Defining Problem Gambling
Problem gambling can affect anybody, from any walk of life, from any part of Nova Scotia at any age, at any time.
Right now, there are and estimated 15,000 confirmed problem gamblers in Nova Scotia with another 35,000 considered at risk.
Does someone you know, a friend or family member, have a problem? A website alone can't make that call, but gambling is a problem if it:
- gets in the way of work, school or other activities
- harms you or your loved one's mental or physical health
- hurts you or your loved one financially
- damages you or your loved one's reputation
- causes problems between your loved one and you or other family or friends
The signs of problem gambling
It's very important to recognize the signs that someone you care about may be developing gambling problems:
In general, they:
- spend more time and money gambling than they mean to
- express guilt about how long or how much they gambled
- borrow money to gamble and don't repay it
- talk excitedly about their winnings and downplay their losses
- use gambling to forget about something that's bothering them
- say they know that if they keep gambling, they'll win back the money they've lost
- say that hitting a big win will solve their problems
When out socializing, they:
- head straight to the VLTs, slots, or table games to gamble and stay there
- spend more time gambling than socializing with the friends or family
- go out alone so they can gamble "in peace"
- keep going back to the ATM or use credit cards repeatedly to get more money to gamble longer
- At the Casino they disappear to gamble instead of watching a show or going to dinner
At home, they:
- are on the Internet gambling websites for long periods of time instead of being with the family
- have large credit card bills because of gambling website charges
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