Dr. Richard Velleman

Well, it's very interesting.

I mean, obviously I would say that, but it's very interesting because many other addictions have been seen as being things which are, I wouldn't use the word contagious.

I think that's an interesting word to use.

Exactly.

But yeah, I mean, people have known that alcohol problems run in families, that drug problems run in families, smoking runs in families.

The biggest single...

indicator to say you're going to be a smoker is whether your parents smoke rather than whether your friends smoke.

Even if your parents don't smoke and you get in with a group of friends in your teenage years and you start smoking, when you're in mid-20s or 30s, highly likely you will have stopped smoking.

But if your parents were smokers, you're highly likely to carry on smoking.

So smoking to some people is a phase, and for other people, it becomes a lifelong habit or even an addiction.

Alcohol has lots of similarities with that.

Lots of other of the addictions do.

We've indeed seen gambling as being different from that for lots of reasons.

And lots of people have said, well, gambling is not really a true addiction as it doesn't involve taking in a substance like alcohol or drugs or tobacco.

What this research has shown is that gambling actually is much more like other addictions.

Yes, it's an individual who does the activity, but actually there are huge impacts on other people in their social circle, particularly on the family, but also on friends.

But also, if you hang around with someone, if you're not a gambler, you hang around with someone who is a gambler, you're more likely to take up gambling.

And if someone in your family, an important person in your family, one of your parents, your sibling is a gambler, you're more likely to take up gambling.

So that's the first big finding that actually, yes, to use your term, it's much more contagious than we'd thought.

And it's much more like other addictions.