Why are such a lot problem gamblers males?

Matt Image caption Matt says playing has made his existence a “misery”

Males are seven-and-a-part times more likely than ladies to grow to be problem gamblers, research indicates. What makes them extra vulnerable to creating an dangerous playing dependancy?

“it’s a ‘lad culture’ factor,” 22-yr-vintage Matt tells the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.

“You Can’t visit the pub on a Saturday afternoon without having the football at the TV, and then obviously there may be adverts that come on and also you get the urge to wager.

“i couldn’t watch a sport of football without having of venture on it,” he adds.

Matt, a trainee accountant from London, started playing as quickly as he grew to become 18, and says he has misplaced as much as £30,000.

Symbol caption Dr Lefever says men are inclined to be more hedonistic

Dr Lefever – who says he went bankrupt and lost £16m as a result of his personal playing dependancy – believes there are 3 major elements which will result in addiction.

“One is genetic, some of us just have an addictive nature,” he argues.

“the second is sociological – the environment. There are some environments which can be in particular risky.

“The 3rd is publicity – the way in which it is marketed. Playing and recreation do pass in combination uncomfortably carefully,” he adds.

‘More impulsive’

Other mavens counsel that organic differences between males and ladies may additionally play a task in the problem.

Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, a specialist psychiatrist in addictions, says analysis suggests that extra impulsive other people have all the time proven to be men.

“Males are the ones who wait less time to bet as odds drop,” she says.

“They press the button in an instant, they chase their losses extra.”

Mara Mather is a component of a team of researchers from Southern California College within the US whose experiment with FORTY EIGHT other folks exposed the various ways males and women react another way to worry.

The crew made a bunch of guys and girls position their fingers in ice chilly water, which launched the strain hormone cortisol, ahead of taking part in a playing activity.

Symbol caption Mara Mather says in her experiment males took a lot more risk than women below tension

in the keep watch over group – who did not do this – there was no difference among the extent of possibility that men and girls took subsequently.

But in the workforce that did, males have been significantly extra unsafe of their behaviour whilst women were more conservative.

Ms Mather says this implies there could be a correlation with men’s drawback gambling.

“Having a gambling drawback – and getting into hassle, into debt – results in rigidity,” she says.

“So for men it could in fact be a vicious circle,” she explains.

‘Taking you down’

In October, the Victoria Derbyshire programme found that NINETY FIVE% of advert breaks throughout are living soccer suits featured a minimum of one playing advert.

It is predicted that British males will watch a typical of approximately 20,000 hours of televised recreation right through their lifetime, with soccer being by far essentially the most watched.

against this, ladies will watch approximately half that amount.

The Gambling Fee said tips were already in position to forestall gambling commercials interesting to stereotypically masculine traits.

And it has launched a consultation on whether or not or now not fines may well be used to discourage gaming corporations from breaching them.

For his phase, Matt says chasing a win is one in all the worst emotions you’ll ever have.

“With all males, you need to live the prime existence,” he says.

“You think gambling is some way of making cash – however in truth it just takes you down,” he adds.

Watch the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays among 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

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