How To Test if You are a Problem Gambler

A Simple Questionnaire on the Subject

If you answer 'yes' to five (or more) of the following questions, then you are more than likely to have a gambling problem.

  Are you having problems in controlling, cutting back, or stopping yourself from gambling?
  Do you feel resentful, angry, or irritable when attempting to cut back or stop gambling?
  Do you gamble to escape from problems or feelings of resentment, stress, boredom, guilt, anxiety or depression?
  Have you ever gambled to get money to solve your financial problems?
  After losing money gambling, do you often return to gambling to chase your losses?
  After a win, do you have a strong urge to return to win more?
  Do you find that you need increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired satisfaction?
  Do you ever gamble longer than you planned?
  Did you ever gamble until your last dollar was gone?
  Have you ever relied on others for money lost through gambling?
  Did gambling affect your reputation, or jeopardise a significant relationship, career, or educational opportunity?
  Do you lie to family members, counselors, or others to conceal the extent of your gambling?

The National Council on Problem Gambling has an interactive web based tool which will help you assess your gambling. Note we recommend you see a professional service to provide accurate feedback about your gambling.
http://www.ncpgambling.org

Who, or What, is a Problem Gambler?

There are many indicators:

1. A person who does not stop, regardless of the negative consequences.
2. A person who cannot resist the temptation to gamble.
3. A problem gambler may come to believe that they are capable of extraordinary feats. 4. Example: believing that they have secret knowledge (system or ritual) to influence a win.
4. A person who is not sure, or cannot decide, if they are a problem gambler. This is because a part of that person wants to gamble.
5. A person who cannot use their thinking to stop.
6. A person who cannot trust their own thinking when it comes to gambling. Because it is the person's thinking that leads them to problem gambling.
7. People who gamble out of control will experience unmanageable lives (debts, relationship problems, etc) because of it.

Other Considerations:

1. If you have been told more than once that your gambling caused problems, then the more times you have been told, the more likely you are to have a problem with gambling.
2. Two people seriously talking about your problem - people don't do that if you don't have a problem.
3. If you didn't have a gambling problem, then you would not have done the things, that you did, to keep on gambling.