How to Address Community Gambling Problems

Most compulsive gamblers earn moderate-level incomes.

Gambling problems are essentially health care issues. Medically defined as a mental health impulse-control problem, an addiction to gambling significantly impacts the lifestyle of the gambler and those related to him. Compulsive or pathological gambling addictions affect 2 to 5 percent of the approximately 307 million American population. Men generally develop their addiction when teenagers while women tend to develop the problem later in life. Gambling is considered an addiction when sufferers indulge in and are preoccupied by it on an ongoing basis.

Instructions

1. Make psychotherapy available to addicts in the community. Many gamblers have underlying personality and emotional problems, such as anti-social ways of thinking, schizophrenia and disproportionate mood swings in addition to their gambling disorder. Studies conducted by the UCLA Gambling Studies program found that cognitive behavior psychotherapy is more effective in treating gambling addictions than the use of anti-depressants and other regulatory medications. 70 percent of people with a gambling addiction also have another psychiatric problem such as alcoholism or drug abuse illnesses. A professional psychotherapist is better able to identify and treat additional addictions.

2. Develop and support organizations like Gamblers' Anonymous on a local level. Although some people are addicted to gambling due to biological vulnerabilities and low levels of serotonin in their systems, gambling addictions can be controlled by behavior modification programs. Social support groups and peer pressure programs are effective tools to fight gambling addictions. Counseling and self-help interventions are also vital components to controlling the impulse to gamble.

3. Implement social programs for addicts on a community level. Many people use gambling as a way to escape from their problems or alleviate the symptoms caused by social stressors. Gambling to relieve depression or as a quick fix for financial problems frequently catapults those afflicted into domestic violence and child abuse activities. Children of compulsive gamblers more frequently suffer from depression, engage in aggressive behavior and abuse drugs than do their contemporaries. Ongoing programs and community support may counteract the fact that two-thirds of the people who begin treatment for gambling, stop their treatments prematurely.

4. Regulate opportunities to gamble locally. Before 1990, casino gambling was legal in only two states, but today 28 states allow casinos to operate. A total of 48 states have legalized gambling in the form of casinos and horse racing, with 37 engaging in state-run lotteries. Although states across the country benefit from increased tax revenues generated by licensing and regulating gambling, they are also attempting to legislate gambling activities to allow residents to play in a safe, secure market. The federal government is also attempting to regulate online gambling to prevent minors from accessing sites and to control revenues in a more orderly fashion. Learn about the gambling laws in your state and work with the existing groups to improve the legislation.

References

• What is a gambling addiction?
• Gambling Addiction Statistics
• New Internet Gambling Bill Introduced in U.S. Congress
• Gambling Facts and Statistics
• US Census Bureau: 2009 Population Estimates

Resources

• UCLA Gambling Studies Program