With a predicted global gross yield of almost $500 billion, the worldwide gambling industry is booming, with nearly 10 percent flowing from online gambling sites. More companies are springing forth to meet the growing demand.  

According to statistics, around 26% of the world’s population gamble. That means almost 1.6 billion people worldwide bet and 4.2 billion gamble at least once every year. However, there are greater risks of addiction, especially for those with a lack of impulse control. 

According to best au online casino, gambling addiction is progressive and can have many negative psychological, physical, and social repercussions. It is classed as an impulse-control disorder.

Problem gambling is harmful to psychological and physical health. People who live with this addiction may experience depression, migraine, distress, intestinal disorders, and other anxiety-related problems.

The rate of problem gambling has risen globally over the last few years. Here are simple signs to know if you are one. 

Lie about your gambling habits

Lying to hide an addiction and its related behaviour is a core symptom of addiction of any kind, and pathological gambling is no exception. The obsession and compulsion to gamble is so strong that the person will go to any lengths to place the next bet, and this usually includes lying to cover up where they are, what they are doing and what happened to their money.  Someone with a gambling addiction will instead start lying to themselves, rationalizing their behaviours.

Gamble more than you can afford to lose

A casual gambler may spend some of their extra money on gambling activities. But when their losses are more than they’re willing to spend, they stop. But addicts are unable to control or stop gambling even after losing more money than they can afford. These gambling losses can put the gambler into debt or risk assets like the gambler’s car or home.  And the losses go much deeper than simply being broke from gambling.

Emotions affected negatively

When gambling addicts are not gambling, the reward system drops the feel-good chemicals back down to normal or even below-normal to compensate for the unusually high levels that the gambling produced. As a result, gambling addicts can feel low, sluggish, unhappy and irritable when they are not gambling. Their emotions become deregulated and dysfunctional, which has been verified by blackjack en ligne.

Borrow to gamble

Borrowing money to gamble is a major part of the financial downfall that problem gamblers often face. They will use up normal ways of borrowing money, such as a line of credit, bank loan or second mortgage. After that, they could resort to ultra-high interest loans, such as credit cards, payday loans or even illicit loan sharks. They are so desperate to continue gambling that they will go to virtually any length to obtain more money, often under the belief that “this time” luck will find them and they will strike it rich.

Gamble until all your money is gone

The obsessive drive to gamble becomes so strong in pathological gamblers that even losing their money doesn’t cause them to stop the behaviour. They can burn through their savings and even gamble their paychecks, rent money, grocery money and any other money that is available to them, regardless of the consequences. Going broke from gambling is a true risk for someone with a gambling addiction.