5 Behavioural signs that suggest you are Addicted to Gambling

[elevates]

I was browsing on the internet and stumble upon this article and found out that there are three kinds of gamblers. They are Professional gamblres, social gamblers and problem gamblers. The first two are okay but the third one which is the problem gamblers are the ones who are struggling with this addiction.

So I asked myself what behaviour would suggest that an individual is a problem gambler. Did some research and found many behaviour that suggest an individual is struggling with gambling addiction. Out of those I found the following five behaviours to be most common ones in a problem gambler.  

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Lying about gambling activities.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it. Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

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[Oshosondy]

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Lying about gambling activities.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

There is one more to add. An addicted gambler can sell his belongings and properties just for gambling. I remembered I sold my home theatre because of gambling and I lost the money very fast to gambling.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it. Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

Professional help? Maybe. But I stopped addiction when I knew gambling is not meant for earning income. Gambling addiction is like madness, once someone discover that gambling can not help him or her in anyway than to make losses in addiction and seeing himself or herself to be addicted and knowing the future can not be good is enough to make such person quit the addiction. Professional help can be what could be needed for this, but not all the time. Someone close to him passing the reality to him can be helpful.

[Cantsay]

I was browsing on the internet and stumble upon this article and found out that there are three kinds of gamblers. They are Professional gamblres, social gamblers and problem gamblers. The first two are okay but the third one which is the problem gamblers are the ones who are struggling with this addiction.

I guess I can be considered as a social gambler because I don't quite fit well as a professional or problem/compulsive gambler.

• Lying about gambling activities.

I do agree and understand the other behaviours you have stated concerning problem gamblers but as for this one I don't get it because the term activity covers so many things. Does this also including hiding or not letting some members of your family know that you're into gambling? Because if you do a quick survey in the forum you'll see that some professional gamblers or social gamblers ( as you mentioned ) sometimes keep some secret concerning their gambling life from people around them and yet they don't gamble compulsively, so I don't think lying is just a behaviour for the problematic gamblers onl. But assuming you narrowed it down to let's say "lying about their losses, so as to console themselve" that would have been more understandable.

[Merit.s]

• Lying about gambling activities.

When you keep your gambling activities secrete,it can make one get addicted to gambling because there will be no one to talk to you that it is enough, and you will keep on gambling more than the expected amount that you initially in tented to. So many persons will not want to tell their close ones how much they lost in gambling,since they hardly take care of their responsibilities in the house.

• Borrowing money to gamble.

This is the worst of all,if you gamble all your bankroll,fine nobody will embarrass you or lock you up but when you borrow money to gamble,it means that you are gambling with your life because you don't know if that person that gave you the money might end up locking you up if you can't pay back the money. Some gamblers are addicted to the point that they borrow money with interest to gamble because they damn addicted to it. Borrowing money to gamble is like you are living a borrowed life.[/list]

[swogerino]

I was browsing on the internet and stumble upon this article and found out that there are three kinds of gamblers. They are Professional gamblres, social gamblers and problem gamblers. The first two are okay but the third one which is the problem gamblers are the ones who are struggling with this addiction.

So I asked myself what behaviour would suggest that an individual is a problem gambler. Did some research and found many behaviour that suggest an individual is struggling with gambling addiction. Out of those I found the following five behaviours to be most common ones in a problem gambler.  

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Lying about gambling activities.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it. Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

That is exactly true and I can relate to that second point when I was addicted myself in 2019-2020.I could not sleep well and I could not think about anything else except gambling and the number one reason I loved to try at that time was to start with a low bet and since winnings were not satisfactory for me I kept increasing the bet to the level that I still felt excitement when gambling.While this may look nice in the beginning when you hit a big win know that in the long run this is the most devastating of all gambling addiction problems,the fact that you need to play with a bigger bet means you need more money and means you will get more problems.I have said in other threads that setting a predefined budget and sticking to it is the way to get out of gambling addiction.

[Eternad]

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

I agree with these 3 behaviour because a gambling addict will always find a way to gamble so that they will not the enjoyment that they get on winning like an addiction to a substance. You can add the behaviour of lack of sleep due to gambling since most of gambling addict has sleep deprivation due to overthinking on profit or losses.

• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Lying about gambling activities.

I disagree with this because a normal gambler that seeks more fun is not an addiction. addiction is repetitive playing without any self-control over when to stop. Also lying about gambling is on a case-to-case basis. Gambling is not accepted in the culture of other countries, especially those in religiously inclined countries.

[ryzaadit]

No need to browse.

Just simple, you can't handle "deposit". That's one indication you are addicted, for example like you already winning and withdraw the money after that in the next 5-10/30 mins you are deposited again.

Deposit over and over again until your money is out, are indicated addicted.

[jrrsparkles]

Chasing the loss in gambling.
Obsessive towards making bets no matter what the outcome will be.
Stressed out while gambling.

These also can be added into the list in my opinion.

After all these anyone who is getting addicted to it will feel that they are going into that way and most people will stop there and no damages further but few don't stop for some reasons and ending up as broke.

[Gozie51]

• Lying about gambling activities.

I do agree and understand the other behaviours you have stated concerning problem gamblers but as for this one I don't get it because the term activity covers so many things. Does this also including hiding or not letting some members of your family know that you're into gambling? Because if you do a quick survey in the forum you'll see that some professional gamblers or social gamblers ( as you mentioned ) sometimes keep some secret concerning their gambling life from people around them and yet they don't gamble compulsively, so I don't think lying is just a behaviour for the problematic gamblers onl. But assuming you narrowed it down to let's say "lying about their losses, so as to console themselve" that would have been more understandable.

I think IMO I agree with Op on this lying point if he means an addict would lie almost on anything concerning his gambling escapades. First a chronic gambler or an addict in gambling is known to have the characteristics of lying apart from general life activities, he does it to stay afloat with his family in guise of being innocent. Even if his wife or friends knows he is gambling but he won't disclose everything about it including how much he stake or wager with, he doesn't disclose winning and losses, he has abysmal behaviour towards the whole of the gambling. As far he is concerned, it has to be a lie, shrouded in secrecy.

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

I agree more with these two characteristics. The thought of an addict is always on that thing that he finds pleasure in and this is about any sphere not excluding pornography. So for a gambling addict he has joy when he remembers he is going to wager some games and he focuses on that on a  daily.

And to the second here,apart from borrowing, an addict can sell off a friends car in his possession only to believe he would surprise the friend the next time of returning the car with a bigger value car. Probably gambling with 2001 Jeep Cherokee compact SUV with the hope to replace it with 2022 Toyota Land Cruiser large SUV

[YOSHIE]

What are you saying, of course I don't argue with that, those five signs can indeed be said to be the cause of someone being addicted to gambling.

But if you examine more deeply the factors, the reasons why someone can be addicted, of course there are many things that can be mentioned again, maybe there are hundreds of reasons someone can get addicted to gambling, depending on the individual and the way they are involved in the world of gambling.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it.

Maybe it's a good idea to do, but it's a shame, many of the users are involved in gambling, they do not want to consult about gambling with a professional, instead they prefer to hide and cover up their gambling, what's more nowadays, gambling sites are easily accessible on the internet and without anyone knowing, that's a disease of today's society.

[Issa56]

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Lying about gambling activities.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

Some addicted gamblers are having all the features which you just listed above and they will still keep on saying they can stop gambling whenever they wish too, some addicted gamblers always find it difficult to admit that they are addicted, some of them don't even know they are addicted. Some gamblers do illegal things just to get money to gamble, some of them even steal just to get money to gamble, that's why in most society they always see gamblers as irresponsible set of people just because of their activities. Some gamblers will spend hours online gambling, but they will still claim they are not addicted to gambling.

[danherbias07]

I think someone also made this kind of thread before but I cannot just dig it anymore.

So, I'll just answer instead.
Those points given are real especially if you find yourself lying to your family about your gambling habits. Then loans, you have loads of it from the bank to your relatives, you don't even care what they will say anymore as long as it can provide your gambling problem.
Keeping secrets means you are having trouble with something and you don't want society to know about it. As for me, my wife always looks at my computer and I don't mind her having a peek, it's not like I am keeping something from her. If she sees me running a casino automated gambling she will just ask questions on how it works, maybe she will try to help me out if a cashout is needed to be done.
But the point is, I never made it a secret from her, it's a start of a bad relationship with someone close to you if you keep something from them and that means you may have a gambling problem too.

[_act_]

When you keep your gambling activities secrete,it can make one get addicted to gambling because there will be no one to talk to you that it is enough, and you will keep on gambling more than the expected amount that you initially in tented to. So many persons will not want to tell their close ones how much they lost in gambling,since they hardly take care of their responsibilities in the house.

To keep it secret for you dad, mum, spouse, children and other relatives is most common than to keep it from friends and some people that are not related to you. People even can find people like friends which they will like to gamble together without. Keeping it from family is very dangerous especially if the person is getting addicted.

• Borrowing money to gamble.

This is the worst of all,if you gamble all your bankroll,fine nobody will embarrass you or lock you up but when you borrow money to gamble,it means that you are gambling with your life because you don't know if that person that gave you the money might end up locking you up if you can't pay back the money. Some gamblers are addicted to the point that they borrow money with interest to gamble because they damn addicted to it. Borrowing money to gamble is like you are living a borrowed life.[/list]

I knew about someone that sold all the goods in his shop. He did not know how it happened until his shop has nothing that customers can buy again because gambling destroy the business for him. Borrowing is worse but there are other things that are worse too if addicted to gambling.

[NeilLostBitCoin]

I was browsing on the internet and stumble upon this article and found out that there are three kinds of gamblers. They are Professional gamblres, social gamblers and problem gamblers. The first two are okay but the third one which is the problem gamblers are the ones who are struggling with this addiction.

So I asked myself what behaviour would suggest that an individual is a problem gambler. Did some research and found many behaviour that suggest an individual is struggling with gambling addiction. Out of those I found the following five behaviours to be most common ones in a problem gambler.  

• Preoccupation with gambling.
• The urge to increase wagers to achieve the same level of excitement.
• Having difficulty in controlling, cutting back, or stopping gambling despite several attempts.
• Lying about gambling activities.
• Borrowing money to gamble.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it. Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

#5 bro is the thing that I have done before, it is a shame but I borrow money to my mother last 2yrs ago so that I could bet on my favorite team in an esports. She didn't know that since he is always working and I am working as well but for me to satisfy my addiction that time I will invest a lot in different team on semi finals because I believe that the more team I will bet the more money I will be getting.

[piebeyb]

No need to browse.

Just simple, you can't handle "deposit". That's one indication you are addicted, for example like you already winning and withdraw the money after that in the next 5-10/30 mins you are deposited again.

Deposit over and over again until your money is out, are indicated addicted.

Yes, it's the same as what I did, but being addicted doesn't mean you can become a heavy addict, sometimes some gamblers want to find pleasure in playing gambling and don't target big wins, let alone chase defeats. The above are indeed some of the signs of gambling addiction behavior, but many don't realize that they are started to become an addict.

For me addicts are people who always chase defeat so that a lot of money is spent in games, whereas I never chase my losses because playing to spend a little money on weekends doesn't keep me curious and makes me run out of a lot of money, but actually everything comes back to me own how to control not to become a heavy addict.

@elevates it's hard to cure addicts and everything comes back to oneself, I'm sure there will be no professional who can help to heal perfectly

[aioc]

• Borrowing money to gamble.

As gambling addiction can be a challenging issue that can have a very harmful impact on an individual's life. it is always recommended to find a professional helpb rather struggling with it. Do you agree with those behaviours? If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

Borrowing money to gamble is the worse you can ever be, if you borrow money to gamble that could only mean that you do not have money of your own to gamble because you already lose it, and once you lose and you still can't get enough there's a strong urge to gamble, this is the point where gamblers are going to lose everything when they started to borrow.

It's the worse symptom of gambling addiction you cannot sustain it anymore with your own money so you are going to use your own money, Misery comes after this sign.

[cabron]

People could just be in denial to themselves when they see they have these signs. There are some users in the forum borrow coins to gamble.

If you have one sign like lying about your gambling activities to your parents or wife. Would you be considered addict already? I Don't feel like I am.

[uneng]

• Lying about gambling activities.

I do agree and understand the other behaviours you have stated concerning problem gamblers but as for this one I don't get it because the term activity covers so many things. Does this also including hiding or not letting some members of your family know that you're into gambling? Because if you do a quick survey in the forum you'll see that some professional gamblers or social gamblers ( as you mentioned ) sometimes keep some secret concerning their gambling life from people around them and yet they don't gamble compulsively, so I don't think lying is just a behaviour for the problematic gamblers onl. But assuming you narrowed it down to let's say "lying about their losses, so as to console themselve" that would have been more understandable.

You have an interesting point! I believe a gambler can lie about his gambling routine if he doesn't feel confortable sharing this kind of information with strange people he doesn't have any intimacy or even with family members, if they have a very negative stance towards this kind of activity. That is not necessarily an indicative the gambler is a disfunctional one, rather it means he is a very private person who cares about his particular life.

The downside here is that if an individual who acts like this develops an addiction at some point, it will be harder to support and assist him when seeking for a cure for his compulsive behavior, because close people and friends won't be aware about the difficults he is facing and once they will, it might be too late... Properties will be already lost, mental health already degenerated and so on.

[Rruchi man]

If not then you can suggest some, that can be added to this topic.

An addicted gambler will also have the character of skipping necessities in their life just so they can have enough money to gamble with even though they constantly loose.

An addicted gambler can skip and reduce meals just to have money to gamble with.
An addicted gambler can skip personal grooming and care, stop buying clothes and personal care products just so they can gamble more.
An addicted gambler can decide to walk a distance that they are supposed to pay for transportation to get there easily just so they can use the money in gambling.

An addicted gambling considers gambling as the most important.

[OgNasty]

The difference between a gambling addict and a professional is likely the difference between having a winning night or a losing night. Lol. In reality, I think gambling addiction just boils down to greed. People feel like they deserve to win a ton of money and think casinos are the way for them to get what they deserve. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that.