Have you ever spent all day in a casino and wondered, “Where did the time go?”
Are you compelled to keep gambling until you’ve lost all your money? Is gambling affecting your relationships and your career? Do you feel the need to be secretive about your gambling? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you may have a serious gambling addiction.

Gambling addiction, sometimes called “problem gambling,” is an impulse-control disorder. Compulsive gamblers can’t control the urge to gamble, even when they know their gambling is hurting themselves and their loved ones. Unpleasant feelings such as stress, depression, loneliness, fear, and anxiety can trigger compulsive gambling or make it worse. Compulsive gamblers keep gambling even when they know the odds are against them—even when they can’t afford to lose. Problem gambling can strain relationships, interfere with responsibilities at home and work, and lead to financial ruin. It can make you do things you never thought possible—like stealing money to gamble.

You may have a gambling problem if you:

• Feel the need to be secretive about your gambling.
• Have trouble controlling your gambling urge.
• Gamble even though you don’t have the money.
• Your family and friends are worried about your gambling.

Many people ask how gambling can be an “addiction” when no substance is ingested. The simple answer is that gambling addicts get the same effect from gambling as someone else might get from taking drugs or having a drink—the act of gambling alters their mood and the gambler must keep gambling to achieve that same “high.” But just as tolerance develops to drugs or alcohol, the gambler finds that it takes more and more gambling to achieve the same effect.

At Confidential Counseling Services, Inc., we use cognitive-behavioral therapy and other techniques to change unhealthy gambling behaviors and impulses. We also teach problem gamblers how to control gambling urges, deal with uncomfortable emotions rather than escape through gambling, and resolve underlying issues that led to the addiction. The goal of treatment is to “rewire” the addicted gambler’s brain by thinking about gambling in a new way.
If you’re ready to admit you have a gambling addiction and wish to seek help, call us at (866) 769-9219713-542-4649.