10 Signs You Have a Gambling Problem or Addiction

Quick Summary

• Gambling addiction is when the urge to gamble becomes uncontrollable, even when it harms your finances, relationships, work, or emotional well-being.
• The most common warning signs include constant thoughts about gambling, chasing losses, lying about your behavior, gambling to escape emotions, and using money you can’t afford to lose.
• Other red flags include declining work or school performance, irritability when you can’t gamble, and feelings of guilt or shame after gambling.
• Support is available through therapy, Gamblers Anonymous, and peer support groups, and recovery is possible with professional help and early intervention.

It’s hard to forget the surge of adrenaline and the thrill of taking a risky bet and watching it pay off. However, what starts off as a fun distraction can quietly shift to a serious issue with life-altering consequences for some people. Without realizing how you got there, you can find yourself gambling more often and taking bigger and bigger risks. 

Gambling addiction — also known as gambling disorder or compulsive gambling — is a condition where the urge to gamble becomes difficult to control, even when it hurts your finances, relationships, or well-being. The signs of gambling addiction can build slowly over time, making it difficult to spot before the habit turns into a bigger problem. With gambling more accessible than ever through apps and online platforms, more people than ever before are struggling with a gambling disorder.

If you’re wondering if you have a gambling problem or you’re worried about a loved one’s behavior, it’s important to know how to spot the warning signs of gambling addiction. While only a mental health professional can diagnose a gambling disorder, this list can help you know what to look for in yourself or someone else who may have a gambling problem. If any of the signs on this list look familiar, consider exploring how therapy can help treat addiction.

1. You Constantly Think About Gambling

Thinking about the things you enjoy is a normal part of everyday life. If you enjoy gambling, it might occasionally cross your mind. However, if gambling is something you’re thinking about all the time, it may be a gambling addiction. 

You might find yourself reliving past wins, planning your next session, or constantly strategizing future bets. These thoughts and behaviors may feel inescapable even during work, time with your family, or while you’re trying to relax. When thoughts of gambling begin to take up mental space once reserved for other parts of your life, it may signal that your gambling is becoming harder to control.

2. You Chase Losses

After a losing streak, you try to convince yourself that one more bet will turn it all around and you’ll win it back. This urge is known as chasing your losses.² Instead of fixing your problems, chasing your losses often leads to bigger risks, more losses, and a deeper financial hole than you started in. 

The compulsion to recoup your losses with another bet can override logic and push you into impulsive decisions you wouldn’t normally make. When you chase your losses, gambling stops being about enjoyment and starts to feel more like a desperate attempt to fix a problem that gambling created in the first place. This cycle is one of the core behaviors of compulsive gambling.

3. You Lie About Your Gambling

If you find yourself hiding receipts, minimizing the time you spend gambling, or outright lying about your behavior, it may be a sign that you’ve lost control. Secrecy is often one of the early signs that gambling addiction has begun to take a negative toll on your life. 

You might lie about your gambling problem because you feel ashamed, afraid of being judged, or worried about the consequences. Over time, your dishonesty can grow alongside your addiction, making it harder and harder to reach out for help. Reflecting on why you’re lying about gambling can offer some insight into the gambling problem. 

4. You Can’t Stop, Even When You Try

Telling yourself you’ll stop gambling, and then gambling anyway, can be a frustrating and painful cycle to be stuck in. You might make promises and set rules for yourself — like “just one more time” — only to break those rules again and again. 

Repeated attempts to cut back on gambling without success can reflect a loss of your personal agency. When gambling begins to override your own boundaries, it can be a sign that gambling has crossed from a fun activity to an addiction.

5. Gambling Is Hurting Your Relationships

A gambling addiction can create cracks in even the strongest relationships. When gambling leads to secrecy, broken promises, or financial stress, it can cause tension and conflict with your family, friends, and partners. Your loved ones might feel hurt, confused, or betrayed when they sense something is wrong, but are met with secrecy or lies designed to hide your gambling addiction. 

“Gambling often exists in plain sight until it begins to affect relationships. Coupled with shame and isolation, it is easy to diminish and rationalize until negative consequences cause it to be errant in private sustainability. Typically, it can ‘feel’ as though it is well controlled, and easy to convince oneself that it is not problematic. But when the stakes become higher and impart the temptation to take higher risks, loss of control begins to run interference with daily responsibilities and is more difficult to ignore.”

– Talkspace therapist Elizabeth Keohan, LCSW-C

You might find yourself pulling away emotionally to help avoid conflict or difficult conversations. This emotional distance in a relationship makes it harder to stay connected with the people important to you and can deepen feelings of resentment or mistrust on both sides.

6. You Gamble to Escape

For compulsive gamblers, gambling can offer a temporary distraction — a way to escape from boredom, stress, anxiety, depression, or other difficult emotions. If you find yourself turning to gambling to escape from your problems or when you’re feeling emotionally overwhelmed, it may be a sign of a gambling addiction. 

Using gambling as a coping mechanism can create an emotional dependency where you get a feeling of relief from gambling. Over time, these patterns can deepen the addiction cycle and make it harder for you to manage your emotions in healthier ways. 

7. You’re Gambling With Money You Don’t Have

One of the key gambling addiction signs is using money to gamble that you can’t afford to lose. This might look like borrowing money from people, using credit cards, taking out loans, or using rent money to gamble. 

When using money for gambling overrides your or your family’s basic needs or long-term stability, it can quickly spiral into a financial crisis. 

8. Your Work or School Performance Is Suffering

When gambling occupies your thoughts and time, other parts of your life may begin to slip. You might find it difficult to concentrate on work or school, causing you to miss deadlines. Missing sleep to gamble late into the night might mean you show up late, or not at all.  Even if you’re physically present, you might feel too distracted to stay focused and perform at a high level. 

If you’re underperforming at work or school, it can damage your professional reputation, academic standing, and future goals. 

9. You Feel Irritable or Anxious When You Can’t Gamble

When you use gambling as a coping mechanism, it can trigger an intense emotional reaction and mood shifts when you’re prevented from doing so. You might feel restless, irritable, or on edge when you can’t place a bet or access your usual gambling outlet. 

These feelings aren’t normal when you’re just missing a hobby. The discomfort you feel can actually resemble symptoms seen in other forms of substance or behavioral addictions, including signs of sex addiction.

“Gambling imparts a quick response that activates the feeling of ‘reward.’ When that response is constantly fed, it naturally suffers when it is taken away. Similar to a response to substance addiction, it can feel anxiety-provoking or create a level of restlessness when a typical feed is non-existent any longer. Hence, the lack of reward and/or dopamine causes a feeling similar to the discomfort of withdrawal.”

– Talkspace therapist Elizabeth Keohan, LCSW-C

10. You Feel Guilty or Ashamed After Gambling

After the rush of gambling fades, you might feel guilt, regret, shame, or self-loathing. This can be especially true if you’ve lost more than you planned, broken a promise to yourself or a loved one, or hurt someone close to you. 

The emotional aftermath can be hard to sit with. For some people, gambling again is a way to escape the emotional discomfort caused by gambling. This emotional cycle can further fuel a self-destructive loop where you gamble to relieve guilt and then end up feeling even worse afterwards. 

What To Do If You Recognize These Signs

If you recognize some signs on this list, support is available. You don’t need to hit rock bottom before seeking help. Noticing the signs of gambling addiction early can help you gain control before things get worse. If you’re wondering how to give up gambling, acknowledging that you have a problem is the first step on the path to recovery.

There are many ways to get the help you need. For example, Gamblers Anonymous offers resources and a recovery program. You can also try reaching out to a support group where you can connect with others who understand what you’re going through. 

A licensed therapist can help you explore what’s driving your gambling habits and work with you to build healthier coping skills. With Talkspace, you can connect with a licensed online therapist who specializes in gambling addiction recovery from the comfort of your own home and on your schedule. Recovery from gambling addiction is possible, and you don’t have to face it alone. 

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