gambling addiction: genetics or environment?

Here's the analysis:

http://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.com/2011/06/that-pesky-gambling-question.html

"In the traditional view, pathological gambling was a matter of exposure to the proper stimuli—it could happen to anyone. But as more and more gambling outlets and opportunities bloomed in Nevada, on reservations and riverboats, and in convenience stores, that view began to fall out of favor, because a funny thing happened. According to Shaffer and Martin, the prevalence of pathological gambling has remained stable over the past 35 years, even as opportunities to gamble have exploded. The lifetime prevalence rate of pathological gambling in the U.S. in the mid-1970s was 0.7%, say the authors, and by 2005, U.S. lifetime rates had actually fallen slightly, to 0.6% or less."

The new theory suggests that compulsive gambling is related to other addictive behaviors which are otherwise unrelated (overating, sex addiction, etc). “In sum” Shaffer and Martin conclude, “genetic influences might not determine the development of specific expression of addiction; however, genetics does influence the risk of addiction in general.”

Genetics does influence the (risk of)
cancer
obesity
intelligence
height
body odor
baldness
diabetes
attractiveness
etc.....

Yeah, I kind of agree with the findings in that more gamblings outlets don't make more addicts. I would say they might reveal more addicts whose addiction may not have yet been exposed (to themselves), but someone who just isn't into (insert vice here) isn't going to magically turn into an addict just because (insert vice here) is now readily available. In that same vein, the prohibition of (vice) does not prevent the addiction to (vice), it just sends it underground into the black market.

I do find addiction fascinating and I think there's still very little known about it. As with most things, I think it's both genetic and environment, with genetics always having a greater weight.

My wife has an addictive personality, thank god she doesn't drink or smoke. She is addicted to candy, so none is ever in the house except at Xmas. She's addicted to the slots and if we lived next to a casino or in Vegas, it would be bad. She has no control when she plays. If she wins, she plays till its all gone, no matter how much. And she always plays till she loses all the money she brought. I have tried to get her to stop when she's ahead, but she gets vicious about it, and won't quit. I think I said here before that 10 years ago I got so angry at trying to get her to leave at 3am, that I took her bucket with about 200 quarters in it and threw it and quarters went everywhere. She left then, and didn't speak all the way home. But it got her out, thats all I cared about.

Quote: EvenBob

My wife has an addictive personality, thank god she doesn't drink or smoke. She is addicted to candy, so none is ever in the house except at Xmas. She's addicted to the slots and if we lived next to a casino or in Vegas, it would be bad. She has no control when she plays. If she wins, she plays till its all gone, no matter how much. And she always plays till she loses all the money she brought. I have tried to get her to stop when she's ahead, but she gets vicious about it, and won't quit. I think I said here before that 10 years ago I got so angry at trying to get her to leave at 3am, that I took her bucket with about 200 quarters in it and threw it and quarters went everywhere. She left then, and didn't speak all the way home. But it got her out, thats all I cared about.

Maybe she's not playing to win. If she plays until she loses "everything she brought" and then leaves, that could be her control mechanism. Addicts simply have to keep playing, and will find ways to spend more than what they brought with them.

Let's say we have another player who says "I have $500. I am taking it to the casino to play for as long as I can, because I enjoy playing. When it's all gone, I will go home. I am comfortable with paying $500 for this entertainment, and I can afford it". They are doing more or less the same as your wife does, but would you say they have an addictive personality too?

Quote: algle

Addicts simply have to keep playing, and will find ways to spend more than what they brought with them.

And thats why she doesn't bring credit cards anymore. Her 'control mechanism' is she runs out of money and can't get more.

From Salon:

excerpt from the new book "High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America's Gambling Addiction," from Beacon Press.

I started gambling seriously in 2000, the year I moved to Seattle for a newspaper job. By 2001, I was hooked. I've been grappling with a poker addiction ever since. While I've had some happier times at the poker tables recently, during the past decade gambling has often wreaked havoc with my life. I don't know if I've "hit bottom" -- a term many in the recovery community rightly detest -- because I don't know what, for me, bottom is.

There are things I've never done because of my habit. I've never borrowed from a loan shark or bet with a bookie. I've never stolen anything to raise gambling funds. I've never been kicked out of my apartment because I couldn't pay the rent. I've never let work slide so badly that it caused me to be fired. I've survived for days on end on boxes of store-brand mac and cheese, ramen noodles, saltines, and seltzer water. I've been missing out on some basic human connections. Because of the thousands of hours I've spent playing poker, I've let some friendships and family relationships wither. And I've dated and pursued serious girlfriends less energetically than I used to. Some of that might be a function of middle age. But much of it, without doubt, has been due to poker.

Quitting for good is one option and is something I recognize may ultimately be the answer. Another option is to do nothing, to continue to play regularly, no matter where I live. After all, it's becoming more and more difficult to find a region of the country not within easy driving distance from a legal poker room.

Quote: EvenBob

She left then, and didn't speak all the way home.

Wow. That's wonderful. Maybe you should patent that technique.
Or force her to play a slot machine with very little "intermittent reward" so it just takes money but doesn't pay out.