No one begins gambling thinking they are going to become addicted to it. A gambling addiction usually begins in a way that is seemingly harmless. A person comes into some disposable income, or perhaps they have saved up for some recreational pleasure. They start gambling at a casino, online, at a horse track or at another gambling venue as innocent fun, with no intention of making bad life choices.

However, it is only a matter of time before their fun becomes not-so-innocent. Studies have shown that people who are prone to addictive behavior are psychologically and/or biologically wired that way, so when they discover something that gives them immense pleasure, they are likely to become addicted to it. What started as a casual passtime becomes habitual, and the gambler starts to become obsessed with their winnings and their losings, investing more time, money and energy into their habit than is healthy.

As is the case with any addiction, eventually the person in question cannot stop themselves from gambling even once they are aware of the negative effects it is having on their life. They develop a tolerance to the emotional high that gambling gives them so they perpetually require more of it, and the gambling becomes compulsive. They will go as far as writing off their personal responsibilities and relationships in order to gamble, putting themselves and their family members at risk. Some go as far as draining bank accounts or obtaining the means to gamble illegally, and develop antisocial personalities in order to hide their problem. Others begin to pathologically lie about their gambling habit.

And as is the case with any addiction, it cannot end until the addicted person wants it to end. Sometimes the person decides this on their own, and sometimes they require an intervention from their family and friends. The method of recovering from a gambling addiction depends heavily on the severity of the addiction. Usually some kind of treatment is required, in the form of Gamblers Anonymous meetings, outpatient rehab or inpatient residential rehab. No gambling addiction is impossible to recover from with the right treatment.