to gambling while 250,000 to 350,000 adults are in a risk of being addicted. The most addictive games is poker machines. Three quarters of these gamblers are addicted to it. That is, for every six person who plays the slot machine, one person would addicted to it. The research also shows that young adults at the age of eighteen to twenty-four would spend more money on pokies than any other age group.

Symptoms

There are a number of symptoms to identify if a person is addicted to gamble. If a person meets four of them for longer than twelve months, then that person is a problem gambler.

? They have to increase the amount of money they bet to achieve same amount of excitement.

? They are restless or irritable if gambling is stopped by someone.

? They fail to control, quit or stop gambling repeatingly.

? Their thoughts are always concentrate on gambling.

? They gamble when they are in a bad mood.

? They want to win back their loss.

? They lie to hide the fact that they gamble.

? They have damaged or lost their relationship, work or education because of gambling.

? They have financial difficulties because of gambling.

Causes:

The causes of gambling addiction is not only the enjoyment of gambling. There are other factors contributing ludomania. There are similarities between drug addiction and problem gambling. ¡°monetary reward in a gambling-like experiment produces brain activation very similar to that observed in a cocaine addicted receiving an infusion of cocaine¡± said Hans Breiter, the co-director of the Motivation and Emotion Neuroscience Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital. (Problem Gambling, Wikipedia, 2016) This indicate that when problem gamblers are betting, their brain behaves in a way to give them delighted feeling which makes them obsessed. However, gamblers would experience more physical symptoms if they have been withdrawal or stopped gambling. Research shows that some gamblers have a constantly lower level of norepinephrine, while there are also some problem gamblers are lack of serotonin (both of these two substance are neurotransmitter, constant abnormal level for anyone of them may lead to mental disorder).

Also, there is no doubt that the social environment may also contribute to compulsive gambling. If one of the parents is addicted to gambling, their children would be ten times more likely to be addicted as well. (problemgambling.gov.au, 2016)

Consequences:

Ludomania would cause many troubles to the gambler and people around them. Problem gamblers would often have financial difficulties,