7 Warning Signs That Your Visits to Las Vegas Are a Gambling Addiction

Around these parts, celebrating the Las Vegas lifestyle and gambling community is an everyday affair.

I’ve lived in Sin City practically my entire life, and ever since I turned 21, the iconic Las Vegas casinos that line The Strip have been my home away from home. Whether I’m playing for pleasure, or for work purposes, gambling on games of chance and skill has simply been a way of life for me.

And for the most part, that’s been a beautiful thing. I met my beloved wife while she dealt me blackjack hands at the old Bourbon Street casino. I’ve been able to turn a passion into a profession thanks to readers like you who come here to learn about all things Las Vegas. And while I’m far from the best player on the block, I have managed to squeeze out a lifetime profit by sticking to sound strategies and sensible bankroll management.

With all that said though, I recently experienced a situation which showed me the seedy underbelly of the gambling industry in brutal detail. No need to get into any personal details in this public forum, but let’s just say a longtime friend of mine has been suffering from what, to my eyes anyhow, very well may be the early stages of gambling addiction.

Things started out innocently enough, with the usual home poker games and occasional trips to the South Point for some sports betting and blackjack on the weekends. In the early going, everybody in our group seemed to be enjoying the casino as I’ve always known it – a unique source of entertainment where adults can let loose and have a little fun.

Over time, however, the vibe began to change dramatically for this particular player. He couldn’t shrug off a bad beat without whipping out his wallet to fire off a “back in the black” bet. While we were all planning the next meal or bar crawl to blow off some steam after gambling, he’d blow us off to head back into the pit alone.

And when my phone lit up at 3:30 in the morning on a Tuesday with a slightly desperate text asking for a ride home from the Venetian, I couldn’t ignore the symptoms any longer.

What happened next between him and I will remain private, but sufficed to say, I did my best to reach out and offer advice about what I perceived to be problem gambling. Here’s hoping that advice does some good in my friend’s case, but just like any casino wager, I can’t really control that outcome with any degree of certainty.

I can, however, control how I use this platform which has been afforded to me. My friend is hardly alone in coping with an addiction to gambling, so this page is devoted to any readers out there who might be in the same sinking boat.

Drawing inspiration from the Gambler’s Anonymous (GA) group – and its essential checklist of 20 questions every player should ask themselves to test for potential problem gambling – the list below highlights seven warning signs to watch for that might mean your love for Las Vegas casinos is more than meets the eye.

1 – You’re Gambling Money You Can’t Afford to Lose

I’ve never been a fan of the phrase “disposable income” myself, as every dollar saved is a dollar earned, but when it comes to gambling the shoe happens to fit.

Even though the goal of every gambler is to beat the odds and win money, playing your favorite casino games should always be considered a sunk cost of sorts. In other words, once you withdraw the funds and exchange them for chips or machine credits, you might as well mentally consider that money to be property of the house.

If you happen to play well or get lucky enough to win it back, by all means, celebrate and have a blast. But when the final chips get scooped up by the dealer, or the machine credit counter clicks down to “000,” that negative outcome should be viewed as par for the course.

Between the house’s inherent edge on every single game and wager it spreads, to the fact that casino gambling literally stacks the odds against you, expecting to win with any regularity is a fool’s errand.

And that’s all well and good in my book…

When I take my family out to see the Vegas Golden Knights play NHL hockey, I know for a fact as I leave the house that I’m due to be down a few hundred bucks by evening’s end. I’m paying for a few hours’ worth of singularly unique enjoyment – along with valuable time spent with my wife and kiddos – so why would I ever lament the “loss” of that money?

Of course, paying to attend an entertainment venue and playing blackjack for real money are two different things, as only the latter holds the potential to produce profits when the stars align. And I certainly understand that losses sting, especially when you played correctly and simply endured a bad beat, but I always try to maintain perspective and cut my losses at a reasonable amount.

I’ve got no issues with anybody spending money to gamble when they can afford to lose those funds. Just like my Knights games, spending a couple hundred bucks on a cool evening out on the town in Las Vegas is a singularly unique form of entertainment.

But that all goes out the window when you’re gambling money away that should rightfully be devoted to real life expenses and necessities. If you find yourself skimping on groceries or meals out, letting utility bills lapse into late payments, or otherwise allowing your gambling losses to impact your daily life at home, it might be time to take a hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why.

2 – You’re Gambling Instead of Being With Your Family

Speaking of your daily life at home, one of the telltale symptoms associated with problem gambling is the slow erosion of your normal lifestyle in lieu of sessions at the casino.

In my friend’s case, our group gets together every Sunday during the football season to grill out and watch the week’s best games on the big screen. The venue would rotate amongst ourselves, and he used to love playing host by assembling a smorgasbord of deli meats and other treats to complete the spread.

Lately though, he’s been skipping Sunday football and BBQ to play baccarat and craps at the rundown little casino near his area of town. That’s only one example, mind you, and while I won’t delve too far into his personal life, I can only imagine that his buddies aren’t the only ones wondering why he’s not around as much.

Like any other hobby, gambling should be something you engage in socially, and only on occasion. Increasingly isolating yourself from the people who matter most, just to spend time with strangers on the casino floor, is a sure sign that gambling has devolved from a hobby to a compulsion.

3 – You’re Bringing Your Anger about Gambling Losses Home with You

The flip side to spending more and more time away from home gambling involves letting the losses bleed into your everyday life.

In college, my freshman dorm roommate would get so upset about his beatings at the fraternity poker game that he’d punch holes straight through the drywall with alarming regularity. These outbursts became so common that I wound up having to move out, losing a good friend in the process.

You might not be punching walls, but if you get home and can’t let a losing session at the casino go, that’s a good sign your gambling has become problematic. As is yelling at your significant other about their concerns, growing agitated when you’re not gambling, or otherwise allowing your emotional state to be dictated by your profit / loss ledger.

4 – You’re Finding New Ways to Gamble

Addictive personalities are nothing if not creative, so folks who are struggling with problem gambling can come up with any number of ways to supplement their habit – even when a casino is nowhere to be found.

And unfortunately, casinos can be found everywhere these days thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and online gambling sites. Throw in lottery tickets and scratcher cards sold at the corner convenience store, underground bookies, and informal poker games – and gambling can be found anywhere when you know where to look.

If you’re always on the lookout for the next source of action – or if you find yourself exploring new ways to gamble that you never would’ve partaken in before – take a step back and ask yourself one question: where do you draw the line?

I’ve seen fellow fathers passing $20s back and forth at a high school basketball game, so trust me when I tell you that this path never leads anywhere good.

5 – You’re Borrowing Money from Loved Ones to Fund Your Gambling

The classic tell signifying that gambling has gone bad occurs when you’re forced to borrow money just to stay in the game.

Unless you’re a bona fide poker pro for whom loaning and borrowing is a vital part of doing business, you should never consider asking people to fund your gambling as acceptable. This harkens back to the first entry on my list, because if you need to borrow a few bucks simply to make your next bet, you’ve already put money you can’t afford to lose at risk – and lost it in the process.

Once your betting begins causing negative consequences for others who haven’t stepped foot in a casino for years, the jig is up. Problem gamblers tend to entertain visions (more like delusions) of grandeur, convincing themselves that if they could only get that next bet down, a winner will turn the tide and reverse their fortunes.

Borrowing in this manner can take many forms too, including but not limited to taking cash advances out on your credit card, or visiting a pawn shop to hawk prized possessions. You might believe that one last bet is all you need to get back on track, but borrowing to fuel a gambling addiction doesn’t do anything but create a vicious circle and the worst kind of Catch-22.

6 – You’re Fighting with People You Care About Over Your Gambling Habit

I alluded to this up above in the third entry about bringing gambling losses home, but it bears repeating.

When your inability to stop gambling becomes the basis for arguments and outright fights with people who care about you, that should be a stark sign that you’ve entered the dark side. It’s all too easy to blame others for one’s failures, and for problem gamblers, this blame game can chip away at the relationships that once mattered most of all.

7 – You’re Sick and Tired of Gambling So Much… But Can’t Stop

For decades, doctors and psychiatrists considered addiction – to gambling, or alcohol, or anything else under the sun – to be a sign of moral defect.

Fortunately, modern medicine has taken a more forgiving approach thanks to the discovery that addiction is a disease of the mind. Compulsive behavior is just that, a compulsion that drives people to act in self-destructive ways despite their best intentions.

If you know deep down that the warning signs found here apply to you, and you don’t want to gamble any longer, never be ashamed about having trouble harnessing those emotions.

Groups like GA exist for a reason, as most problem gamblers require a combination of counseling, education, and treatment to overcome their addiction. If you’ve made it this far, you’re already on the right path to building a better life for yourself, so I urge you to forge ahead and do everything in your power to get your gambling under control once and for all.

Conclusion

Gambling addiction is nothing new. As long as humans have wagered their valuables on games of chance and skill, there have been people who took things too far for their own good. Fortunately, we’ve evolved as a society to the point where problem gamblers have a wealth of resources at their disposal when the time comes to seek treatment. My humble hope is that this page serves you well as one of those resources, so if these warning signs ring any bells, do yourself a favor and visit the Gambler’s Anonymous website to learn more about the next steps you need to take toward your eventual recovery.