Gambling Addiction in Adolescents and Young Adults

By Curtis Reed

Gambling addiction, also known as compulsive gambling, is a type of impulse-control disorder. Troubled teenagers and young adults suffering from this impulse-control disorder are unable to control the impulse to gamble, even when they know their gambling is hurting themselves or their loved ones. Gambling is all they can think about and all they want to do, no matter the consequences.

Whether you bet on sports, scratch cards, roulette, poker, or slots a compulsive gambling problem is an addiction nonetheless. Teenagers and young adults struggling with compulsive gambling will continue to gamble whether they are up or down, broke or flush, happy or sad. Even when it has become clear that the odds are against them and they know that they can't afford to lose, people with a gambling addiction can't "stay off the bet." 

Why a Gambling Addiction?

A major factor that puts troubled teens and troubled young adults at risk for a gambling addition is influence from family members and friends. When questioned about their compulsive gambling problems, most teens say that gambling was a way to escape or avoid problems in the home. Social media has made gambling more accessible to our youth by offering games such a poker and requiring a payment of some kind to continue playing. 

Gambling can become a problem because while gambling it works on the risk and reward part of our brains, because of this people become addicted. Unpleasant feelings such as stress, depression, loneliness, fear, and anxiety can trigger compulsive gambling or make it worse if the addiction has already been developed. Gambling addiction is sometimes referred to as the "hidden illness" because there are no obvious physical signs or symptoms as there is with drug or alcohol addiction. Compulsive gamblers simply deny or minimize the problem and go to great lengths to hide their gambling.