Casino gambling can be exciting, social and highly absorbing. For some people it remains an occasional activity. For others, however, the desire to gamble becomes increasingly difficult to control.
You may be spending longer in casinos than you intended, returning more frequently, increasing your stakes or finding yourself determined to recover money you have lost.
Casino gambling can also now happen both in a physical casino and online, meaning the distinction between a night at the casino and gambling at home has become increasingly blurred.
If casino gambling is affecting your finances, relationships or wellbeing, confidential therapy can help.
When casino gambling becomes a problem
There is no single amount of money or number of visits that defines when someone’s gambling has become harmful.
The more important question is what effect gambling is having on your life.
You may recognise some of the following:
- Spending considerably more than you planned
- Staying in the casino longer than intended
- Increasing your stakes after losing
- Returning to try to recover previous losses
- Taking additional cash out after reaching your original limit
- Using savings, credit cards or borrowed money to gamble
- Thinking about your next gambling session when you are not there
- Hiding losses from a partner or family
- Cancelling other plans in order to gamble
- Feeling unable to leave while you are losing
- Experiencing a strong emotional high when winning followed by significant lows
- Repeatedly deciding to stop and then returning
Gambling harm can extend beyond financial losses and affect mental wellbeing, relationships and everyday functioning. NHS and NICE guidance recognise gambling-related harm as something for which treatment and support are available.
The pull of the casino environment
Casino gambling can create an intense sense of absorption.
Games move quickly, attention is concentrated on what is happening immediately in front of you and it can become easy to lose track of time or the amount of money being spent.
For someone who is already vulnerable to compulsive gambling, the combination of excitement, anticipation and repeated opportunities to continue can make walking away particularly difficult.
The important question in therapy is not simply why didn’t you stop?
It is what was happening psychologically that made stopping so difficult at that moment?
That is something we can begin to understand.
Roulette, blackjack, slots and other casino games
People can develop problematic patterns around many different forms of casino gambling, including:
- Roulette
- Blackjack
- Slot machines
- Poker
- Baccarat
- Electronic casino games
- Online casino games
- Live dealer games
The particular game may matter less than the pattern that develops around it.
You may have a favourite game or a system you believe gives you greater control. You may find yourself remembering previous wins much more vividly than losses or feeling that a run of losses makes a win more likely.
Therapy allows us to examine the thinking and emotional processes surrounding gambling without judgement.
Winning can be part of the problem too
It is easy to assume that gambling problems are created by losing.
But significant wins can sometimes reinforce the gambling cycle.
A memorable win can create a powerful belief that the same thing could happen again. You may return attempting to recreate that feeling or gradually increase the amount you are prepared to risk.
The anticipation of a win can itself become compelling.
Over time, gambling can become less about the money itself and increasingly about the emotional experience surrounding it.
Chasing casino losses
You might arrive at a casino intending to spend £100 and accept that it could be lost.
But once that £100 has gone, the situation can feel very different.
Another £100 may seem like an opportunity to recover the first. If that goes too, leaving can feel even more difficult.
The original spending limit gradually loses its meaning because the immediate priority becomes recovering what has already been lost.
This is commonly known as chasing losses, and it can turn a relatively contained gambling session into a much larger financial loss.
Therapy can help you recognise the thoughts and emotions involved in that moment and develop strategies for responding differently.
Gambling as an escape
Not everybody gambles primarily because they want to make money.
Casino gambling can provide distraction from other things.
It may give you somewhere to go when you feel lonely. It may temporarily remove thoughts about work, relationships, anxiety or other pressures. The intensity of the gambling experience can make everything else disappear for a while.
The difficulty is that the problems are still there when the gambling stops, and financial losses or secrecy may have added new ones.
Understanding what gambling helps you escape from can therefore be just as important as addressing the gambling behaviour itself.
How therapy can help
Therapy gives you an opportunity to understand your gambling pattern rather than simply trying to fight it through willpower.
We can explore:
- What triggers the desire to visit a casino or gamble online
- The role excitement and anticipation play
- Chasing losses
- Your beliefs about winning, losing and probability
- Gambling when experiencing difficult emotions
- Financial boundaries
- Secrecy and its effect on relationships
- Ways of managing urges
- Practical barriers to gambling
- Rebuilding trust and stability
- How to maintain change over the longer term
Treatment for gambling-related harm can involve psychological approaches, alongside practical measures and wider support depending on the individual’s circumstances. NICE guidance emphasises assessment, psychological support and coordinated care appropriate to the person’s level of need.
Support is available
You do not need to have lost everything before seeking help.
If casino gambling is beginning to frighten you, if the amounts are increasing, if you are hiding what is happening or if you simply recognise that you are no longer making the decisions you intended to make, it is worth talking to somebody.
Recovery from gambling-related harm is possible, and support is available.
Casino gambling therapy in London
We offer confidential therapy for people who are struggling with casino gambling, whether this takes place in physical casinos, online casinos or both.
There is no expectation that you arrive with everything worked out.
You might know exactly what needs to change, or you may only know that gambling has started to become a problem.
Get in Touch
You do not need to arrive with everything worked out. Send us an enquiry and a therapist will reply to you personally. You may also want to read about gambling addiction therapy, betting addiction therapy or couples and family therapy for those affected alongside you.