We all know that gambling is bad. Well, some of us.
Most of us know that gambling with money is generally not a good idea. It’s just like any other bad thing in this world–the more you do it, the more desensitized you get, and the more tempted you are to do it again. Whether it’s going to Las Vegas and spending tons of money or getting caught up in the issue of CS: GO lootboxes, people can easily get addicted to gambling. The science behind this is somewhat simple; when you gamble, and you win, your brain receives a dopamine boost. As with all addictions, your brain hooks onto this dopamine fix and tries to replicate behaviors like this.
I was thinking about this recently, and having been to Las Vegas before, I wondered about this addiction. After researching it, most of the results made sense and didn’t spark my curiosity. For example, more researching is coming out that younger people are more susceptible to this addiction. Most younger individuals are more susceptible to addictions in general, because their brain is still learning and does not have the necessary info to properly discern right from wrong. However, I did think about the circumstances that may cause a gambling addiction. This thought process has to do with reinforcement learning in humans.
For every addiction, each person has a distinct likelihood of getting addicted. Just like genetic factors making heart disease more likely to happen, this is the same with alcohol and other substances. Because of this, for many of you, you might get addicted to gambling just by playing slots a few times. For others, it might take longer. However, I don’t think there’s a massive difference just based on genetics. I think there also might be a different just based on a person’s life. Of course, I’m not just talking about finding yourself in a sad or hopeless situation and being more susceptible, I think it also has to do with how much of a risk taker you are. For example, if I take a lot of risks in my life, and I get rewarded for those risks, I am probably much more likely to get addicted to gambling. I will be more likely to have a mindset of “if I keep trying, I’ll get closer to a win,” when in reality that is not the case. However, if I have taken risks in my life and most of them have led to unfavorable outcomes, I obviously will have a lower chance of getting addicted to gambling simply because previous events have told me otherwise. I think gambling is different from other addictions in this sense.
In everyday life, we take a lot of risks that we don’t even realize. Depending on how those risks turn out, you might develop a tendency to avoid them or take more of them. This makes gambling a lot more dangerous than people might realize, because unlike alcohol or substance abuse, there isn’t really a direct consequence. With gambling, you might be extremely intelligent, but chances are you might still get pulled in simply because you like to take risks.
The moral of the story? Don’t gamble. It doesn’t matter if you’re a risk taker or not when the simple fact is this: You are not likely to win, ever. And playing with money is never a good idea.