Elizabeth Rossé, clinical psychologist at the addiction support and prevention center of the Clémence-Isaure association, in Toulouse, welcomes patients in specialized consultations for “pathological gamblers”. The professional, who has been working on gambling addictions since the 2000s, highlights the particularities of these bettors. “problematic”younger, and for whom the development of online gaming has changed the situation.
According to the latest data from the French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Trends, nearly 52% of 18-75 year olds declared having played a gambling game at least once a year in 2023, an increase of 4.6 points compared to 2019. Among them, around 5% of players are considered to be “problematic”according to the Canadian Problem Gambling Index.
Sports betting has grown significantly over the last decade. Why is it a particular addiction?
As in most addictive behaviors, sports betting initially represents a leisure behavior. It is with time that this activity becomes more and more invasive both at the mental or financial level as well as temporally, to become a constant concern, which leads to financial problems, of course, but also relational difficulties which resound in the professional environment and family life, affecting the biorhythm.
The particularity of addiction to gambling lies in the fact that the risk is not taken on the body but on the money. And this aspect, the absence of absorption of substances, makes understanding this “invisible”, “odorless” problem more difficult for those around them and for the person themselves.
We are not talking about a person who goes, once in a while, to bet with his friends, we are talking about players engaged almost professionally in sports betting, until it ruins their life, without them being able to stop, with this question of loss of control. The player finds himself in a situation of alienation.
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