I want to ask you a couple of questions – and please answer them honestly. I will never know the answers, but asking yourself these simple questions will help you to evaluate your relationship with gambling.
Where do you gamble?
The first question is, where do you gamble?
It is a serious question and I want you to think carefully about the answer.
I ask because where I gambled changed over time.
My gambling started at work where I took part in a lottery. So, for me the answer is at work. That was ok because all I did was give my money to my workmate once per month. Lots of the team were in the lottery syndicate. No problem at all!
After a little while I started gambling on sport at home. That was ok too. I would be in the living room and put some money on the outcome of a football game. I would put my phone away and watch the game.
But something happened… and it did not take long!
My gambling at work changed. I would book meeting rooms and gamble in there. I was not doing just the lottery with the team anymore. Oh no. I was gambling on horse races, virtual sports, and any live in-play sports that I could find. This soon progressed to playing on-line casino games as well and I could be found in the meeting room all day, rather than the one or two hours previously.
My lunch breaks got longer and longer as I would frequent the bookmakers or a casino. Tearing myself away to get back to work became harder and harder. It got to a point where I might not go back to work until the next morning. If truth be told some days I would not make it to work at all.
At home I was not gambling just in the living room anymore. Of course not. I was gambling in every room of the house. Usually, a room where nobody else was!
My wife would often be banging on the bathroom door asking how much longer I would be in the bath. A long bath while secretly playing roulette was a standard pastime of mine during those horrible times. I hated it but I could not stop.
When do you gamble?
That brings me on to another question and that question is, when do you gamble?
Have a think about that and be totally honest with yourself.
I started by gambling once per month, handing over that lottery money. When I started the sports betting at home, using the app on my phone, I placed a bet once or twice per day two or three times per week.
Very quickly the “when” I gambled became more and more often. If I were not gambling, I was thinking about when I could get my next bet on.
Suddenly I was gambling every waking hour and those waking hours were increasing. I was sleeping fewer and fewer hours each night. On many occasions, I did not sleep at all. The need for the next bet was too much, and my tiring body could not stop, no matter how much it needed some rest.
Gamblers Anonymous:
By this point my life had become unmanageable and I attended my first Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meeting. It was then that I became aware of the 20 GA questions.
If you answer yes to at least 7 of the 20 questions, then you are likely to be a compulsive gambler. Compulsive gambler is the term adopted by GA for someone who suffers gambling harm.
Answering the questions helped me to identify that I was a compulsive gambler. This felt good in a strange way, because it helped me to realise that I needed some help and help was readily available.
Problem Gambling Severity Index
In addition to the GA question set you could ask yourself the following Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) questions.
Q1 – Have you bet more than you could really afford to lose?
Q2 – Have you needed to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling of excitement?
Q3 – When you gambled, did you go back another day to try to win back the money you lost?
Q4 – Have you borrowed money or sold anything to get money to gamble?
Q5 – Have you felt that you might have a problem with gambling?
Q6 – Has gambling caused you any health problems, including stress or anxiety?
Q7 – Have people criticized your betting or told you that you had a gambling problem, regardless of whether or not you thought it was true?
Q8 – Has your gambling caused any financial problems for you or your household?
Q9 – Have you felt guilty about the way you gamble or what happens when you gamble?
The questions should be answered based on the 4-point scoring scale below, thinking about your last 12 months gambling.
- Never = 0
- Sometimes = 1
- Most of the Time = 2
- Almost Always = 3
A score of 0 means you are a gambler who gambles with no negative consequences.
Any score above 0 means you are experiencing some harm.
A score of 1 or 2 indicates a low level of problems with no identified negative consequences.
Between 3 and 7 indicates a moderate level of problems with some negative consequences and a score of 8 or more indicates gambling with negative consequences and with a possible loss of control.
GamCare
Another option is to use GamCare’s online self-assessment tool called GamTest. The test is designed to identify risky gambling behaviour and provides feedback based upon your answers. The feedback is given under 5 different sections:
- Time Spent
- Stakes
- Your Finances
- Relationship
- Your Health
Links to useful resources are provided off the back of the answers given.
It is worth noting that GamCare also run the National Gambling Helpline (0808 802 0133) which is available 24 hours per day every day of the year and are also part of a campaign called TalkBanStop along with GAMSTOP and Gamban.
If you are worried, reach out for help, there is lots available. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 802 0133, visit the GA and GamCare websites, check out their chat rooms. Attend a GA meeting or why not listen to a gambling recovery podcast? I will write a blog on podcasts in the future because there are some great ones out there, they are available 24 hours a day, and they continue to help a lot of people. For now, I will just mention my podcast which is All Bets Are Off. Please have a listen, you will hear from inspiring people who have tackled their relationship with gambling. If you need to change your relationship with gambling, you can too.
Chris Gilham
Twitter – gillsy1002_
Co-host – All Bets Are Off
Worried about your gambling?