The role of gambling addiction: An Interdisciplinary dialog
(This article was originally published on my Medium.com account under the same title on August 13,2024)
The 21st century has been described as the century of digitalization and the satisfaction of certain basic needs through the Internet. This excessive use has “permeated” numerous areas of social life that go beyond the professional sphere, such as entertainment, communication and science.
One of the most characteristic examples of this is the areas of betting and gambling, which are linked not only to computer science and economics but also to psychology, biology and sociology. Computer science and applied mathematics may be the first pillars that introduce players to the first principles of betting, as they provide the framework for the existence of rules and participation, but economics — since we are talking about “betting” with money — is one of the main axes of a field that bases its existence on the continuous recycling of money.
The owners of casinos and gambling clubs argue that gambling — let’s say on a slot machine — is another way to spend one’s free time, just as someone else prefers to play sports or a musical instrument. When this activity is accompanied by the possibility of earning money, it becomes even better. For their part, the respective governments claim that gambling/betting is another sector that can contribute the most to a state’s economy and revenue if a certain regulatory framework is adhered to. Otherwise, a gambler can become addicted, which can have disastrous consequences for him and his family.
This is where the sciences of biology, psychology and sociology come into play to explain to us the reasons why a gambler becomes addicted and the impact this has on all areas of daily life.
According to Dr. Timothy W. Fong, professor of clinical psychiatry at UCLA’s Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, gambling disorders can be observed, and their effects are no different from those of other addictions such as alcohol and drug use. More specifically, betting activates the part of the human brain responsible for the production and release of dopamine, which in turn acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and enhances feelings of pleasure. He also links it to distortions at the cognitive-behavioral level (cognitive distortions). This means that a gambler continues to “try hard’ in the hope that they can win back the money they have spent for so long and that this will eventually happen.
The components of addiction may not be limited to a clinical diagnosis. It can also cause psychological problems such as anxiety, stress, sleep and eating disorders and harm to pre-existing social relationships. There are quite a few gamblers who can not sleep at night thinking about how much money they have lost. They either skip meals because they prefer to gamble, they neglect their hygiene because they are constantly in front of the screen, or they even disappear from their surroundings by immersing themselves in the simulated reality of the games. The international term “slot machine zone” is used specifically for this situation in which a player is in a trance state and loses track of time. We can certainly draw useful conclusions from the stories of some players who have been addicted and shared them in the media so that we can fully understand the extent of the harm.
In 2008, 64-year-old Wendy Hughes started working at the London betting shop Coral, which had fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). The employer usually encouraged its employees to play at the start of their shift to familiarize themselves with the games and because potential customers might be interested in sitting next to them at a similar machine. The work habit became a routine and then an addiction for Hughes, especially as she even lost 2,000 pounds in 2 days playing one of these machines for 12 hours straight. She even had a “reserved seat” in one of these machines, exclusively for her. Hughes reached her personal tip of the iceberg when she resorted to taking out consumer loans — with short repayment periods and high interest rates — from the bank just to get money to gamble. All of this led to her collapsing financially, mentally and physically, while the company she worked for continued to grow and generate multi-million-pound revenues.
The protective measures the company took — after reporting the specific case to the Betting Commission — were the continued investigation of similar cases of gambling addiction for the rest of the workforce — as there were several reports similar to Hughes’ — but also retraining in gambling and gaming.
Accordingly, similar events have taken place on a larger scale in the USA. It is impressive that betting and gambling addiction not only affects people as individuals but can also “invade” the relationships of couples. In 2020, NBC interviewed some users of similar applications who gambled in online casinos. With a sample of 21 respondents in total, the conclusions drawn were extremely shocking. Many of the players sued the company Big Fish Games — provider of the Jackpot Magic and Big Fish Casino applications — for possession of illegal gambling devices. Although the company did not admit to any wrongdoing, it nevertheless agreed to take action to combat the addiction by self-excluding the players who could no longer control themselves and wanted to be banned from the games.
After a protracted legal battle, around 2 million players were eventually compensated with a 20% refund for those who had spent between 10,000 and 100,000 dollars. It is therefore easy to imagine that the amounts gambled away were enormous. The total amount of compensation amounted to 155 million dollars. Quite a few said that they felt the apps were programmed to make them spend more and more money with various gimmicks, such as the free bonus, in case they wanted to stop playing. Some still did not want to stop playing because they had made online friendships through these apps that they did not want to lose.
Among the participants in the phone survey was a couple from Houston who called themselves the Shellz. More specifically, the Shellz both played while lying in bed, just before falling asleep, spending more than 150 thousand dollars in one year. All this shows us how gambling and betting can shape certain aspects of human relationships.
Can a lucky streak at the online casino replace a walk with friends, a good meal and even the desire for love between the couple? This can explain, on a second level, the aspects of culture and the views that some people have about the formation of human relationships, their permanence and openness — without this meaning that they are not extremely unpleasant and threatening realizations for the future.
According to a study by H2 Gambling Capital, Australians spent more money per person on gambling than any other developed nation in 2016. It also states that 1 in 3 Australians have a serious addiction problem, due to both the easy access to these games and the ease of making money. Added to the long list of problems of a “pathological gambler” are high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and ulcers.
Similar incidents also occur in Germany. It is even reported that 4 out of 10 gamblers are on the verge of addiction, while according to the Gambling Atlas Germany 2023 report, 1.7 million people between the ages of 18 and 70 are harmed by gambling. It should also be noted that in 2021, 30% of the total population in Germany stated that they had gambled at least once in the last 12 months.
Greece as a case study
In Greece, more attention seems to have been paid to compliance with the operating conditions of casinos and OPAP companies than almost any other gambling activity that could generate illegal profits. Special mention should be made of online companies, which not only have the highest revenues — which increased in 2024 compared to 2023 — of all other gambling activities, but also the highest percentage of complaints (88.79% according to the HGC Transaction Report 2023).
The question immediately arises as to, why the HGC does not focus on this area from the moment a serious problem is identified? The answer can be found in the March 2024 newsletter, which refers to the understaffing of the Independent Authority as well as bureaucratic obstacles and omissions in the recruitment of specially trained staff and their remuneration packages. In the age of digitalization, it is incomprehensible that a citizen can access the HGC website and see that the page on the exclusion procedure — relating to prevention and combating addiction — is under construction, while the last announcement for education and information dates back to 2013.
Another questionable point is the existence of the blacklist. According to this list, all companies/betting providers that do not comply with the regulations issued by the Hellenic Gambling Commission must pay heavy fines and are placed on this list as a sign of an untrustworthy provider and to better inform players.
However, the legal loophole in this case is that a company/betting operator can be removed from this list after just one year if it can prove that it has complied with the authority’s regulations. I think it’s a fair question to ask when someone has managed to comply with the regulations in such a short period of time. And secondly, what are the indicators that can certify to us that they are no longer breaking the law once they know the loose framework? This can largely explain why the number of blacklisting entries has skyrocketed in the last 10 years (360 in 2013, 6932 in 2023).
On the other hand, the above concern does not worry many companies/betting operators. After speaking with a betting expert and bringing the above concern to his attention, he explained to me that someone who has a business in Mexico, for example, is not interested in a player in Greece. In other words, he may not even know that he is on Greece’s blacklist. If we want to take this argument one step further, we should also consider the factor of individual responsibility. The interface and image of a provider’s website are some of the elements that contribute to not falling victim to a scam. Good research and self-confidence can also protect us from online “mischief”.
Finally, the demographics that make up a player’s profile should also be of particular importance. People in the 17–24 and 35–44 age groups have the highest participation rates with unlicensed providers. The threefold scheme of “anonymity / non-taxation / bonus” is what seems to attract these players. Anonymity because someone can play addictively, taking advantage of the lack of any control mechanisms that could stop them. Non-taxation is aimed at illegal profits — and if that seems to be a serious accusation — then one could even say that it leads to “dirty money”. In a country that has been plagued for several years by austerity measures, the results of which have led to a fall in the average wage, where 2 generations have grown up in a climate of job insecurity and low wages, where unemployment and underemployment have skyrocketed, it is almost entirely explicable that more and more people are resorting to such solutions to supplement their income.
What the future holds
The interdisciplinarity that prevails in the field of betting and gambling not only “touches” the above-mentioned sciences, but also has a direct impact on the field of communication. If you turn on the television today, you can see advertisements or even programs that deal exclusively with betting. There are journalists and even bookmakers who report on betting opportunities on websites, on their personal pages on social media or in the various printed betting newspapers.
In Greece, the major betting operators advertise through sports websites and radio stations. They are also sponsors of national championships and even professional sports federations. So it is understandable that even if you do not watch TV or listen to the radio, sooner or later you will come into contact with betting and gambling. In this context, consider the existence of OPAP stores in almost every suburb of major cities, places that can become meeting places for several players.
But we should certainly not confuse a casual gambler with someone who gambles systematically and puts themselves at risk of addiction. In my opinion, the problem of addiction is exacerbated by the excessive advertising of betting products. In the commercials, the references to the risk of addiction and the conditions for use are often only shown at the bottom of the screen as a trailer. This strategy clearly leads to the viewer not paying attention to the messages shown, but only to the big picture, i.e. the prize.
Much could be done to combat the cases of gambling addiction, for example through information programs on similar topics, street reports and general field research on the habits of citizens in relation to betting and gambling. Even more useful would be training days for students (more frequent than today), even the boycott of certain advertisements that do not comply with the advertising rules established by the HGC. In relation to the last sentence, issues of an ethical or business/commercial nature may also arise, with the main problems (on the business side) being censorship, serving other people’s interests or even financial loss.
The next step would undoubtedly be for such cases to be heard in court and thus become legally binding. At this point, I see a fine line between the kind of communication we want to have, the rules by which it should operate, and the risks that exist between absolute freedom of communication without limits and the creation of a strict set of rules without real implementation.
*All photos were created with the Adobe Express photo program.
Manos Karousos