Gambling addiction today is a silent epidemic that destroys families, changes personality and destroys the foundations of society’s values. Of particular concern is the fact that the most vulnerable are young people, while the authorities and institutions almost completely ignore this growing problem. With young gamblers, we often hear that it all starts “for fun”. When is that line crossed – when does gambling stop being a pastime and becomes a serious problem? How to recognize that someone is entering an addictive pattern?
We talked about this with Marko Romić, a specialist in trauma psychology who is contacting us from Mostar, and Rasema Okić, the director of the Institute for the Treatment of Addiction Diseases in the Canton of Sarajevo and a neuropsychiatrist.
Specialist Romić said in Novo dan that there is a lot of research on this and that most of them boil down to the fact that we can single out some personality traits that favor the development of gambling addiction. For example, impulsivity or poor self-control.
“Persons who do not have the ability to control their actions, their emotions, will more easily and quickly fall into the problem of gambling addiction. Furthermore, neuroticism, such as some aspects, emotional instability, anxiety, depression, etc. can also favor the development of gambling addiction. Furthermore, low self-esteem and a sense of inferiority. This is what I personally found and saw and convinced in some of my research in practical work. Next, low conscientiousness. People who do not have enough capacity to look at themselves, the environment, the place, their place in that environment, the importance of the procedure and so on, especially in relation to others and themselves, are also people who will more easily and quickly fall into gambling addiction. A high risk tolerance can also be a very suitable basis for the development of gambling addiction,” said Romić in Novi dan.
We can see more and more teenagers and students in betting shops and online games. We asked how worrying this phenomenon is and which groups are most at risk.
“A really large number of young people, considering the developmental age they are in, which is actually adolescence, a transitional age, are not small, but they are not adults and mature either. The age of numerous experiences, new knowledge, and on the other hand the desire to belong to the peer group, they have their idols, completely new rules and of course numerous challenges. Young people are always the target group for some risky situations and risky behaviors, and this undeniably includes addictions. And one of those, but which is a legal and legitimate activity, are games of chance. Games of chance is actually the industry of games of chance, which is fun in nature. Their goal is, in fact, for the population to have fun. They are legal, supported by marketing and are not discussed as taboo. They are all around us. Casinos or bookies are located between schools, kindergartens, public institutions, residential areas, etc. So, we can practically tell at every step”, said dr. Okic.
Although legally those under the age of 18 should not enter betting shops and should be subject to age checks, this generally does not happen, he points out.
“Even when they are adults, they are still young and immature for challenges, for risky situations, etc. Of course, however, risk factors other than age, i.e. youth of some 15, 16 and up to 25 years old. They are usually high school students, unemployed or employed. In the absolute majority 99-98% are men. Then, personality structures – these are people with lower self-discipline. Modest responsibilities. Scarce abilities reflections. Impulsive, self-loving. And often it actually starts with just ‘I only play brand, two, five’. However, somehow you have to enter that world of addiction, that is, you don’t have to, but if they already have the desire and need, they want to prove themselves, belong to the peer group, the others do it too, so why not me?” she said.
She pointed out that society’s attitude towards it is also important, but above all the family’s.
“If it is an addicted family, if games of chance are scratch cards, a banal example, where the parents bring, and together with the children, they might get something for the scratch. What kind of image and scene do they actually leave behind, that is, what attitude will the child take. So, it is about a mass of risk factors, where are their motivations, what are their life goals and ambitions, and what are their attitudes about gambling, and in general about addictions and addictive behavior”, she said.
Gambling addiction usually starts as fun. But when is that line crossed?
“Most of them start gambling out of pure curiosity, for fun. They see that many people around them gamble, they think that gambling is something they can manage, that it’s just fun, that they can’t do much harm and that they can of course stop whenever they want. However, over a period of time, a part of them cross the line to which gambling was fun and slowly enter into addictive behavior and pathology. That’s actually the moment when they start neglecting their obligations, so let’s say because today a huge number of young people, teenagers I can say, high school students, some are already at the end of elementary school, and many are in the beginning grades of high school, when they start to neglect their obligations at school, in the family, where they are involved in extracurricular or sports activities, when they start to steal a little from their own mother or father or friends around them and especially when they start making some kind of business plans about what they will do with the money which they will get and which usually rarely get. This is the limit when they enter pathology and when gambling is no longer fun but something that becomes a serious problem”, he warns, writes N1 BiH.
