Ukraine Is on the Verge of an Epidemic of Gambling Addiction. Results of a Sociological Study

Having brought the gambling business out of the shadows in 2020, the state left the problems of millions of Ukrainians in the shadows. While as the main regulator, it was obliged to launch a parallel — not formal! — information and rehabilitation campaign, protecting not only the interests of the state budget (the money went to the treasury), but also the clients of the gambling business, namely the citizens of Ukraine. It is worth noting that the client in this market risks finances, mental health and his future. Not only his own, but also his family's. Which is directly related to the health and future of the entire Ukrainian society.

It so happened that the leaders of public opinion — anti-corruption activists, working out the fat corruption component and the Russian trace in the gambling market, do not climb into the very darkness of the human soul. Popular actors and presenters have a percentage of advertising. We cannot expect any responsibility from them for participating in the promotion of gambling business. Therefore, in the gray zone of pain hang out mainly the families of players and psychotherapists. Among the relatives fighting gambling addiction in the last two years, there have been significantly more relatives of the military. Male warriors, sitting in the trenches, between cleanups and shelling, earn billions in cash for legalized local and online gambling pirates. "And who is to blame?", "They themselves, fools, climb into the debt loop!", "Lost children of eternally busy parents" ... those who have not touched this gambling addiction summarize. Of course, here everything can be easily attributed to one's own conscious choice, infantilism and lack of proper upbringing of people who are confused in the truthfulness of this business. In this context, you can also remember the peculiarities of genetics, so as not to bother at all and forget about the existence of someone else's problem. This can be done, but it is not necessary. Because somehow this situation turns out to be very suspicious when, due to their own choice, infantilism and lack of proper upbringing, a quarter of the adult population of the country got lost and confused in this business. Everything in this situation does not look very logical.

By order of ZN.UA, from June 20 to 28, the Razumkov Center conducted a sociological survey and tried to create an objective picture from the answers of respondents who were asked quite direct questions about the spread of gambling addiction. And, you know, it turned out that in our country there are several important problems that we need to think about and then solve together. And both society and the authorities should take part in this process.

In order not to just superficially talk about the gaming business, but to delve into the problem of gambling addiction, for help in interpreting the data we turned not to a sociologist, but to a psychologist. Sergey Romanyuk is a cybernetic economist, a former player, and now an applied psychologist-master's student, who, knowing the problem from the inside, helps Ukrainians return from the game to reality. Why does gambling addiction occur at all? How does the game captivate the player? How do players and their loved ones cope with this problem? Is it possible to cure gambling addiction? Are there enough qualified specialists in this field of medicine and why do existing approaches often interfere with the treatment of this addiction? Is the lottery also a game of chance and what methods of attracting and deceiving clients do scammers use, sending elderly people links to sites and swindling their last money?

We really hope that this information will help many people who have encountered the problem of gambling addiction. In addition, we also hope that, having realized what is really going on in the heads of 25% of Ukrainians (not to mention the families that have to live with it), high-ranking government officials will think about how to find a balance between income from the gambling business and the mental health of their own citizens, which is already undermined by the war.

— Sergey Romanyuk, as a practicing specialist in working with players, how do you diagnose the current moment? What is happening within society and the section of it that is looking for qualified help right now? Has the number of requests for help increased? Or is it stable?

— Here, first of all, you need to understand the motivation of people who go into gambling. And the most important thing is to take into account the personality traits of players. There are two key factors in motivation.

The first factor is Financial. People always want to find additional sources of income, which, of course, is exacerbated during times of economic or political instability. But the main danger is not in gambling itself, but in the fact that some future problem gamblers begin to treat gambling (primarily sports betting and poker) as a business in which they can earn a stable income. This is where we enter the dangerous territory of the gaming scenario.

It is the idea of ​​stable earnings through gambling that launches the scenario of a future catastrophe in the life of the player and his loved ones. But we do not need to think that the super-valuable idea of ​​earning money through gambling is born in the player's head by itself. The gambling industry, with the help of bloggers, opinion leaders, and advertising on social networks, forms the image of the player as a successful and happy person. In addition, various bloggers from YouTube openly promote the idea that it is possible to live happily with the help of gambling, and this is the fastest way to make money. At the same time, tens of thousands of future gambling addicts gather on the streams where they play online.

The player, without understanding the essence of the game scenario, is convinced that the gaming system is his close friend who will never betray. And the gambling system plays the role of this friend in every possible way: no deposit bonuses, free bets, no-lose bets and many other tricks. All of them are aimed at ensuring that the player does not see any danger, and when the player's activity drops, then with the help of push notifications, calls from managers and other tools, this person is always kept on the game hook. In my opinion, the main goal of the gaming system is for the player to lose money, and for a long period of time. The Deutsche Welle investigation tells very well about the technology of involving players in the game and methods of retaining them.

Many players will forever have memories of a big win, which completely changes the perception of gambling. Until there is a big win, everything is perceived as entertainment and pastime, but after a big win, everything becomes serious: the player goes to the game no longer for entertainment, but to hunt for money. As soon as the hunt begins, the brain switches to a completely different mode of operation, namely, a predator who has gone hunting. Strong multipolar emotions begin to appear, from a feeling of omnipotence from winning to a state of rage and helplessness when losing. The stakes begin to rise, the game swings begin to rock the player's psyche. The stronger the emotions, the more the ability to see the situation rationally is suppressed. There is nothing pleasant in the game anymore, now it is a tense struggle for power with the game system.

And at this moment the next dramatic stage of the game scenario begins: a deafening loss that destroys all the player's dreams of earning money. The player feels deceived by the game system, he suddenly understands that the game system is not a friend, but a vile enemy. And here comes the turning point: the player decides to take revenge on the system for his humiliation, to win back and "at least get his money back". An overvalued idea of ​​revenge is formed, the player loses control over himself, and the first debts, micro-loans, bank loans begin to appear. The player enters a chronic distress mode, the nervous system is exhausted, anxiety-depressive states begin to detonate, self-esteem collapses and the neurotic personality of the player develops gaming neurosis. If the player does not stop at this stage, then, provided that he had a neurotic personality, he enters a state of obsessive-compulsive disorder, where the game is used as a way to get relief. The clinical picture of gambling disorder is formed from constant tension.

— You described the first factor of motivation of players in great detail. What is the second?

— The second factor is Psychological. A person, for various reasons, may not cope with the challenges of his life and experience severe stress. Or a person may be in a long-term situation of distress, without getting out of a state of tension. It is clear that such a person wants to escape from such a traumatic reality, from problems, and now also from a full-scale military invasion, to find some kind of outlet where he can at least briefly get distracted. In such stressful situations, people can often get into various chemical dependencies. In gambling addiction, escaping from reality is more relevant to those who play slots, since slots contain technology that puts some people into a hypnotic state where there is no pain, no emotions and experiences. Researchers in the West call this state a "dark flow". Those who play bets, poker and trading do not escape from reality. On the contrary, they want to change it.

— But gambling is also stress.

—  Gambling does not become stressful immediately, but only after the player forms an idea of ​​​​earning money in the gaming business, and then the idea of ​​​​revenge for losing. However, our brain works in such a way that at the moment of stress, consciousness begins to focus on the source of the threat. And people can interrupt stress in real life with stress in gambling. In battle, for example, a warrior experiences severe stress, a catastrophically high dose of adrenaline and norepinephrine is released. But here it is important to say that all people at the moment of severe stress are divided into two types of reaction to extreme stress — A and B.

In the first case (A-reaction) we are talking about the desire to get closer to the source of the threat and destroy it. These are people who look danger straight in the eye, are natural-born warriors/athletes who will fight to the last. They have a quick reaction, very good motor activity, good tolerance of acute stress, but poor tolerance of long-term distress. They quickly adapt to changes in the environment. High doses of stress hormones lead to the release of endorphins, which dull their fear, relieve pain, leading to a state of courage and combat/sports euphoria. So, in the game, when there is a large dose of risk, a person experiences something similar.

And therefore, military personnel can unconsciously go in search of similar states, especially after returning from the front line. The fact is that a long stay at the front line leads to constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the "fight or flight" mode. That is, the body does not relax for a second, and all its resources are spent on surviving. It is important to be constantly on the alert, since only this will help a soldier save himself in a difficult situation. And even after returning from war, people by inertia remain in a state of heightened combat readiness for a long time. Part of a person's personality remains for a long time where the soldier was with his comrades. And the goal of society is to remember this not only when soldiers are at war, but also when they return home.

— How do people with type B reactions react to extreme stress?

— They freeze and disguise themselves. They are more cautious, slow, but can assess the situation more rationally. They adapt poorly to acute stress and change, but they tolerate prolonged distress better than people with type A. It is worth noting that psychotype B produces high doses of cortisol along with adrenaline. A person freezes, turns pale, and finds it difficult to move. At the moment of intense fear, endorphins can be released, but as a painkiller. A person is wounded but feels little pain for a short time. Gambling as a risk zone also relieves pain. And our goal is to create and develop relevant psychological assistance programs now, in which specialists would understand all the specifics of this problem.

And the problem has existed for a long time, although it manifests itself in a specific way. After the full-scale attack of the Russian Federation on our country, it was the relatives of the military who began to seek help much more often. They are interested in what it is, and why their children or husbands are playing. That is, the players from the Armed Forces of Ukraine themselves did not come to consultations more often, but the influx of their relatives is growing. And close people always see the problem faster and more acutely than the player. A person addicted to gambling begins to have debts, the person changes, becomes withdrawn, alienated, does not want to communicate much. Now is the time when relatives have already realized the situation, and many players in the pixel deny it, and we cannot blame them for this.

— How honest are people when answering questions about addictions? After all, if we look at the answers to the first question of the study, and ZN.UA asked the respondents: "Have you ever played in an online casino, made sports bets, participated in the lottery?", then 82% of respondents assured that they had nothing to do with any of the above. Maybe we are sounding the alarm in vain?

—  But 8.5% of respondents in total admitted that they played in an online casino and made sports bets. And this is a fairly high figure, given that most people are really dishonest with sociologists and are embarrassed by such hobbies. After all, it is no secret that in the public space, online casinos and sports bets are not considered something socially acceptable. Thus, this figure means that 8.5% are only those Ukrainians who honestly admitted that they honestly admitted their passion for gambling. But in fact, this figure is 2-3 times higher. Which, in fact, is confirmed by the subsequent answers, where, it is worth noting, people talk not about themselves, but about others. It is always easier to give away the secrets of others.

— Of course, when forming the list of questions, we took this fact into account. Including when asking about this: "Do you know people in your circle (family, circle of friends, work team) who play in online casinos, make sports bets, participate in lottery drawings?" In this way, in 2000, the Razumkov Center first studied the issue of bribes. As many as 4% themselves honestly admitted that they give bribes, but as for acquaintances, 82% of respondents said that they know for sure that their acquaintances give bribes.

— That's how a person is made. And, as we can see, the number of those who see nothing and know nothing about gambling in their environment has decreased and now makes up 70% of respondents. But the number of those who know online casino players (10%) and are familiar with those who have bet on sports (14%) has increased significantly and now makes up 24%. But here it is worth taking an even closer look at the psychology of the player. It is important to note that such a person does not discuss his hobby with anyone except other players. And at what stage of the initial stage of gambling addiction a relative will notice the problem is also a question. Therefore, on these 24% we can safely add another 5-10% of those who have not yet understood what problem their loved one or friend is living with.

— But let's go further and delve into this problem even deeper. ZN.UA asked Ukrainians: "Do you know people or families who have encountered the problem of gambling addiction (ludomania)?" Obviously, the numbers of answers correlate with the previous ones. While there are 70% of people who have not encountered this problem in their circle, there are 27% of those who personally know addicted people or families where gambling addicts live.

— It is important to understand that when answering this question, people a priori could not diagnose where the addiction of their friends or relatives is, and where it is entertainment. This means that the people whom the respondents had in mind when they said that they are addicted, definitely have problems with money. Because if a person, for example, just likes to play poker, but this does not lead this person to debt, the relatives of such a person, answering a similar question, would not classify him as addicted. And if there are problems with money, then relatives would say "yes, he is an addicted gambler". All this means that at least 25% of Ukrainians, in the opinion of relatives and friends, have problems with gambling and financial losses. And this is already a clearly recorded quarter of the country's population. In addition, the existence of secrecy? In this case, it turns out to be the entire third! This is already a variant of some kind of epidemic.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is not so important whether the player has a gambling disorder or is obsessed with the idea of ​​revenge or making money. What is important is that in all these states, the player bears enormous stress loads, loses money, ruins his loved ones, withdraws into himself, becomes detached and eventually an outcast. By the way, among gamblers who have major problems due to gambling, there is the highest percentage of suicides compared to other addictions.

— An epidemic is a very serious forecast for the future and a warning. What could be the consequences for society and the state?

— According to statistics, one gambler brings financial problems to 5-12 people not involved in gambling. Before such a person begins to take out loans or decides to sell property to a pawnshop, finances are taken from those close to him. A large percentage of divorces and the destruction of entire families occurs when gambling addiction becomes difficult to control. A player broken by gambling injuries loses the meaning of life, leaves society, now such a person is like a cornered animal. According to the latest data, in the United States of America, people with gambling problems have a whole bunch of different mental disorders (chemical addictions, anxiety-phobic, depressive, personality disorders, etc.). Due to constant distress, all biological systems of the body suffer. It is important to note that chronic stress kills the immune system with all the ensuing consequences. Psychopathization of the personality occurs: the player begins to lie more, becomes selfish, the value system changes, and we can also often see increased aggression. In fact, a person with gambling addiction turns into a "gaming Gollum" (see Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" - V.K.), obsessed with money for the sake of power. Most players actually want not money, but power, which they can get with money. It is worth noting that for any society that wants to develop, it is important for people to be able to self-actualize by creating socially useful services or goods. The player begins to lead a parasitic lifestyle.

— To the question of ZN.UA “Do you know any soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who are fond of online gambling?”, only 10% of respondents answered affirmatively. What does this mean?

— That’s a lot! Thus, 10% of Ukrainians personally know military personnel who gamble. But it is worth noting that this is a very closed segment of society. Even if someone’s relatives have already plunged into the problem, they are unlikely to talk about it to anyone other than the family. And even within the family, not everyone is always aware of this problem. At least until the financial situation collapses, and relatives can no longer pay the player’s debts. Here, a very wide range of emotions is included: from shame for a close and loved one to the illusory hope that everything will somehow work out, he will understand everything himself, cope and everything will be fine again. No, it will not be like that. Without high-quality psychological, and often psychopharmacological support, it is very difficult for a player to get out of the game scenario.

— How hard is it to do?

— Often, the player's recovery requires the intervention of several specialists. It is very important to consult a psychotherapist about various mental disorders not related to gambling. Since there are cases when the attraction to gambling is a consequence of an underlying mental disorder (bipolar disorder, depression, etc.). A psychologist works with the player's personality.

And here we come to another global problem. Firstly, in Ukraine there are not enough specialists who know how to work with players not as drug addicts or alcoholics, but as people who got into a game scenario and received serious injuries there. Secondly, even those who theoretically try to work with them do not fully understand who a player is and what are the motives for such a person to be in the game. This understanding is not taught in universities. In the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), gambling disorder is listed in the same registry as drug addiction and alcoholism. Therefore, the classical method of working with drug or alcohol addicts is used. Which in most cases immediately puts an end to the possibility of establishing contact with the player.

— Therefore, it is not surprising that a popular query in Google and on any forums on this topic: where to find a specialist in combating gambling addiction?

— Moreover, this problem concerns not only Ukraine, but countries of the entire post-Soviet space. In the modern understanding of medicine, a gambler is a label that is attached to a person forever, although practice shows that this is completely wrong.

In fact, this is a topic for a separate, large professional conversation, including at the level of medical science. However, as a result of my own accumulated experience, thousands of hours spent in chats and on forums, many years of communication with high-level specialists (there are really only a few of them), the conclusion suggests itself that we are not dealing with an incurable mental disorder, not with pure addiction, but with a disorder of a neurotic nature. And it can be treated, like any neurosis. In my opinion, it is incorrect to put an equal sign between chemical addictions and the desire of our behavior. At the heart of the former, we see a clearly formed biological mechanism of addiction, a person develops an abstinence syndrome and an irresistible craving for substances. With the attraction to gambling, there is no biological mechanism of addiction, accordingly, there is no abstinence syndrome. There are also no organic changes in the brain. There is no intoxication factor that causes altered states of consciousness when using psychoactive substances.

— So, it's a neurotic disorder?

— Yes, exactly. So, the reason is in the player's personality, in his internal conflicts, in the psychological trauma he receives as a result of a deafening loss and gaming stress. The player is crushed and humiliated by the gaming system, he is ashamed in front of himself and others, he wants to escape this hell, but there is simply no way to quickly resolve financial problems. And this is where a double internal conflict arises.

The first: "I want to get rid of debts, but I can't achieve what I want, since I have neither the strength nor the resources." The second is a conflict of choice: "Maybe I should take a last chance and fix the situation with the help of gambling?" This question arises against the background of fear: if I can't win back, it will be even worse. As a result of enormous emotional stress, the psyche capitulates, and we get a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and a full range of neurotic symptoms. This is the version and the complex chain, which is definitely not about the desire to inject/drink and forget. In essence, to escape. The player experiences something completely different.

— What is so special about such a person?

— The player wants to change reality, such a person wants to live well, earn money. Basically, these are ambitious people who know how to achieve results in life. These are stubborn people, they do not tolerate defeat in anything. Many of them are natural leaders, former athletes. The player knows how to endure pain, fall from the blows of fate and continue to fight. Therefore, in my practice, I see many former athletes who ended their sports careers due to injury. In addition, in my work, I also meet many successful businessmen who suffer from gambling addiction. There were also professors who taught higher mathematics and others. I want to say that the player is not an infantile person offended by life, but a fighter by nature, a person who lives in extremes: either everything or nothing.

Such people have ambitions, a thirst for power, control of territory. Players have a highly developed narcissistic part of their personality. They fight and want to be successful, but they make big mistakes in the methods of achieving their goals. On the one hand, the global gambling industry provides them with a huge field for making mistakes, and on the other hand, the state media machine does not systematically, at the political level, mark risk zones with red flags. In addition, doctors and specialists devalue their ambitions and look at these people as drug addicts. This approach to solving this problem leads us to a dead end and does not offer effective ways to combat gambling addiction.

— In fact, what you just said about the nature of gambling addiction as a neurosis looks like a revelation. No one has written about this anywhere and it gives people a chance to recover and return to normal life.

— We are really talking about a completely new concept of gambling disorder in the form of gambling neurosis. Its author and developer is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist with 30 years of experience working with players, Alexey Alexandrovich Magalif, whom I had the honor of helping develop this concept. This is a new perspective on understanding this disorder, which is unlikely to be accepted at the official level in the near future.

It is worth clarifying that as a result of severe and prolonged stress, when the player lingers in the pain stage for a long time, we have three outcomes, depending on the player's personality background (it can be neurotic, psychopathic and endogenous). The first outcome is the most common — if the personality was neurotic, then we will get obsessive-compulsive disorder. The second — if the personality was prone to psychopathy (personality disorder), then we will get psychopathization of the personality. The third outcome, if a person, for example, had an endogenous background (mood swings), then we will get BAD (bipolar affective disorder). This is what specialists should work with.

— However, pensioners who hang out on slots, losing their pensions, do not fit into my scheme of purposeful hunters for money and big winnings in gambling.

— It is this concept that provides the answer to your question. There are three categories of players. The first, conventionally, are “Epicureans”. Their basic motive is to enjoy life. “I want to have everything and get away with it.” They have fun in the casino, imperceptibly slipping into gambling disorder. But again, it all depends on the reaction to a big loss. If he loses and still doesn’t care, then he won’t have gambling disorder. And if not, then the “Epicurean” easily transforms into a “hunter” (the second psychotype, which we have already discussed in detail) and begins to take revenge on the gaming system, sliding into a dark hole.

And here is the third psychotype — “lonely players”. These are people with emotional problems or depressive disorders. Pensioners are in this category. By playing slots, they try to escape loneliness, to disconnect their heads from reality. Their goal is not to make money, but to regulate their psycho-emotional state with the help of gambling. Spinning the slots, the "lonely" enter a kind of hypnotic trance state, where there are no problems and pain. A big win activates the idea of ​​​​being chosen, a mission, an exceptional destiny. The slot machine turns from a soulless machine into a kind of gaming god.

But it is worth considering that at the moment of entering this state, people lose control over their budget. Not wanting to lose money, including old people, they fall into an emotional trap. For them, the game is a kind of antidepressant. However, this is not a very common phenomenon yet. Hunter-type players still make up the majority. Because both "epicureans" and "lonely" either drop out of the race, or sooner or later turn into "hunters". In addition, it is worth noting that there are a lot of nuances here. If a pensioner periodically goes to a casino and loses money, this does not mean that he has a gambling disorder.

— What if a pensioner plays the lottery? ZN.UA asked Ukrainians: "Do you think that lotteries are the same gambling as sports betting and online casinos and, accordingly, should be taxed the same way?" Now I am interested in the fact that 63% of respondents classify the lottery as gambling. Is it gambling?

— The lottery is a game of chance, it has the main element of gambling, because the win depends on chance. However, of all the gambling games, the chance of getting addicted to the lottery is almost zero. Why? Because, according to experts from the United States of America, each gambling game has the so-called addictive potential. Firstly, this is the frequency of the player's stay in the gambling game. Secondly, the time interval between the bet and the result: the shorter this interval, the greater the addictive potential of the gambling game. Thirdly, the amount of the bet and the amount of the theoretical win. Obviously, the addictive potential in the lottery is minimal.

— Returning to the first question, where we asked whether people gamble and buy lotteries, 9% of respondents said that they do.

— This is a significant figure. But who are lottery players? These are people who hope for a miracle, believe in their own uniqueness. That is, these are people who have a mythological, mystical type of thinking. They believe that something leads them through life, that there is some higher power that helps them. Therefore, this figure can be interpreted as the presence of a large percentage of hope in Ukrainian society.

— By the way, about hope. ZN.UA asked Ukrainians: "Have you encountered cases when pensioners receive letters with notifications of their lottery wins worth hundreds of thousands of hryvnias? But in order to receive the winnings, scammers repeatedly force pensioners to buy parcels with unnecessary goods at the post office. With the hope of receiving winnings, pensioners redeem parcels and receive new letters about the increase in the winning amount and the reason for the delay in payment of money. But no one has ever received the winnings. How would you comment on this? Who is more excited about this - the scammers or the pensioners?

— What is the psychological profile of the average Ukrainian pensioner? Unfortunately, most of them are lonely people who feel unnecessary and forgotten after retirement. Many of them lose the meaning of life, experience a long-term depressed mood, and it is almost impossible to live on a pension without feeling like a poor person. But older people need attention and respect. It is worth noting that scammers are excellent manipulators. And when they make a phone call, first of all, they give a person a signal: “You are here! We see you!” Then it's a matter of technique: friendly, caring, attentive ... with prizes in hand. And it doesn't matter that the prizes are hypothetical. The lonely person has already believed in a miracle! The hope has already settled in him that life, damn it, is not so unfair! And the point here, of course, is not in the excitement of pensioners and not in winnings, but in the fact that all of us could not give them a decent standard of living and justice.

— About the paradox. We asked respondents: "Which of the judgments do you support to a greater extent?" And 68% believe that sports betting, lotteries and online casinos are a trap for people. That casinos and lotteries parasitize on the dream of easy enrichment, and gambling addiction empties people's budgets, ruins lives and breaks up families. And we are talking about a quarter of the population that plays. So citizens understand everything, but still continue to play?

— This means that most people know the risks that gambling carries and this is undoubtedly pleasing. But knowing and understanding are different processes. Many players are convinced that others will have problems with gambling, but not them. The player believes in his superiority over other people, so what works for others and happens to other players, in his understanding does not apply to him. By the way, almost everyone knows that alcohol is harmful to health, but the number of those who drink does not decrease. This is human nature.

 

From the editor: It is obvious that as part of the post-war reconstruction, we will have to rebuild not only houses, but also restore the mental health of our citizens. It is very difficult to get rid of gambling addiction and completely overcome it. And when it is superimposed on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other disorders, it becomes an explosive mixture. The figures we have voiced require an adequate response from the authorities, it is necessary to think about the appropriate programs now.

A separate article will be devoted to what a civilized state should do in such a situation and what decisive measures the Ukrainian government does not take, and how society, which is under aggressive attack from online casino advertising, feels about this.