Beating the Odds: Overcoming Gambling Addiction

"When I was a little boy, 6 or 7 years of age, I remember getting together with other children and we would pinch pennies … as innocent as that sounds, it kind of set the mind that there's a way that you can advance in life without putting effort, just if you're lucky or if you're skilled or if you could win a game some kind of way … that you wouldn't have to really work for a living. So, I grew up with the fascination of gambling."

"Gambling, for many people, is a social type of event – gamble for fun, gamble for entertainment. But when it comes to the problem side of gambling, the hallmarks of my addiction, as others, is the mental obsession, the physical compulsion, and the loss of control."¹

"Chasing the high is a common experience but it often is an escape​​​ to try to gain more pleasure or relief from some of the stress of daily life … for problem gamblers, there's financial stress and pressures, and to gamble gives them at least a temporary relief in the hope that maybe things will get better despite their history of losses."²

"It's not hard to win money gambling. The hard part for the problem gamblers is to actually leave with the money still in their pocket. … the more you win, the more you play, the more you play, the more you lose."³

"Beginners luck is really that you have healthy boundaries – you don't stay longer than you planned on staying, you don't gamble with money you can't afford to lose, you're not lying to anyone – so it's not hard to win when you have boundaries and actually take the money out of the casino."

"Over time, many gamblers, our attention, are drawn to the excitement, the exhilaration, of the casinos because the truth is that in our modern society, nothing comes close to the high levels of stimulation and excitement [of gambling]."⁴

"As time progresses, for some, it enters a desperation phase, when there's a lot of secrecy – you're gambling with money that you know cannot be replaced, you're mentally obsessed when you're not gambling, and for some gamblers, after going through that, there's the hopelessness phase. This is where you've done things gambling that there's no coming back from and it is this hopeless sensation that often leads gamblers to contemplate suicide or attempt suicide much more than alcoholics or drug addicts."⁵

¹ Research shows that increased availability of casinos, lotteries, and sports betting over recent decades has helped normalize gambling as a social activity, embedding it within cultural and recreational practices rather than solely individual behaviour.
² Studies indicate that some individuals use gambling as a way to regulate negative emotions or stress, with "escape-style” gambling linked to mood regulation, dissociation, and temporary relief from psychological distress.
³ Research shows that gamblers often continue playing after both wins and losses, increasing stakes or speeding up play, reflecting "chasing” behaviour and a reduced likelihood of stopping even during winning periods.
⁴ Gambling stimulates the brain's reward system by triggering dopamine release in areas linked to pleasure and motivation, with repeated exposure leading to neuroadaptation and increased tolerance, requiring greater stimulation to achieve the same effect.
⁵ Research shows that suicidality is significantly elevated among problem gamblers, with studies reporting that 22–81% experience suicidal ideation and 7–30% have attempted suicide, often linked to factors such as financial debt, shame, and co-occurring mental health conditions.