Gambling and desperation

Desperate times can lead to desperate measures. Selling your household goods and precious valuables for money is a sign of desperation.

Joel arrived at the casino in the early evening after work. He found his way to a blackjack table and cashed in $500 for chips. He began playing. His luck was good and within an hour his chips were piled high on the table. His bets had risen from $50 to $1000 - the table maximum.

Joel felt elated. Every hand resulted in another win. With bets on three boxes, Joel had been dealt good cards.

Now the dealer was showing a ten, but this didn't worry Joel. When the dealer drew an ace, Joel lost the hand. He shrugged this off. He was having a wonderful run, and the odd win by the house was not a problem. Joel lost the next hand and the next. Not to worry, his luck would return.

The pile of chips became small. The last few chips would enable him to win everything back. But before he knew it everything was gone.

Back to the auto-bank to draw more money and Joel returned to the table. Soon, this too was gone.

Joel knew that he had to recover the money that he had lost. There was the rent to pay, the electricity bill - and of course he would need money to buy food.

Joel was desperate. He drove home and returned with the television set. The pawn shop was located conveniently next to the casino and was open 24 hours a day. The television set brought only a few dollars, but he was in with a chance. It would be retrieved as soon as Joel had won all his money back.

The next few weeks became very stressful for Joel. Money to pay the bills had become a problem. The bad runs at the casino had left him without the means to live and it seemed as if the only way out was at the tables.

One item after another disappeared from his apartment as goods were pawned or sold to give him a chance at the big win.
When all of his own resources were exhausted, he turned to his parents. What kind of parents would allow their son to sink?

With fresh money it was back to the casino. His next win would allow him to buy back all of his possessions. He would buy a huge gift for his parents. Joel's fortunes at the blackjack table went up and down. The occasional win was offset by heavy losses. Everything was gone.

One more act of desperation followed. Joel sold his mother's diamond engagement ring. It was a valuable piece that she had inherited from her mother. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Joel was desperate.

Online gambling: Could you lose everything?

Many people are able to gamble on the odd occasion and leave it at that. Many others get hooked soon after they start - perhaps follows a big win or a series of wins.

If your attempts at gambling have always resulted in losing on experiencing only the occasional small win, then you are unlikely to continue. It is possible to win large amounts of money gambling and this is primarily where gambling becomes dangerous.

Bob (not his real name) walked into a casino for the first time in his life with $200. He played blackjack. He could do nothing wrong and within a few hours had accumulated $20,000.

He was back the next day to win more. Soon the winnings were gone, and he began betting more and more to recoup his losses. He lived at the casino for the next week. Having lost all of his own money, he turned to his father for help. This also ended up at the casino. Bob came from a gambling family. His uncle had lost his entire fortune, his home, his wife and his family. Bob's father recognised the signs and took action.

When on-line gambling becomes compulsive all the same dangers are present. Gambling becomes the primary focus of life. Everything else takes second place.

In the early stages, a gambler is able to win and cash in the money. It doesn't take long before the gambler continues until he has no more access to money. Having lost his entire salary in one sitting, the gambler becomes desperate. He seeks out loans from near and far. These loans are intended to cover the shortfall in living expenses. Instead they are used for gambling.

Home loan and car finance repayments are left unpaid. The gambler desperately tries to avoid creditors. Many have lost everything to gambling. Cars, homes, inheritances are all prey to gambling. Loans from loan sharps lead to worse problems. Some end up homeless.

Many gamblers do lose everything. Most do not recognise that they have a problem until the damage done is irreversible. If you suspect that you are a compulsive gambler, then seek help now.

What causes compulsive gambling?

Compulsive gambling is generally seen as an addiction. There are a whole range of explanations of the causes.

One possible explanation can be derived from Skinner's concept of operant conditioning. In his experiments Skinner discovered that intermittent positive reinforcement produced the most long term or permanent results. The principle works as follows. A pigeon (for instance) is given a choice of several buttons to peck. If it pecks the correct button, it gets some food. If the reward happens every time, then once the reward stops so does the corresponding behaviour. However, when the reward happens some of the time but not always, then long-term behavioural changes occur.

Similar results have been demonstrated with people, and gambling fits remarkably well into this model. Translate this to a slot machine.

Scene 1: John's first attempt results in a win. Each successive spin produces another win. Then the winning stops. No more slot machine.

Scene 2: Joanne walks into a casino for the first time. She puts $100 into a 50c slot machine. 200 spins later, she hasn't had a single win. She is unlikely to play again.

Scene 3: Jennifer puts $20 into a slot machine. The first three spins are losers, but the fourth spin results in a $100 win. She wins again on the fifth spin, but loses a string of spins after this. As the money is about to run out, Jennifer wins $2500. She cashes in the winnings and goes home. But she will be back!

There are other ways to explain the causes of compulsive gambling. A popular theory is that of the addictive personality.

The concept of the addictive personality' is well established in the common psyche. How often do we hear the term 'addictive personality' bandied about? Many use the term to describe either themselves or others. But is there any scientific basis to this understanding of addiction?

According to the addictive personality theory, it is the individual that is prone to addiction rather than exposure to addictive substances or activities. A person becomes an addict because of certain in-born personality traits. In other words, the addictive personality is part of the person's genetic makeup. The object of the addiction is not important - the addictive personality will attach the addictive behaviour to heroin, alcohol, gambling, food, sex or computer games. By the same token, all smokers share an addictive personality.

This approach has received varied levels of support since its origin in the 1930s. A variety of psychological studies have been taken place over the years in attempts to identify personality traits responsible for addictive behaviour. In general, there has been very little in the way of empirical support for the theory. But it must be pointed out that many of those involved in the addiction rehabilitation business have identified a strong personality component in addiction through their own experience and observation.

Following his research in 1983 Alan R. Lang identified several ''significant personality factors'' that can contribute to addiction:

• Impulsive behavior, difficulty in delaying gratification, an antisocial personality and a disposition toward sensation seeking.
• A high value on nonconformity combined with a weak commitment to the goals for achievement valued by the society.
• A sense of social alienation and a general tolerance for deviance.
• A sense of heightened stress.

However, Lang concluded that ''there is no single, unique personality entity that is a necessary and sufficient condition for substance use."

An interesting study by Hermano Tavares of the Impulse Control Disorder Unit at the University of So Paulo in Brazil focussed on compulsive gamblers and alcoholics. Tavares found that while "both alcohol and gambling craving were directly related to clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety, and inversely related to length of abstinence. Our study suggests that people turn to either alcohol or gambling for different reasons."

Peele rejects the model of addiction dominated by personality citing "the radical transformations out of addiction for individuals who leave their 'burdensome' realities behind, as when they depart Vietnam" as evidence. While a person may become an addict under certain specific circumstances, this can change dramatically following a change in the environment. His view is that addiction is a social-psychological phenomenon in which personality plays a part.

Most experts on addiction do agree that there is a personality component to addiction, but the evidence for an addictive personality' or addictive genes is not there.