Born with the gambling gene

I think the propensity to become a problem gambler may well be there and evident before it spirals.

Mr L always had a (to me) inexplicable fascination with fruit machines and quiz machines when we were out. I often had to drag him away having become bored and he would look back at them as if he expected them somehow to spring back into life. He'd gravitate to them even if we were collecting a takeaway but it didn't translate to problem gambling until a long time later although he did become fixated on a telephone quiz line and spent what was then an eye watering sum pretty much breaking even on it inbetween times.

Personally I can't even keep up with a basic bingo game. He can (or could. Not these days) 'see' why a fruit machine had paid out or not in a way that I just can't which I think is an innate thing .

There was a documentary a while back (believe it may still be available) exploring just this issue. From memory the conclusion was that while there may be a genetic connection it doesn't inevitably follow that it will result in a full blown addiction. Personally I think there is a percentage of the population born with a pre-disposition to the addiction. Whether that blooms into a problem or not depends on other factors and exposures. Some may very well go through life never even knowing they have a latent problem because they're not exposed to the factors that could trigger it.

Lethe, I think your last sentence in particular is absolutely right. I, like many others who have posted here say their addiction started with an inoxuous one-off bet or visit to the casino and winning. Had that first bet on the football, roulette table or slot machine ended with a loss that may well have been the last time we gambled. That inital win has resulted in the biggest loss some of us will ever encounter, our self-respect, pride and sometimes much more.

I was attracted to machines like a moth to the light.

Lets not forget though that they spend hundreds of thousands designing and developing these machines. They know what they are doing and the machines are everywhere. I didnt have to look far from where I was going anyway.

They know that reels, lights and advertised jackpots induce expectation and trance. Dont forget its just a giant advertising board in many ways.

Its interesting that quiz machines are mentioned above. I soon got turned off as I understood the odds on those. Given how difficult the questions could get I saw and experienced no chance of winning even with a group of people. Are they still around as I have not seen one of those for ages?

I would never compute the odds on fruit machines which must be thousands to one on the bigger amounts. I was in a dreamland of escape with them. Its interesting that anything which made me more aware of odds like roulette or electronic card games were a turn off....too much like real gambling even though fruit machines fleeced me every few seconds.

I can say now from a position of calmness that it was the reels spinning and going up the board game that drew me. I never calculated the chance. When I was twelve in a chip shop in Scotland it did seem like fun, naughty and exciting at that time, I used to sneak out with a pocket full of coins as I couldnt think of anything better to do. No holiday girlfriend and just a tired old selection of board games in the cottage 🙂 I knew it would be frowned on hence the sneaky behaviour but my parents must have sussed it out.

I dont know if we are born with a tendency to gamble. Life for every thinking lifeform involves some form of expectation and chance whether we are hunting food or finding a lifelong partner.

I know that machines developed an addiction in me. Maybe it started with that chipshop machine as I learnt to associate it with warm feelings. Coins went in and came out but I think the feeling of just wanting to play soon took over the real thoughts of making a profit.

Im not sure If I have ever played to win on them but I certainly wasnt playing for entertainment alone. Its a complex mix where it takes an element of money but the chemical feelings in the brain soon take over for their own ends.

Addictive behaviour can take many forms. I like collecting. I dont go overboard but others have called it hoarding 🙂

I tend to think it can be a certain personality where we feel lost in life. I was a bit of a drifter and a dreamer which does play into a gambling habit.

However I need to make it clear that I have never bet on a sporting event, horses, dogs or bingo. The machines gave me whatever I was looking for and Im still not fully sure what that was.

Best wishes to everyone on the forum

I'm not sure whether it's genetic or we're trained into gambling as children.

My fondest memories of childhood were all involving going to the seaside with my gran who would sit playing bingo all day. Whenever I ran out of money I'd go back to her & she'd give me more.

Hard to tell whether she was an addict but I do remember vividly jackpotting a poker machine & then after that thinking I could make money from playing machines all the time.

I can't tell you whether gambling is a genetic kinda thing but what I can tell you is that..
My Nanan was a big gambler, she was open about it though, didn't hide it from anyone, everytime we went on family holidays to the seaside in England most of our time was spent in the Arcades or Bingo. My nanan regulary went gambling.
So my Dad was a gambler too, maybe from his mother (I'm not sure) but he is a massive problem gambler, hes got us in debt before, spent all the rent and food money, lied about his gambling but also is happy to do it in front of us.

When I was growing up I spent hours outside the bookies waiting for him and my mum to come out, my mum would pop out to check on me and apologise for it, but she also had to keep checking on him and how much he was spending. He's caused her so much embarrassment with this. He will play on every roulette machine or pub bandit he comes across.
It's like he doesn't care, he says "It's nothing to do with anyone what I do" and gets really defensive and aggressive over it.

I once thought he was cheating on my mum, he was sneaking out at about 10pm not coming home until gone 12.. I didnt know what to do about it, anyway I told my mum, because I thought she had a right to know.. Turns out he was sneaking off to the Casino.
If it's not Bandit machines and roulette, its scratchcards, football, dogs, horses..

I always said I would never turn out like him, but here i am on here,
The difference is that I AM on here, and I AM doing everything I can,
He won't even accept he has a real problem, he gives my mum his cards often, but it NEVER lasts.

Hi Kirsty, As you say, your situation opens up the possibility of both nurture and nature. It could be genetic, as members of your family seem to have a gambling problem, however as you have grown up witnessing family members gambling that could be the reason you were drawn to it. Unfortunately it is impossible to say if you had not witnessed gambling at a young age whether you would still have been drawn to it or not. Well done for being here and i wish you well in your recovery.

Babapapa, you are spot on! I guess we will never know what really snapped in our brains to trigger such a complicated addiction, but considering all possibilities that could/have tributed to it is also quite soothing. It somewhat takes some of that self hate away and helps me understand that, maybe it's not all my fault entirely, maybe I'm not as messed up as I thought but the atmosphere I was subject to as a child and the constant exposure and presence of gambling wired it into my brain as it was developing. I'm finding gambling a very "mysterious" addiction. There is no real physical need for it, but the mental need is so strong - how did we let ourselves become so uncontrollable?

Thank you for your kind words of support, I wish you all the best too. X