Many people who gamble are able to control the amount of time and money they spend. For them, gambling can be a harmless form of recreation. They may decide to spend a certain amount on gambling, just as they would spend a certain amount on such recreational activities as movies, sporting events, concerts or tuition fees for evening classes.

Other people have trouble controlling their gambling, and it causes problems in their lives. They may not realize they are gambling too much and spending too much money and time on the activity until the problems become too big to ignore. The problems can affect the individual, as well as affect the family.

Below is a list of warning signs for problem gambling. Do any of the signs apply to you? If you recognize yourself in any of these, you might want to consider getting some help.

10 Warning Signs for Problem Gambling

1. Spending more time or money on gambling than you can afford or had planned.

2. Borrowing money to gamble.

3. Gambling with money meant for essentials, such as food, rent, etc.

4. Neglecting important responsibilities, such as work, school or family, to gamble.

5. Lying about or covering up the extent of your gambling.

6. Chasing your losses to try and get your money back.

7. Arguing with your friends and family, especially about money issues.

8. Having unpaid bills and increasing debts due to your gambling.

9. Feeling regret about your gambling behavior.

10. Thinking about gambling a lot.

• How gambling really works
  • Randomness
  • Independence of events
  • Why gambling will cost you money
  • What is house advantage
  • House advantage and randomness: how they work together
  • What is your cost of play
  • Win in gambling is not long term
  • Return to player and hit frequency
  • Does skill work
• What's your cost of play
• Psychology of gambling
  • Optimism in gambling: good or bad
  • Systems in gambling: trying to make sense of randomness
  • 20/20 hindsight in gambling: useful or misleading
  • Near miss beliefs: close doesn't count
  • Hot and cold machines: there's no such thing
  • Selective attention and selective recall
  • Unpredictable payoffs
  • Entrapment
  • Don't get caught chasing
  • Illusion of control
  • Magical thinking
  • Superstitions and rituals
  • The appeal of gambling: what gambling means to different people
  • Gambling and keeping It real
• Responsible gambling tips
• Problem gambling
  • Range of gambling behaviours
  • Risk factors for problem gambling
  • How problem gambling can affect the individual
  • Dealing with problem gambling
  • Gambling and the family
  • Helping the gambler
  • Helping yourself
  • Why problem gambling is hard to deal with