Nigerians have been warned not to involve in all forms of gambling to avoid addiction. A psychologist with University of Port Harcourt, Professor Glory Amadi who gave the advice in an interview with journalists enumerated the causes of gambling addiction to include poor economy, advertising, and greed.
Prof. Amadi stressed that the release of dopamine by neurotransmitters in the brain among other factors is responsible for gambling addiction.
“The neurotransmitter releases a lot of dopamine that increases pleasure which raises addiction. Then another factor is cognitive distortion if the mind. Then there are people who are doing it to escape depression and stress. Some lack self control so they go on to gamble,” she emphasised.
Prof. Amadi stated that the effects of gambling ranges from low-self-esteem to anti-social behavior.
“Someone who gambles would eventually go into depression. And the fact remains that gambling is not good for anyone because gambling would ruin any individual. You can hardly see a rich man who becomes rich through gambling. You can imagine where a man collects his full salary and goes to gamble with it and does not fend for his family. So definitely there would be crises in the family, and it does affect the family directly”, she said.
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She stressed that gamblers could be identified by their tall ambition utterances without showing corresponding efforts or evidence to prove them.
“The first one is when one begins to tell you his expectations, begs randomly for money, and always nervous these are signs of a gambler,” she noted.
Although Prof Amadi noted that the habit of gambling has economic benefits to the nation in that taxes are derived from the betting companies and aids advertising companies, she went ahead to condemned the act of gambling.
The expert called on family members to assist any individual who is struggling with gambling by referring him to a professional counsellor for rehabilitation.
