It’s Gambling Harm Awareness Week in Aotearoa September 5-11. It’s a good time to test your gambling and see if it’s okay. Is it still just for fun?

Know the signs so you have an idea of what to look for if you think someone may be gambling harmfully.

Pokies, the blackjack table, the roulette wheel. Enjoyed occasionally, these can be a harmless bit of fun. But it stops being fun fast if your gambling starts negatively impacting your life and affecting people close to you.

What makes gambling addictive?

For one thing, there’s the hope of winning money, but it goes deeper than that, because it has an effect on our brains. Gambling stimulates your brain’s reward centres, in much the same way good food,alcohol or other pleasurable experiences do. Pokies, the most harmful form of gambling, with their bright flashing lights and exciting sounds, are specifically designed to be addictive and keep you playing for a long time.

The casino and other gambling venues interfere with your sense of time – for example, they rarely have windows or clocks. This removes visual cues of the time of the day, so you stay longer.

When gambling becomes harmful

Gambling is easy to hide which is why it is often called the ‘hidden addiction’. There are no physical cues or symptoms as there are with drugs or alcohol.

But there are signs that indicate a person may be experiencing harmful gambling, including:

• Frequently talking and thinking about gambling
• An overwhelming urge to gamble, and the inability to control or cut back
• Restlessness and irritability if prevented from gambling; using gambling to relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety or depression
• Risking or losing important relationships, a job, or school or work opportunities because of gambling
• Asking others to bail them out of financial trouble because they gambled money away

The harm caused by gambling

While harmful gambling can cause significant financial hardship, it can impact someone’s life in many other ways. Gambling takes up time that could be spent at work or with family, and mounting debts cause additional stress in all aspects of someone’s life.

Harmful gambling can cause relationship breakdowns, legal problems (particularly for those driven to theft to fuel their gambling), poor work performance or loss of employment, and declining personal health. In some cases, gambling can even lead to self-harm. Harmful gambling can have consequences so serious it can and does destroy lives.

Test your gambling to see if it’s still just for fun

This Gambling Harm Awareness Week test your gambling. If you’re not sure whether your gambling has become harmful to yourself or your family and friends, take a quick test – it only takes a few minutes, is completely anonymous and you get a personalised report at the end.

Check your gambling now – it could be the best 10 minutes you’ve ever spent: www.pgf.nz

If you are concerned about your own gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, help is free and confidential. There’s no judgement, just support.

PGF Services

Call: 0800 664 262 | Email: [email protected] | Text: 5819 | Online chat: www.pgf.nz