Hanna Horvath

Dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, all these neurochemicals that

are associated with reward and attention get released.

So it does feel good.

And even for some folks, the near miss, the almost winning, is as exciting as neurobiologically rewarding, right?

So think of a slot machine.

Three cherries, you win.

One cherry, two cherry, oh, third one's an apple.

Well, in your brain, we've done studies to show that that near miss is as exciting.

That's one thing.

On the flip side, then, we say very clearly the line between gambling in a recreational, social way versus a harmful, addictive way is very clear.

When you're gambling, it creates ongoing problems.

Physical, spiritual, psychological, financial harm and you continue to gamble, that's an addiction.

It's when your relationship with that activity generates harm or worse, you view it as a solution to your harmful problems such as, oh, I need to gamble to get away from my crappy life.

I need to gamble to make the rent money.

I need to gamble because I'm just craving that thrill and that feeling I have, and I'll do anything to get it.

So we don't have brain scans.

We don't have blood tests.

It's clinical interviews.

And that's why I think it's sometimes hard because it's a hidden, quote, addiction.

You can't drug test for it.