Gambling Problems

Gambling Problems

 

Pathological gambling is being unable to resist impulses to gamble, which can lead to severe personal or social consequences. Pathological gambling usually begins in early adolescence in men, and between ages 20 and 40 in women. Pathological gambling often involves repetitive behaviors. People with this problem have a hard time resisting or controlling the impulse to gamble. Although it shares features of obsessive compulsive disorder, pathological gambling is likely a different condition.

People with pathological gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines pathological gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:
Committing crimes to get money to gamble
Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
Gambling larger amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
Needing to borrow money due to gambling losses
Needing to gamble larger amounts of money in order to feel excitement
Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as remembering past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble
A psychiatric evaluation and history can be used to diagnose pathological gambling. Screening tools such as the Gamblers Anonymous 20 Questions can help with the diagnosis.
Treatment for people with pathological gambling begins with recognizing the problem. Pathological gambling is often associated with denial. People with the illness often refuse to accept that they have a problem or need treatment.

Most people with pathological gambling enter treatment under pressure from others, rather than voluntarily accepting the need for treatment.

Treatment Gap

The treatment gap is massive among those who need treatment for a substance use disorder and do not receive it. In 2007, 23.2 million people aged 12 or older required treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem, but only 3.9 million received treatment at a specialty substance abuse facility. Reducing this gap requires a multipronged approach. Strategies include increasing access to effective treatment, achieving insurance parity, and reducing stigmas and raising awareness among both patients and health care professionals.

The beliefs of a society about a health condition can have a huge impact on the people who suffer from the disorder. Public opinion can influence public health policy, public and private harm minimization efforts, research funds and treatment support. At the individual level, negative public views of a disease and the stigma it creates can strongly discourage individuals from admitting that he or she has the problem and seeking treatment for the condition. There is little data available on public opinion of gambling disorders; however, a new study published in the Journal of Gambling Studies fills this void with a systematic examination of public opinion on gambling disorders. Researchers conducted telephone surveys with 8,467 adults in the Toronto area and questioned people about their opinions of how to best understand gambling disorders. Researchers asked if gambling disorders should be treated as a disease or illness, a wrongdoing, a habit, not disease or an addiction similar to drug addiction. Researchers also inquired if people with gambling disorders can get well on their own or must seek treatment to improve and polled adults on whether people with gambling disorders can reduce their gambling to that of a social gambler or if they need to quit altogether. The survey also gathered information on the gambling behavior and demographics of the respondents. The researchers found that most people viewed gambling disorders as an addiction similar to drug addiction, with one-third seeing gambling as a habit and 17 percent viewing gambling as a form of wrongdoing. Responses to whether gamblers needed treatment to recover showed a split jury, and three out of four thought that abstinence from gambling activities must happen for recovery. Examining the demographics, the researchers found that being female, married, younger and without gambling problems paralleled believing that treatment and abstinence were necessary. In addition, people who viewed gambling problems as a disease or addiction also believed that treatment and abstinence for recovery are necessary. The researchers noted that public perceptions reported in their study mimic the results of a 2003 study that examined the views of the public on alcohol use, with 71 percent of respondents saying that abstinence must occur for recovery. This popularly held belief is also the view of much of the scientific community as reflected by the upcoming changes the American Psychiatric Association is making. Finally, researchers concluded that people with gambling disorders were less likely to think that treatment and abstinence were necessary for recovery. This may be because many people who meet the clinical guidelines for a gambling disorder do not think they have a problem and even those who believe they do have a problem are unlikely to seek treatment.

Mult-Line Slot Machines

Multi-line slot machines have become more popular since the 1990s. These machines have more than one payline, meaning that visible symbols that are not aligned on the main horizontal may be considered for winning combinations. Reel slot machines commonly have three or five pay lines, while video slot machines may have 9, 15, 25, or as many as 100 different pay lines. Most video slot machines have a themed game, some of which feature graphics and music based on popular entertainers, motion pictures or TV programs The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, Happy Days, etc. with a bonus round. Most accept variable amounts of credit to play with 1 to 15 credits per line being typical. The higher the amount bet, the higher the payout will be.

There are also standard 3 to 5 reel electromechanical machines, of various types. These are the typical one-armed bandits. Since about 2005 there have been hybrid machines introduced, which combine elements of both video machines and traditional electromechanical machines.

One of the main differences between video slot machines and reel machines is in the way payouts are calculated. With reel machines, the only way to win the maximum jackpot is to play the maximum number of coins usually 3, sometimes 4, or even 5 coins per spin. With video machines, the fixed payout values are multiplied by the number of coins per line that is being bet. In other words: on a reel machine, it is to the player's advantage to play with the maximum number of coins available.

As an example, on the Wheel of Fortune reel machine created on the basis of the famous TV show “Wheel of Fortune” created by Merv Griffin, the player must play 3 coins per spin to be eligible to trigger the bonus round and possibly win the jackpot. On the Wheel of Fortune video machine, the chances of triggering the bonus round or winning the maximum jackpot are exactly the same regardless of the number of coins bet on each line.

Larger casinos offer slot machines with denominations from 1 cent penny slots all the way up to $100.00 or more per credit. Large denomination slot machines are usually cordoned off from the rest of the casino into a High Limit area, often with a separate team of attendants to cater to the needs of those who play there.

Slot machines common in casinos at this time are more complicated. Most allow players to accept their winnings as credits, which may be spent on additional spins.

In the last few years, new multi-denomination slot machines have been introduced. With these slot machines, the player can choose the value of each credit wagered the stake from a list of options. Based upon the player's selection, the slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the cash inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. For example, a player could choose to wager one dollar per game on a nickel slot machine. This eliminates the need for a player to find a specific denomination of a particular slot machine; they can concentrate on simply finding the machine and setting the denomination once they decide to play.

Recently, some casinos have chosen to take advantage of a concept commonly known as tokenization, where one token buys more than one credit. A casino can configure slot machines of numerous different denominations to accept the same type of token. For example, all penny, nickel, quarter, and dollar slot machines could be configured to accept dollar tokens. This significantly reduces a casino's inventory costs and coin handling costs. A tokenized slot machine automatically calculates the number of credits the player receives in exchange for the token inserted and displays the amount of available credits to the player. When a player chooses to collect his credits by pressing a Cash Out button, the slot machine will automatically divide the number of credits on the credit meter by the value of one token and return the result to the patron. Any remainder is known as residual credits and cannot be collected. Residual credits must be either played or abandoned.