When underestimated, any addiction can become a serious issue with dreadful effects on one’s personal life, financial stability, and even health. Learn about the status quo of problem gambling in online casino Canada, its main types, and how to identify it beforehand to prevent possible damage.
Signs to Recognize the Addiction
As every person is unique and leading a different lifestyle, the signs of addiction may differ significantly from one case to another. Nevertheless, they often include something of the following:
- Difficulties in adhering to the usual working or educational routine as a result of spending excessive time at a virtual casino;
- Distancing from friends and relatives, a lack of socialization in favor of gambling;
- Financial issues (overdue bills, an accumulation of debts, etc.) as a consequence of unsuccessful betting;
- Mood instability, sudden swings from happiness to aggression or depression;
- The loss of interest in other aspects of everyday life, not related to games and staking houses;
- Constantly recurring thoughts fixated on the object of craving;
As soon as you notice the appearance of one of these patterns or a similar tendency, don’t hesitate to start fighting the habit right away. In particularly serious conditions, you will need the assistance of a qualified healthcare professional.
Names of Online Casino Penchant
The stages and severity levels of gaming addiction can be roughly divided into three major groups, each of them depicts a certain pattern of craving. Specifically, they are the compulsive, pathological and problem gambling types. Although they are not essentially consecutive, the player may experience a transformation of one kind into another as a result of different circumstances in life or just as time goes by.
Problem
The lightest form of gambling addiction, this pattern may consist of any type of related behavior that brings unease of any sort to the player or his loved ones. Insomnia due to a thrilling casino session. Late for dinner after spending too much time at an online staking house. Wagered 20 bucks you planned to use for buying a couple of tickets to the cinema. That’s the problem gaming for you. Not too serious for now, but already requiring some extra attention.
Compulsive
In traditional psychology, a compulsion is a state in which one commits a certain act as a result of an uncontrollable desire to do so. In terms of gambling, compulsive addicts may remain “clean” for extensive periods of time, but once the urge strikes, the outcome is quite predictable. Such folks should try to restrict their possibilities for betting while they are in a mindful state between the craving episodes.
Pathological
In this form of addiction, the behavioral pattern becomes almost identical to a mental disorder. Pathological gamblers are strongly fixated on the object of their craving, hardly ever thinking of anything else, let alone interacting with it. People with this condition will be constantly looking for an extra opportunity to place a couple of bets at an online casino and may go the extra mile to satisfy this passion, regardless of the result.
What Do the Numbers Say to Us?
More than twenty years ago, in 1996, the estimated rate of problem gamblers in Canada ranged from 1.2 to 1.9 percent of the adult population. The numbers have grown since then, as the gambling industry also has conquered new horizons, and numerous online staking houses have been opened.
The Consequences for Canadians
Even if the player is subjected to a mild form of gambling addiction, the results of that can be quite unpleasant both for him and his loved ones. The financial loss, emotional distancing, countless stressful incidents, and general impairment of the essential human ability to socialize – these are some of the most common consequences of any problem gaming pattern, Canadian as well.