⭐️ Social ⭐️ The propensity of drug addicts or former addicts to become gambling addicts

[LucidSDreamr]

Anyone have any insight on this? I’ve gambled a little bit but never saw how ppl became addicted to it in the way ppl get addicted to drugs. It don’t give me a rush or altered state or relief that drugs always brought…even after a win.

I’ve wanted to get into gambling because drug abuse has kind of run its course and i just know it all too well that the high isn’t worth the hell afterwards.

But I don’t particularly get that excited about gambling and don’t get a rush from it…but I definitely don’t want to open up Pandora’s box and destroy my life with gambling.

Do gamblers seek the rush of gambling more than they are actually seeking money? In that case I feel like if I wanted a rush that badly I would revert to drugs and not bother with gambling…or is there more to gambling addiction than that that I should be aware of?

 

[Snafu in the Void]

I was addicted to e-sports gambling for awhile. Professional Dota 2 tournaments, circa 2010-2016 or so. Fairly low stakes... like $1-100 per game on the line (dozens of times per week, I'd often bet on 2-5 games per day).

I appreciate the addiction and the dopamine it provides. It's unlike drugs, it's not a visceral high, it's a psychological high and addiction.

However, my concurrent physical drug addictions always took precedent. It was like a cute little side addiction for me... almost like a way for me to get high while at work and sober. (I worked in IT and would just watch the games at work... on random other people's computers I was fixing... I had access to like 30 random laptops at any given time).

but I'd never spend money on gambling that I needed to fulfil my physical drug/alcohol needs....

Honestly it's a lot like digital phone addictions, or porn, or being addicted to a lot of non-drug things. It's psychological, and it can be powerful in it's own right. But these types of digital dopamine addictions aren't always super obvious when you are experiencing them.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Do gamblers seek the rush of gambling more than they are actually seeking money?

I can't speak for some true gambling addict that blew $100k on slots... but from my own brief experience and understanding... it's not about the rush of winning (which is obviously great and sought after), it's about the dopamine provided in the pursuit of that big win.

That's ultimately the function of dopamine itself. It's not really the reward chemical, it's the incentive chemical. It's the chemical your brain uses to MOTIVATE you to get that reward, not the reward itself.

And that constant stream of incentive is the high, not the big win itself... and that's the addiction - because people almost never get that big win! It's the high you get thinking you might win big.

 

[chippermonk]

I don't have any insight on why people gamble as I have never gambled. I only bought a lottery ticket once, and only got into a football pool at work (once) because people insisted I do so. I went to a casino once and spent $5 in nickels (and got 3 free drinks as a result!)
For me, I just always figure the odds are against me, I'll never win. I don't even enter free contests. In my mind, I equate gambling with me losing, which is an unpleasant feeling. But I can see how someone could enjoy it, and if they feel they can afford it and they enjoy it, then why not?

 

[chippermonk]

I can't speak for some true gambling addict that blew $100k on slots... but from my own brief experience and understanding... it's not about the rush of winning (which is obviously great and sought after), it's about the dopamine provided in the pursuit of that big win.

That's ultimately the function of dopamine itself. It's not really the reward chemical, it's the incentive chemical. It's the chemical your brain uses to MOTIVATE you to get that reward, not the reward itself.

And that constant stream of incentive is the high, not the big win itself... and that's the addiction - because people almost never get that big win! It's the high you get thinking you might win big.

Interesting point, that there is a good biological reason for us to be motivated by dopamine. I never really thought about that. Obviously, it is unhealthy to be too motivated to seek it, but I can imagine it being unhealthy to be too little motivated as well, since biological functions exist for a reason.

 

[Bigsammy610]

I picked up a gambling habit 5 years after I put drugs down. It's an entirely different high but I'd compare it to cocaine.

You know you won't get any higher at a certain point but you keep hitting the ATM time after time. Although at least with gambling, you actually can recoup your losses if you're lucky but it's a senseless high to chase.

I had to quit and it was a lot easier than quitting cocaine but similar high mentally

 

[garygroundwork]

I had a very bad sports gambling habit. I'm talking first thing I did when I woke up each day until I went to bed was check the odds and put bets on. Be on my phone all day checking scores. It's all I thought about for a few years all day every day. I was fully addcicted.

But the gambling all began for me because I moved from a wild city to a shit one where there was nothing happening and I had nothing to do. I was bored and depressed. Only reason I ever got into gambling.
It was around the time of Bitcoin 2012-2017. I was buying bitcoin and using it to buy drugs on the dark net. Instead of gambling and buying drugs if I had just brought and kept bitcoin I be a very rich person today. Another life mistake.

Then I was diagnosed with add and put on medication-the medication stopped my gambling habit.

So to answer your question OP yeah I was fully addicted like drugs-it gave me constant dopamine.