CanadaUnited KingdomGermanyNew ZealandUSASouth AfricaSchweiz Le Canada

Problem Gambling

Hey our dear online casino lover! No matter for how long you’ve been into gambling, you must have wondered where is the line crossing which you’ll get into gambling addiction risk and eventually become addicted. In fact, there’s quite a fine line between a gambler and gambling addicted person. And it’s quite an ordeal to figure it out. Good for you, NativeCasinos is not only your best online helper when it comes to choosing the best online casino in Canada or considering among the worthiest real cash games to play on your favourite Canadian gambling website, but also NativeCasinos is here to comprehensively inform you about online gambling and all the hazards you can face on the web. That’s why we happily share with you all the essential info regarding problem gambling and gambling addiction for you to be fully aware of these issues so that you can protect yourself and take all the necessary measures before it’s too late.

Problem Gambling and Gambling Addiction Defined

While for some people gambling is just a fun and recreating activity or maybe even an additional means of income, for other people it might be a life threatening disease that substantially affects the addicted gamblers as well as their loved ones.

So, how to figure it out whether you or your friends, relatives or whoever else is addicted. First of all, you need to understand that the addiction starts when a person loses control. It can develop from a harmless activity as soon as you are getting too involved in it. Basically, addiction comes when you have become obsessed. Too obsessed to give up voluntarily. As it often happens with gambling.

No denying, gambling is quite an engaging activity. It simply can’t leave you indifferent and lacking enthusiasm. Especially, if you are up to something more than simply playing casino games for free or enjoying the impressive variety of free slots. If you play casino games for real money and you can’t control it, here comes a grave problem. This hazardous issue is known as problem gambling or gambling addiction. These are basically synonyms, yet there are a few slight differences between problem gambling or gambling addiction.

Problem gambling is a strong desire or even an urge to gamble stoplessly regardless all the negative and even harmful consequences as well as your own desire to stop. Usually, gambling is classified as addictive or normal based on the harm caused by it, especially financial and psychological. In such a way, if you spend hours, days, and weeks gambling, which evidently means that you are addicted, but you feel good and your budget doesn’t suffer from your let’s call it a hobby, it can’t be defined as problem gambling.

However, if there’s any kind of harm experienced by you or your close ones because of your casino obsession, then it’s definitely a problem gambling. It can be minor or severe. Severe problem gaming is basically defined as clinical pathological gambling, which is a grave psychological disorder which is tightly associated with both family and social costs. This kind of disorder is considered comorbid with alcohol dependency because both disorders are associated with impulsive behaviour. According to the official data of 2012, around 5.77 million of Americans suffer from a gambling disorder that needs to be treated by qualified medpeople.

In the USA, there’s the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by American Psychiatric Association (APA) and lastly updated in 2013. This manual is the main taxonomic and diagnostic tool that is recognized as the principal authority for psychiatric diagnoses. According to DSM-5, gambling addiction is basically considered an addictive disorder since it’s sufferers exhibit similar symptoms to those with different kinds of substance addictions. Specifically, it’s compared to chemical drug addiction and such impulse-control disorders as pyromania or kleptomania.

To tell you more, gambling addiction is classed as an impulse-control disorder that negatively impacts your physical, psychological, and social spheres of life. Addicted gamblers can face a wide range of very unpleasant health problems, such as stress, depression, anxiety, distress, bipolar disorder, migraines, unmanaged ADHD, intestinal disorders, increased suicidal ideation, and different kinds of anxiety-related issues. Moreover, the addicted people’s psychology changes so they start experiencing despondency and helplessness. In some cases, it may even lead to suicide providing that the gambler hasn’t been appropriately helped and treated.

According to the records from the Australian hospital study, specifically data taken from Alfred Hospital’s emergency department, 17% of suicidal patients were gamblers. There was a similar study carried out in the USA by the National Council on Problem Gambling whose findings revealed that approximately 1/5 pathological gamblers are prone to suicide attempts. To tell you even more, according to the US National Council on Problem Gambling, the suicide rates among pathological gamblers are much higher compared to the sufferers by any other kind of addiction. See, that’s how grave the problem is!

Types of Gambling Addiction

It must be clarified that we all are different, which means that the same thing can affect us differently. That’s why there can be different symptoms for different gamblers and different levels of gravity of their addiction. Below are the most common types of gambling addiction as well as their intensity.

Causes of Addiction

It’s quite difficult to say why people are getting addicted to anything. Especially casino games. There’s no single reason for that. Quite often, there are different factors that affect it. Among the most common there can be the following causes: your role model who is quite successful so you decided to follow this example; you might be of quite a fragile age that affects your world perception and therefore your perception of gambling is quite perverse, which makes your expectations to do nothing with the reality; your first wins were quite easy and too big, so you’re confident in your subsequent wins. Basically, there can be a lot of reasons. Many more than already listed. Below you can familiarize yourself with the main factors that can affect your casino obsession on different levels and to different extents.

Biological Factors

It’s all in our biology. Seriously. All kinds of addiction lie in our nature. Some people are more prone to them and some are less. Based on the results of brain imaging, there’s a certain neurological response produced in brain after a casino win that is absolutely identical to the neurological response your brain would produce after it receives a dose of the drug in case you are addicted to cocaine or any other drugs or alcohol. Evidently, that’s why you are becoming more and more obsessed with gambling or whatever else that makes your brain produce the same neurological response that will make you happy. In addition, you need to know that compulsive behavior can also be caused by deficiencies in serotonin, which is a chemical that is tightly linked to your wellbeing and happiness, and norepinephrine, a chemical that is linked to dangerous situations and stress. So, based on all the conducted genetic studies, it’s fair to claim that there are people who are more genetically predisposed to different kinds of addictions as well as developing impulses and compulsive behavior.

Psychological Factors

Yes. Your psychology matters a lot. And the way you think about gaming and casinos in general has a strong correlation to whether or not you are prone to developing such a problem. There’s the so-called Gambler’s fallacy that is believed to provide a seemingly logical rationalization for compulsive behavior.

The Gambler’s fallacy claims that a series of current independent events have the power to affect the odds of future independent events and basically they will. For instance, according to the probability theory, when you flip a coin, the odds are always the same – 50%. No matter how many times you flip the coin and no matter how many times it lands on heads or tails, it doesn’t affect the result of subsequent flipping. However, the Gambler’s fallacy states that there’s a higher probability for the coin to land on tails in order to make up for the previous results.

In fact, it’s even called a fallacy, so that’s absolutely not how it actually works in real life. Nevertheless, that’s the fallacy many gamblers believe in. So, it serves for them as an additional motivation to chase losses as they strongly believe that luck is sure to be on their side quite soon. It’s absolutely a nonsense. Really. If you have already lost all your planned budget, get out of this shit at once. Don’t use credit cards. Don’t reload your prepaid cards. Do nothing to waste even more money. Don’t let your naivety to fool you and rob you. It’s stupid. Don’t give in to that.

Another example related to psychology is as follows. Problem behaviour is more likely to be elicited in fast-paced games. In such a way, people are really interested in slots because they are fast to play and easily available. So they are more attractive than let’s say a lottery that is held only once a year. Thus, people playing slots are more prone to addiction. And they are more prone to losses. Do avoid them. You can do that easily.

Social Factors

Evidently, your surroundings matter a lot. As well as all the circumstances you have to face in your life. In such a way, there can be many social sources and reason that provoke compulsive behaviour as well as gambling addiction in general. All kinds of problematic issues you have to cope with in your personal or professional life considerably affect your behaviour. Thus, such problems may well trigger your gambling obsession as a source of relief from all the challenges you have to struggle with in your daily routine.

If you feel deprived from the normal social life, let’s say, you don’t have friends or a loved one, you are very likely to experience bitter loneliness, lasting depression, annoying distress etc. Under such circumstances, you might view visiting casino as a good idea to improve your social life. It might also seem a good way for you to become more successful in terms of interpersonal communication as well as financial welfare. However, you need to realize that it wouldn’t be this way in fact. And gambling is definitely not the best solution in this case.

Another social factor is the sociological environment you are into. For instance, if there’s someone of your acquaintances who is in for casinos, this person can implicitly or explicitly motivate you to share this experience together. Especially, it works if this person is very successful or at least pretends he or she is. We absolutely discourage from following such an example. Besides, even if frequent casino leisure works cool for others, there’s absolutely no guarantee that it would work fine for you. That’s why you shouldn’t let such risky endeavours ruin your life. Don’t destroy your family in such a stupid way. Gamble responsibly. Gamble for fun. Don’t overdo. And always remember about the consequences. Don’t let your sociological environment put you in such a risk.

Comorbidity

Well, we have partially covered this kind of cause already. Usually, different kinds of addictions come together. Basically, it means that if a person is addicted to something, it doesn’t take much effort to make this person addicted to something else. Because this person is prone to being addicted. See how it works? That’s why if you are a really heavy drinker and can’t imagine your life being sober, you’re already into trouble. However, it also means that it won’t take much to become addicted to casinos as well.

You might be also into drugs, which also means that not only do you suffer a lot from this kind of problem, but also you are at a very high risk of becoming vulnerable to gaming obsession. Talking about online casinos particularly, if you are deep into cyber gaming and it’s become your obsession, it’s not to far for you to become addicted to online casinos as well. Mind that. You might be even more motivated to avoid this kind of addiction if you find out that addicted gamblers often struggle with psychological disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder as well as schizophrenia. These might be the causes for gaming addiction as well as results of it. Well, yeah. It works both ways no matter how weird it seems to be.

Identifying Addiction

So, how to understand that you are becoming or have already become addicted? For the addicted, gambling is similar to drugs or alcohol. It means that you can’t help gambling as well as alcoholic can’t help drinking or a drug addict can’t help smoking weed or taking heavy drugs. That’s a real problem, dude. Agree?

Another sign of addiction is that your gaming activities substantially change your mood and in some cases even your state of mind. In such a way, it becomes a vicious circle. You can’t be in a good mood without playing casino games. When you aren’t engaged with casino games, you become irritated or even impulsive and aggressive just like a drug addict who is thirsty for the next dose. And it’s really impossible to control yourself in such a mental state. Evidently, the only way for you to stay adequate and try to behave normally is to get back to your all-consuming gambling routine. The one that grants you euphoric feelings and morbid inner harmony. Which feels quite freaky indeed.

Similarly to alcohol addiction, an addict gambler develops a tolerance, which means that he or she is thirsty for casino gaming since that’s the only way for them to stay high. So, you start chasing your luck. Or misfortune. Which is much more likely to experience once you’re obsessed.

Basically, as soon as you start engaging in gaming more and more in order to win back all your losses, it’s not even a sign of addiction. It’s the alarm. And it already may be too late. Since it’s nothing but the vicious circle. That is highly challenging to fight through. And the most complicated thing is that the gambler doesn’t want to be released. There’s no resistance ability any more. In this case, the person can’t be treated without the help of the closed one or even the qualified specialists.

Evidently, gaming can be defined as an addiction if it greatly interferes with other spheres of your life, such as your family, social life, education, work etc. First of all, you simply don’t have time for anything but gaming. Secondly, you can’t live without gambling, so you stop really caring about anything else in your life.

Actually, it’s rather difficult to say what gambling frequency can be considered an addiction, especially taking into account the fact that there are such addicted people who are engaged in periodic gambling binges instead of spending all their free time playing casino games. Nevertheless, periodic gambling binges have the same emotional and financial consequences as for frequent gambling. That’s why even periodic gambling binges that repeat from time to time can’t be neglected.

All the signs that you can find in this section are quite easy to detect and the problem can be eradicated as soon as it’s noticed. However, as this kind of addiction is getting graver and graver, you won’t be able to stop it yourself. For this reason, it’s highly essential to make sure that your close ones are aware of your gambling affection and it would be really nice if they read this article in order to be able to immediately help you if there’s such a need.

Alarming Signs

You already know quite enough about this problem and the ways to detect it. However, there are a few more signs that are most alarming. In case you notice one of them, you must act immediately. We’ll tell you below in the article what to do if you notice these signs, while now we encourage you to carefully look through the list below in order to have a good command of them all and know the time when you need to take action right away.

Whichever of the listed signs is quite alarming and the measures must be taken at once as soon as you notice anything of this kind in your own thinking or behaviour. Unfortunately, humans are quite imperfect. And sometimes it’s really difficult to help yourself even if you do admit that there’s a real trouble that you are in. That’s why it’s highly important that you inform your family or friends about your casino activities and ask them to read this article so that they can help you when you can’t help yourself. Don’t neglect our advice and gamble responsibly. Mind that gambling is meant for fun. Nothing else but fun. Keep that in mind.

Recognition of the Problem

Probably, the most challenging is to recognize that you have a problem. Specifically, this kind of problem. Sometimes, it’s your family or friends who can recognize this problem and help you when you can’t do that yourself. So, basically, all you need to do in this case is to seek help. Fortunately, there are many professional organizations that can help you. We’ll tell about them later in this article.

So, if you or your close ones have noticed whichever of the alarming signs you have looked through in the section above, you must admit that you are addicted. Even if you don’t think there’s a problem, but your family or friends have noticed it, don’t neglect them. It’s almost as certain as the sun will rise that you really have a problem. And it needs to be addressed immediately. Don’t mask it. Don’t diminish its gravity. Don’t refuse there is a problem. Seriously. The earlier you admit it, the easier you’ll get rid of it. That’s the way it works. So, don’t lose the chance to improve the situation before it’s too late. Or before much more efforts and resources must be invested in solving the problem. Just take the chance when it’s not that grave. It’s better to prevent yourself from that than trying to recover from it. Which is really hard.

Essential Self Help Measures

Helping Your Loved Ones to Get Rid of their Addiction

Evidently, the best way to recover for the gambler is to make sure that he or she can help yourself. However, unfortunately, some people find it really difficult to help themselves without support or help of their loved ones. That’s why this section serves to inform you how to behave if your loved person is with the head into gambling and needs help even if refuses to admit it.

First of all, we understand what kind of conflicting emotions you can experience. You must have tried to persuade your loved ones to give up tons of times so far, yet in vain. You must be really angry and even furious with this destructive habit. You must be absolutely fed up with all the financial problems you have to face now because of that cursed gambling. And you might be in the deepest despair a human being is only capable to experience.

Nevertheless, it’s highly important for you to realize that you are the one who can help. Seriously. It’s only you who your beloved gambler can rely on. And it’s only you who can help to get rid of it. But you need to realize that this person needs to be perfectly convinced that casinos are too destructive and that he or she needs to decide that it’s time to stop. Unfortunately, it’s only a gambler’s decision to stop. You can’t force them. Yet you can encourage, support them in their efforts, have long conversations etc. Overall, you need to do whatever you can to make sure you are helpful and supportive.

So, here are a few important tips for you to help your loved casino addicted person:

Myths and Facts

Myth Fact
Gaming is a problem only if a gambler can’t afford losses. Evidently, financial difficulties is what compulsive gamblers often face, yet the addiction is a mental problem that can also be experienced by well off people. Besides, gambling affects not only the gambler’s finances, but also career and personal relationships. So, it’s evidently a grave problem that can’t be ignored under any circumstances.
Occasional gambling is not a problem. While it might seem not as grave as daily gaming, it’s still might be a sign of an addiction since occasional gaming might be the beginning of it. Besides, the more you play in a casino, the more dependent on this leisure you are becoming. In addition, occasional gaming may well turn into compulsive. So, be aware and don’t let yourself or your loved ones getting too enthralled with gambling. It’s quite dangerous indeed.
There’s absolutely no way for a responsible person to become addicted. What nonsense! Addiction is the problem that can develop in any one. No matter how responsible and self disciplined you are. Besides, you must be aware that gaming addiction is a mental disorder, which means that you can’t control yourself any longer. That’s why you shouldn’t accept such an illogical argument since it makes absolutely no sense.
Gambling addiction can affect only adults, while children and teenagers aren’t prone to it. Here is another misunderstanding of the problem. Nowadays, there are more and more children and young people who are getting interested in gambling and spending most of their free time in online casinos. That has become extremely popular with the emergence of mobile casinos. Especially, it might result in a grave problem if their family members or friends are casino enthusiasts too. Here are the sources that deal with children and teens gambling addiction for you to be comprehensively informed of the problem and its gravity: Teen Addiction To Online Gambling, Number of child gamblers quadruples in just two years, How Dangerous Is My Son’s Gambling Addiction?, Teens and Problem Gambling, Gaming Impact on Children, Gambling and teenagers, NHS to launch young people’s gambling addiction service, Too many children are hooked on gambling. Why aren’t they protected?
The best way to help an addicted is to give them money on gambling. Not at all! Never ever should you sponsor gambling, especially of your loved ones. Sponsoring and encouraging gambling is what you do by giving money to people with a mental disorder so that they can spend it on gambling. You are making the situation even worse in such a way! Instead, you should do your best to make sure your loved ones are properly treated so that they will eventually fight this terrible mental problem. There’s a section below in this article where you can find all the helpful resources (specifically, treatment centers, organizations, hospitals, etc.) that you might find useful while helping your loved ones to overcome this problem together. Spend the money on treatment rather than on promoting gambling and making the overall situation even worse.

Addiction Treatment

Evidently, there are many ways to address casino addiction. Normally, they include counseling, peer-support, self-help, step-based programs, medication, or even a combination of all these measures. Below, we’ll briefly inform you about the most widespread ways of treatment so that you have an idea what to do when the help is needed immediately.

Therapy and Counselling

Basically, psychotherapy is the most effective way to treat the addiction. There are trained professionals who know how to address this problem in the most efficient way. In addition, taking into account comorbidity, a gambler is very likely to also have other psychiatric problems apart from gambling addiction. That’s why truly the best way to treat all kinds of evident and latent disorders is to visit a psychiatrist. We highly recommend you opt for this method as the most effective one.

One of the most effective therapies used in counselling is cognitive behavioral therapy. It has proven itself effective with reducing gambling-related urges as well as addiction symptoms in general. This therapy is basically focused on identifying gambling-related thought processes as well as mood and cognitive distortions that basically increase your vulnerability and predisposition to out-of-control gambling. In addition, cognitive behavioral therapy prevents relapse, encourages assertiveness, and even provokes gambling refusal. Besides, it teaches you to look for better ways to reinforce your gambling-inconsistent activities and interests. Thus, cognitive behavioral therapy is extremely effective and is highly recommended to opt for.

Medical Treatment

Even though there are still no medications that would have been specially designed for treating specifically gambling addiction, there are still some good medicine that can help you. As far as you already know, gambling addiction has similar symptoms as other kinds of addictions. That’s why it’s really worth taking such medications as anti-seizure medications, antidepressants, medications that treat other addictions and others. They serve to reduce your urge to wager as well as your excitement from betting. In such a way, medications can turn out to be extremely helpful indeed since the cope with the symptoms of the addiction and help to overcome it. However, for the best result, it’s better to combine medical treatment along with therapy or counselling. In such a way, you’ll be able to completely eradicate the addiction by treating it physically as well as psychologically.

Support and Self-Help

It’s highly important for you to understand the problem and find a way to solve it yourself. Sometimes, your only desire is more than enough. However, sometimes, you might find it difficult to help yourself, so it’s very important for you not to conceal your problem and do ask for help from your loved ones. They will surely support you. Just tell them you need it.

Gamblers’ Anonymous

This kind of treatment has been specially created based on similar Alcoholics Anonymous model. Gamblers Anonymous is basically a 12-step model with an emphasis on a mutual-support approach. The only requirement for you to join the program is your own desire to give up gambling. The effectiveness of this program evidently depends on the gravity of your problem, yet it’s quite helpful indeed.

Destructiveness of Gambling Addiction

You might ask quite a logical question: why recover from gambling addiction? What’s so bad about it? Well, there are many bad effects of gaming on your life. Check out just a few most essential of them in order to realize that it’s a really burning problem that must be solved as soon as possible!

Helpful Resources for Canadian Gamblers

We strongly recommend you to check the following resources should you be looking for help and treatment.

  1. The Addictive Behaviours Laboratory (ABL) is Canadian laboratory headed by Dr. David C. Hodgins, who has Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. The laboratory is focused on treating sufferers from gambling addiction and substance abuse. The main idea of treatment lies in examining and addressing all kinds of problems that lie in various aspects of the physiology and psychology of gambling behavior. The ABL also conducts the research dealing with the clinical condition of pathological gambling as well as potential treatment approaches.
  2. Le Centre québécois d’excellence pour la prévention et le traitement du jeu (CQEPTJ) de l’Université Laval or Quebec Center of Excellence for the Prevention and Treatment of Gambling (CQEPTJ) at Laval University. It’s basically a French speaking center located in Quebec that has been involved in fundamental clinical research for over 15 years so far. The center is preoccupied with examination of psychological mechanisms responsible for the development and maintenance of gambling problems, raising awareness, improving treatment, understanding the social and cultural conditions of play and contributing to the prevention of gambling addiction. The center is a pioneer in the field of scientific advances and public communications on games of chance. CQEPTJ is focused on the research dealing with excessive gambling opportunities, the risks associated with new gambling offerings, the effectiveness of innovative treatments and the social costs of excessive gaming.
  3. The Alberta Gambling Research Institute is a consortium of the following Canadian universities: the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta, and the University of Lethbridge. The primary purpose of the Alberta Gambling Research Institute is to support, conduct, and promote research dealing with gambling specifically in the Province of Alberta.
  4. Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO) is located on 55 Wyndham St. N., Suite 214A, Guelph ON N1H 7T8, (Phone number: 519-763-8049). GREO offers a wide range of services and programs aimed at translating and disseminating high-quality information and evidence to apply it for reduction harm in gambling. The programs and services include the following: Adjunct Scientist / Experts, Knowledge Translation and Exchange Fellowships, Incubator Projects, GREO Knowledge HUBs, BET Funding Programs, State of Evidence Reviews, Gambling from a Public Health Perspective. These programs and services serve to leverage and extend researchers’ expertise, build capacity amongst community organizations and students, and evidently encourage innovation in the field of gambling addiction and ways to reduce and prevent it.
  5. Gambling, Gaming and Technology Use Knowledge Exchange serves to support mental health and addiction service providers by training and educating specialists in this field, developing helpful digital resources and tools, and facilitating knowledge sharing as it’s stated in the program name.
  6. The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) serves to provide all the essential info about gambling addiction, how to treat it and what are the best counselors to search for help from.
  7. British Columbia Responsible & Problem Gambling Program is a Canadian organization that serves to prevent and reduce harmful impacts of gambling addiction that is manifested through uncontrolled or excessive gambling. Responsible gambling is being promoted through policy development and education. The following province institutions are involved in the British Columbia Responsible & Problem Gambling Program: the BC Responsible & Problem Gambling Program, the Gaming Policy & Enforcement Branch, the BC Lottery Corporation. The organization views as its primarily focus on informing people about how gambling works so that you can objectively decide if that’s a good decision for you. Besides, the program provides a helpful toolkit of strategies for you to make sure that you control your gambling routine, specifically, the time and money you spent as well as your mood.
  8. Problem Gambling Research Group of the University of Windsor. The Group was launched in 1993 with the goal to raise awareness of problem gambling and gambling addiction in the community. The Group consists of graduate students, academic researchers, service providers, and community based researchers. Together they form a truly unique research program that is highly competent in this field.
  9. Responsible Gambling Council (RGC). Basically, it’s a non-profit independent organization whose main goal is to prevent problem gambling by bringing together people with firsthand experience of gambling addiction, policy makers, regulators, gaming providers, and treatment professionals. Most of the RGC activities are focused on reducing gambling risks by raising awareness of problem gambling and gambling addiction among specific age groups and communities, namely, adults, youth and young adults, parents, older adults, new Canadians, and the aboriginal community. The essential RGC programs include the following: Innovative Awareness and Information,  Social Marketing Campaign: Isolation, Problem Gambling Prevention Week: Know the Signs, Know the Score 2, PlaySmart Centre (formerly RGRC), BetCheck, Interactive Kiosks (formerly MARGI), Cost2Play Calculator, Youth PG Prevention Tour: Game Brain.
  10. The International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviours at McGill University. The center has operated for 20 years. It’s focused on the research aimed at figuring out critical factors that are related to youth gambling issues. What’s highly important about this centre is that it cooperates with government agencies worldwide in order to develop together responsible gambling initiatives.
  11. ConnexOntario (Phone Number: 1-866-531-2600) is specialized in free and confidential health services information aimed at treating Addiction, Mental Health, and Problem Gambling.
  12. Self-Help Gambling Tools, such as Introductory Video about the program itself, Gambling Quiz to understand if gambling interferes in your life, Monitor Your Gambling & Urges to keep track of your gambling activities, Mobile App, Community Forum, Self-Help for Those who Gamble.
  13. Center for Addiction and Mental Health. This service is available everywhere in Ontario 24/7. Call 1-888-230-3505. Ask for help in over 140 languages. The Ontario Problem Gambling Helpline provides information on counseling services and directs callers to such telephone counseling services and organizations such as Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon.
  14. Provincial System Support Program (PSSP) is a Canadian knowledge exchange program that deals with Gambling, Gaming and Technology Use. The program is aimed at training and educating about the problem, developing digital tools and resources, and facilitating knowledge sharing.

Ask for Help Worldwide

  1. Gamblers’ Anonymous was founded in 1957 based on similar Alcoholics Anonymous model. Gamblers Anonymous. Basically, it’s a 12-step model with an emphasis on a mutual-support approach. The only requirement for you to join the program is your own desire to give up gambling. The effectiveness of this program evidently depends on the gravity of your problem, yet it’s quite helpful indeed. There are also groups that can help children of problem gamblers (Gam-A-Teen) and their loved ones (Gam-Anon).
  2. GamCare is an online gambling industry-funded charity organization that offers counseling and guidance for people with gambling problems in the UK.
  3. GamTalk is a supportive community that serves to help people with gambling issues by sharing their experiences and ideas.
  4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a public health agency that operates within the US Department of Health & Human Services. All year round they provide free, confidential, and 24/7 National Helpline for people with different kinds of mental disorders, including gambling. The organization provides info and service in both English and Spanish languages.
  5. Gambling Lab of the University of Memphis is the product of 15-year-old academic collaboration of Drs. Andrew Meyers and James Whelan. As a result of their cooperation, there have been established two essential divisions of the gambling lab – the Gambling Clinic (where the sufferers from gambling addiction are treated, professionals, doctoral students, and consumers are educated, and tools to measure and intervene with excessive and compulsive gambling behavior are developed) and the Gambling Lab itself (which is basically a research laboratory where practical Gambling Clinic experiences are transformed into empirical questions that serve to identify risk factors and protective factors to prevent gambling disorders). Their project deal with adolescent gambling, warning labels, and college student gambling. The current work is specifically focused on the exploration of the role of impulsivity dimensions in risky gambling behavior.
  6. Oregon Problem Gambling Resource whose slogan is “No judgement, just hope” is available on the helpline on the phone (1 877 695 4648), SMS (503 713 6000), in the live chat, or in a treatment center. If you go for help to the Oregon Problem Gambling Resource, you’ll be listened and educated by a certified gambling addiction counselor who will provide you free and confidential treatment services. There are as many as 46 certified gambling addiction counselors across the state of Oregon who deliver free, confidential, state-funded gambling treatment to the state’s residents as well as their families or friends.
  7. Juego Responsable is a Spanish speaking resource that serves to comprehensively inform you about the gambling problem. You can ask for help calling the following phone number: 0800-333-0333. In addition, you can contact this organization in WhatsApp 011-1524416058 for the help absolutely free of charge.
  8. Glücksspiel is a German speaking resource where you can find all the essential gambling related info as well as ask for help to get rid of addiction calling 021 321 29 11.
  9. Jogo Responsável is a Portuguese resource dealing with such issues as responsible gambling, problematic gambling, and compulsive gambling. There, you can find some truly helpful resources that will perfectly assist you if you want to prevent yourself from this problem or even recover from it.
  10. Hjelpelinjen is a Norwegian helpline that serves to provide you treatment assistance and advice in case you are dependent on casinos or your relatives are addicts. On this website, you can find all the gambling related info as well as well as read some guides to learn how to protect yourself in case you are in the risk group.
  11. AGOG is an abbreviation that stands for Dutch “Anonieme Gokkers Omgeving Gokkers” or “Area Gamblers Gamblers Anonymous” in English. The slogan on the website says: “help! ik ben gokverslaafd. Stichting AGOG helpt je samen te stoppen met gokken”. In English, it means “Help! I’m a gambling addict. AGOG Foundation helps you to stop gambling together”. In such a way, the organization’s purpose is to prevent you from falling from the gambling addiction as well as treat you if you have become addicted.
  12. National Center for Responsible Gaming serves to fund research programs aimed at increasing the understanding of gambling disorder and youth gambling as well as finding effective treatment methods.
  13. Istituto Superiore di Sanità is an Italian organization where you can get in touch with the industry professionals and ask for their help as you call 800 55 88 22 and tell about your gambling addiction or about your loved ones who suffer from this problem. This organization is also known as TVNGA. It basically addresses citizens by providing information on all the territorial resources that may be present and dedicated, such as health services dedicated to the treatment of gambling, services able to manage socio-economic and / or legal issues related to the gambling sector. indebtedness, as well as the Regional Green Numbers dedicated to the topic. The organization is also open to social and health workers with the aim of facilitating the development of a network among the services that deal with the treatment of gambling disturbance and to favor their visibility thanks also to the use of the platform developed by ISS and dedicated to them which allows the census and continuous updating of information relating to the activities performed and the services provided. Finally, the TVNGA is also available to gaming operators who will find adequate support to deal with situations of particular socio-health problems.
  14. Institut fédératif des addictions comportementales (Federative Institute of Behavioral Addictions) is a helpful resource for French speaking gamblers and their close ones. The creation of the Federative Institute of Behavioral Addictions aims to develop research into these new problematic behaviors in order to better understand the mechanisms involved in addictive behavior and to guide prevention and care programs.
  15. Federación Española de Jugadores de Azar Rehabilitados (FEJAR) or Spanish Federation of Rehabilitated Players of Chance. It’s basically the union of several Spanish Associations and Federations of Regional Associations whose main purpose is to unify criteria and actions among all of them for the best defense of the interests of the affected by dependence on games of chance.
  16. Glücksspielsucht is a German organization where you can find all the essential gambling related info and ask for help to get rid of addiction anonymously calling 0800 – 1 37 27 00.
  17. Psicólogos Ludopatía Chile is the union of professional Chilean psychologists specialized in helping people and institutions to prevent and treat gambling addiction. Call 9 222 3860 or 9 344 8120. You can also send an email – [email protected]   and [email protected]. You can ask for help in the following cities: Santiago, Viña del Mar, Los Andes, San Felipe, Rinconada.
  18. VAD is the Flemish expertise center for alcohol, illegal drugs, psychoactive medication, gambling and gaming.
  19. Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust deals with different kinds of addictions, including gaming.
  20. UNLV International Gaming Institute aims at providing cutting-edge research and insights to global gaming leaders in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors across 50+jurisdictions around the world. The institute deals with esports and emerging technologies, responsible gaming, gaming and hospitality innovation,regulatory best practices,  executive leadership training programs, and diversity and community outreach initiatives.
  21. Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Services helps to whoever experiencing any kind of mental, emotional and behavioral problems, including gambling addiction. The center cooperates with Bradley Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital, Newport Hospital, and Gateway Healthcare.
  22. Brain and Mind Centre of the University of Sydney strives to comprehensively understand the psychology of gambling as well as minimise gambling-related harms in the Australian community through the collaboration with industry partners, consumers, the government and NGOs in order to implement all the research results and help people in the country as well as worldwide.
  23. Centre for Gambling Research of the Australian National University is focused on the production and dissemination of evidence-based and multi-disciplinary gambling research.
  24. American Academy of Health Care Providers in the Addictive Disorders. The Academy was specially designed to establish a core set of standards for professionals (e.g., social workers, psychologists, nurses, medical doctors, and counselors from seven countries) specialized in addiction treatment.
  25. Helping your family and friends with Addiction is a guide focused on informing you about gambling addiction and other kinds of addictions as well as the most efficient ways to fight the addiction. You’ll learn how to identify the signs and symptoms of abuse and find out whom to address for professional assistance. Call (855) 267-9245.

More Info about Problem Gaming

Choose another casino
Compare up to 3 casinos