In 2025, an estimated 1% of adults worldwide are gambling addicts. While this number may seem small, that’s over 8.2 million people who could be going through financial, familial, and even health issues due to their addiction, and the last thing you want to do is make it easier for them to get.
Online gambling opens the door for gamblers to gamble more easily than ever. Online casinos can make what would normally be a very out-of-the-way process as easy as watching TV. This ease can change someone’s life for the better or the worse; the question is which one?
First, what can make it worse? According to Right Choice Recovery, a New Jersey rehab facility, online gambling has 7 effects in unhealthy amounts:1. financial strain, 2. emotional stress, 3. social isolation, 4. decline in work or school, 5. health issues, 6. legal problems, and 7. relationship conflicts. These can all obviously be detrimental, but there are more specific issues with online gambling, like being able to be more addictive due to accessibility.
When it comes to addiction, gambling is one of the most common addictions alongside drugs and alcohol. But rather than the body becoming addicted to an external substance, the addicts come to crave the adrenaline and endorphins that gambling activates. The gamification and sensory stimulation of online gambling platforms pairs this with even more endorphins as well as handheld 24/7 availability. According to Bet MGM’s website, “The cost of running an online casino is much lower than that of a standard casino, so they’re typically more generous with rewarding their players.” On the odds of land-based vs. online casinos they said, “Generally speaking, you’ll find better odds at an online casino”. These aspects of online casinos can make online gambling far more addictive–increased rewards incentivizes gamers to gamble more. This has a domino-like effect, making people more and more likely to gamble.
This can be further detrimental because of how online (and land-based) casinos make money. Casinos have what’s called a “house edge,” or an extra advantage that makes them more likely to win. This edge can compound over time, according to finance writer J.B. Maverick’s article on casino profits in Investopedia. He explains, “The longer you play, the greater the odds are that the result of your play will match up with the house edge. A player may be ahead in the short term. However, over the long haul, the house edge eventually will grind them down into unprofitability.” With the way casinos use the house edge to work in tandem with the incentives for gambling more that online casinos offer, you end up with a direct road to addiction.
This addiction doesn’t just affect the addict; it can also affect their families. In another RCR article they say this on the issues gambling addiction has in the family: “Gambling addiction can ruin family relationships over time … suffering from financial strain due to gambling … can cause various arguments and fights among family members.” This can be a bad situation for the addict, possibly driving them more into isolated tendencies to gamble more, but it can be bad for the people living around the gambler, especially children. In the same RCR article, they speak on the effect this can have on kids, “[Gambling] addiction often leads to unstable home environments, which can negatively influence children’s mental health and development.”
Overall, gambling can have some pretty bad effects, but there are also benefits that online gambling can have. Online gambling has been shown to help some critical thinking skills, and happiness, specifically in seniors. It can also be a socializing tool for some.
First, the older people get, the more their mental state can decline, so keeping the oldest in our community happy is important. In a Paper in The National Library of Medicine by Mark R Dixon, Becky L. Nastally, and Amber Waterman on the effect of online gambling on happiness in nursing homes, they said, “When engaging in the simulated gambling activities … All three residents showed an increase in happiness from baseline.” This article shows the potential that online gambling has to improve the happiness of seniors, but it can also have other positive effects for some.
Some people use online gambling to socialize. According to the Smithfield Times, “Online gaming can give people a sense of community and connection.” They also say, “Online gambling sometimes demands players to study odds, statistics, and probability, which can develop mathematical and analytical skills.” This can help many improve said skills, and overall improve their ability to gamble healthily.
Overall, online gambling can have entertainment benefits for some, increasing happiness and improve cognitive ability, but few the people that it helps does not outweigh the many hurt directly or indirectly because of addiction.
