Times are tough right now for many of us, and often when the pressure is on it’s easy to find ourselves falling back into old habits. If you enjoy gambling, but aren’t sure whether it’s becoming a problem for you or a loved one, read on to find out about these 4 red flags that indicate that you have a gambling problem.
1. Gambling More Than You Can Afford
This is a pretty big and obvious clue that you have a problem with gambling. Are you regularly gambling your last pennies, or even worse gambling money you don’t even really have in the form of credit cards or borrowing to gamble? If so, this could be affecting your financial security and meaning you don’t have money to pay your regular bills. This can quickly snowball and become something that’s hard to recover from, so only be sure to gamble what you can afford to lose.
2. Obsessing About Gambling
If all you think about most of the time is gambling, when you’ll next be able to play and ways to find more resources to be able to gamble more, then chances are you may have a problem. A fixation on gambling is actually recognised as a mental health disorder. If, despite your best efforts, you can’t seem to see past gambling then it may be time to reach out for help.
3. Hiding Your Gambling Habits
If you’re embarrassed by how much you gamble, or feel your loved ones are not supportive and you’ve turned to hiding or lying about your gambling, then that can be a red flag that there’s an issue going on. Your loved ones are just looking out for you, so if they’re concerned about your habits you should be too.
4. You Need to Up the Stakes
If you find yourself needing to gamble more and more to get the same feeling of excitement as before, this could be a sign things may get out of control soon. Gambling can be really fun, but you shouldn’t have to keep putting more and more money down to get the same enjoyment from it. If this is something you’re experiencing it might be a good idea to take a step back from it and analyse how it’s really affecting your life.
If you or a loved one seem to have an issue with gambling, it’s important to reach out for help before it becomes too much.