In the September Gamble Aware NG‘s Safer Gaming newsletter, powered by GamingWeek and iGaming AFRIKA, Michael Zhang explains why understanding gambling harm begins with understanding what gambling does for the person involved. The gambling psychologist and founder and CEO of Incremental worked at the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney, where he met people whose financial losses were only part of the problem.
Through those conversations, Zhang found that gambling could provide escape, hope or a temporary change in how someone felt about their circumstances. Losing money brought people into treatment, but it did not fully explain why they continued to bet.
“People would come in because they were losing money, but the longer you worked with them, the less the problem seemed to be only about money. Gambling could be an escape. It could create hope. It could change how someone felt about themselves for a few hours. For some people, it represented this imagined pathway from the life they had to the life they thought they could have,” he explained.
When gambling holds that promise, recognising the damage may not be enough to stop. The circumstances someone hopes to change remain, and another wager offers another chance. Advice about spending less may address the financial losses without addressing why a potential win still feels worth pursuing.
The newsletter explores this expectation among young adults as they establish independence and make decisions about work and money. Gambling offers excitement, social connection, and the possibility of a payout. For someone unemployed, underemployed, or under financial pressure, that payout may begin to look like a way to get ahead.
Zhang calls part of this appeal “compressed possibility,” where a goal that might ordinarily require years of work appears achievable within hours. That prospect helps explain why advice to stop may meet resistance as it asks someone to give up a chance they still believe could improve their life, even as gambling adds to their financial difficulties.
This tension led Zhang to consider what recovery involves after the betting stops. If gambling has provided relief from distress, social connection or hope for the future, giving it up leaves those needs to be addressed. “That made me increasingly interested in what we actually mean by recovery. Of course stopping gambling matters. But if gambling has occupied a psychological, emotional or social role in someone’s life, removing the behavior leaves another question behind: what replaces it? What are they recovering toward?”
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For support services, these questions mean paying attention to the life someone returns to after they stop. How will they cope with difficult emotions, find connection and pursue goals without depending on a payout? Understanding the financial consequences of continuing does not necessarily answer those questions, which is why the decision to quit may require sustained support.
It also helps explain the limits of advice intended to keep gambling manageable. A reminder to take a break may be useful while someone retains control of their play. Repeated failed attempts to stop, serious financial losses or damaged relationships call for a response suited to those circumstances.
“Most responsible gambling tools are designed to prevent or reduce harm while someone is still gambling. Once someone is repeatedly trying and failing to control their gambling, experiencing significant financial or relationship consequences, or desperately wanting to stop, another reminder about responsible play may not be what they need,” Zhang explained.
If betting offered escape, connection or hope, those needs remain after the last wager. Support must help people address them if the decision to stop is to hold.
