Gambling and the brain

Gambling can affect the way the brain functions. Learning how is key to understanding why some people become addicted to gambling, and what they can do to overcome it.

It feels good A chemical called dopamine is released into the brain whenever we experience any kind of pleasure.

Sometimes, activities like gambling cause a very high surge of dopamine in the brain very quickly, creating abnormally high levels of pleasure. The brain links this feeling to the action of gambling.

If the brain is frequently flooded with high levels of dopamine, it can develop a tolerance to the chemical. This means the dopamine becomes less effective and the addicted brain requires a person to gamble more to achieve the same feelings of excitement.

How the brain retaliates While the brain no longer experiences the same pleasure it once got from gambling, memories of past excitement remain.

The brain is triggered by reminders, such as the sounds made by pokies, leading to intense urges to gamble and recapture those feelings.

This is why it can be so difficult to stop gambling even when it’s no longer fun, and why relapses are common.

Gambling and the brain

Gambling harm can happen to anyone Gambler’s Help is available 24/7 for a free confidential chat on 1800 858 858.

Near-misses are tricky

Near-misses are most associated with products like pokies and lottery tickets.

The brain responds to a near-miss in the same way it responds to a win – with a ‘dose’ of dopamine – as a reward to encourage a person to keep trying.

In activities like sport, the release of dopamine that comes from a near-miss motivates a person to keep practicing and improve their skills. But the brain’s pleasure centre cannot differentiate between games of skill and games of chance, so it responds in the same way even though gambling outcomes are mainly determined by ‘luck’.

While someone who gambles occasionally will experience a slightly increased level of dopamine from a near-miss, a person who gambles frequently is likely to feel a more intense rush. This makes near-misses more addictive for some people than others.

Retrain the brain

Overcoming a gambling addiction is rarely an easy path. It takes time and there are likely to be slip-ups along the way. But the brain is constantly changing and adapting, which means addictions can be reversed.

An urge to gamble usually occurs because the brain is pre-empting the reward – the release of dopamine – that comes from it. Instead of acting on the urge to gamble, a person who does another pleasurable activity, like going for a run or calling a friend, can retrain their brain to associate the reward with the new activity. Repetition is key to retraining the brain, creating new activity-pleasure associations and causing the urges to fade away.

A person who recognises what triggers their urge to gamble is likely to find it easier to change their behaviour. For example, the urge might be felt at the same time of the day, or when a person feels lonely, or hears a particular sound. Knowing their triggers allows a person to put strategies in place to manage them.