Do you know someone who had to stop gambling because it became an addiction? It can cause you to stop and think about your habits and wonder if you may have a problem. A gambling addiction can happen to anyone, from anywhere, who spends any amount of money on casino games. You don’t have to be losing money hand over fist to be an addict; your involvement simply needs to be of an addictive nature.

Symptoms of Gambling Addiction:
There are some well known signs and symptoms that you may need to stop gambling or at least scale back. Many don’t take signs of a gambling addiction seriously enough, but this sort of addiction can be just as devastating as a substance abuse problem. Some of the signs and symptoms of a gambling addict may include:

∙ Preoccupation with gambling. This can include a preoccupation with big wins and losses in the past, planning your next gambling moves, or thinking of how you will get money to gamble. Gambling should not be in the forefront of your mind at all times.

∙ Tolerance. This is in reference with the need of many people to start gambling with increasing amounts of money to fulfill the high that they get when they bet and when they win.

∙ Withdrawal when you are not able to gamble. Many people don’t believe that they have a problem but they begin to get irritable when they don’t have access to a casino, or even when they try to scale back on how often they are gambling.

∙ Using gambling as a means of escaping real life. Many people develop an addiction when they use gambling as a means of blocking out other things that may be going on in their lives.

∙ Chasing losses. This is a term that refers to those that have lost money and return the next day or in an hour or two to win their losses back. As anyone who is thinking clearly knows, chasing losses usually proves to be fruitless.

∙ Lying. Many people who have or are developing an addiction to gambling find that they have to lie to their friends, family members, and even professionals so that they can conceal the amount of time or money they spend gambling.

∙ Committing illegal acts to finance gambling would definitely make one assume that they have a gambling problem. If you have stolen something to finance your gambling, it may be time to get help.

∙ Risking relationships is something that a lot of gambling addicts do, as well. Many times the addict is so preoccupied with gambling that they are unable to contribute in a positive way to their significant other, their friends, family members, or even to their job.

∙ Asking for others to bail you out. If you are borrowing money from others to gamble or pay off debts that have accrued because of gambling, it is a sure sign that you need to stop and get some help.