We, humans, love to take risks. No matter if it’s placing online bets at sites like CasinoChan or riding a horse, we engage in various activities daily that come with a risk and reward.
We’re highly motivated to take such kinds of risks by releasing dopamine. It is a feel-good chemical that activates pleasurable rewards in your brain. Risk-taking helps us to advance the race especially when it comes to entrepreneurship, enhanced creativity, and innovation.
However, problems arise when such desire of taking continuous risks harms us in some way or the other. So, we have to take immediate action to understand if it is harming you.
Coming to our question what makes people addicted to gambling! Let’s try to answer this question first, and then go ahead with various factors and how to avoid them.
- People have those genetic predispositions for reward-seeking behaviors or impulsivity.
- Our under-active reward system – make us have more stimulation to achieve the feeling of happiness and pleasure.
- It is most of the time accompanied by less activation of the prefrontal cortex – it is an area of the brain that is responsible for decision making, cognitive control, and controlling impulses.
- It causes people to have a desire to indulge in stimulating experiences. This is combined with the lowered ability to control their urges for such activity and impaired ability to limit such kinds of activities.
Checking out factors that may lead to the gambling addiction
The first factor known to be a root cause of the gambling problem is the environment, as there are several opportunities for gambling close to your home: gaming halls and casinos, lottery centers everywhere. Such a higher presence of gambling activities contributes to shaping the environment where gambling is acceptable, promoted, and even encouraged.
Not just that, but the availability of internet gambling has contributed to such addiction development among the people, as any computer and smartphone is used for gambling purposes and that also from your home, whenever you want. The closure of casinos and bars because of the pandemic has actually resulted in the sharp rise in internet Baccarat (บาคาร่า).
Gambling Fever
Once you start with gambling, you are exposing yourself to one type of conditioning. These game’s rewards also contribute to your development of errors that change your observation and practice as a gambler.
It is true especially when few games have resulted in smaller and larger wins, it is a phase referred to as a “beginner’s luck.” Such illusion of luck will create the feeling of euphoria right from the first experience of gambling and this encourages players to try it once again. But, in reality, your brain memorizes wins easily than losses so you are convinced your luck may change again soon: and you are heading towards a trap.
Attraction of Winning
The attraction of winning is a primary motivation when it comes to gambling. You have seen when strangers have made the headlines and won millions in the game. Then even you can try? The main problem is these winners are generally highlighted, but they are the only winner among several unmentioned losers.
When gambling habits take hold, your attraction to winning takes over a different form and results in a damage management mechanism: when you accumulate your losses, and your desire of continuing will be motivated by your desire to “make up with the loss.” In this way, you will have the hope to win a big jackpot and make up for your losses. Such a trap is powerful, as by persisting, you are risking more losses, and feeding a need to make for all those losses that are not possible, whereas pushing yourself in the problem gambling behavior.
How to Deal with Gambling Addiction?
To feel the urge to gamble is quite normal, but when you develop healthier choices and a support network, resisting such cravings can become simple. When the gambling craving strikes:
- Postpone gambling. Just tell yourself that you will wait another 5 or 15 minutes. When you wait, your urge for gambling might pass or might also become weak to resist.
- Don’t go alone. Call over your trusted friend or family member, or go to the Gamblers Anonymous meeting.
- Do other activities, like hitting a gym, watching the movie, and practicing relaxation exercises whenever you have gambling cravings.
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