Gambling As Stress Release

Throughout the world, many people gamble in order to relieve stress. The phenomenon is slightly different in e very country. For example, the Australian Psychology Society conducted the Stress and Well Being in Australia Survey in 2015. The survey targeted those who admit to gambling as a form of stress relief.

The survey found that the rate of Australians gambling to relieve stress rose 6% between 2011 and 2015. In many cases, survey participants admitted that they were gambling in order to deal with their financial struggles. However, according to the Executive Director of the Australian Psychology Society, people gamble in order to distract themselves from their financial and other problems, as opposed to solving them.

Other results of the survey conducted shows that the anxiety many Australians feel is the highest it has been since 2011. It also determined that the well- being of those who participated in the survey has remained the same.

Not everyone who gambles to relieve stress makes their problems worse. In 2009 a study was conducted at Montreal, Quebec’s McGill that proved online gambling can have health benefits. Playing online casino games has proven to drop the levels of cortisol in people by 17%.

Online casinos have done their own research into gambling as stress relief. In one survey, 75% of participants admitted that playing Blackjack online helps to relieve stress. The other 25% participants sited that the reason they didn’t find it to be effective stress relief is that they were playing high stakes games. Roulette players were also surveyed by an online casino and the survey determined that 77% of them played Roulette online to relieve their stress.

Research conducted by those who work in the field of Psychiatrics has determined that men who are stressed out are more likely to turn to gambling as stress relief than women. An experiment conducted with both men and women tested how they responded in a situation where they are taking a financial risk.

Participants were instructed to play the Balloon Analog Risk Task. In this risky game participants were divided into a control group and a stress group and had to blow up a balloon using a pump. They won five cents for every time they used the pump without popping the balloon. However, each participant was faced with the dilemma of when to stop pumping. Participants were permitted to cash out their winnings whenever they chose to during the course of the game. If they popped the balloon they would have to give up the money they won.

At the end of the task it was determined that both male and female participants in the control group pumped air into their balloons roughly 40 times, meaning that the men and women took approximately the same risk. However, in the stressed group, the women inflated the balloons 30% less than the men.

These studies and surveys are helping industry professionals learn more about the effects of gambling on relieving stress.

Gambling Movies

As such a popular pastime, gambling has been the subject of many movies. Most of them are dramas that are set in a casino.

One of the oldest gambling movies is 1965’s The Cincinnati Kid. The movie stars Steve McQueen as Eric “The Kid” Stoner, a prodigy at Poker. One iconic scene from the film depicts the last hand of a Poker game. The movie is set in the 1930s and follows “The Kid” as he works his way through a series of important games to finally play against a legendary Poker champion.

Another older gambling movie is 1974’s The Gambler. The movie stars James Caan as an English professor that turns to gambling when he finds himself $44,000 in debt. His bookie is a psychopath who’s pressuring him to pay up. He’s also pressured to pay back money he borrowed from his mother. Throughout the movie Caan’s character makes some desperate attempts to right his wrongs and pay off his debts. James Caan later said that this was his favorite role because he was proud he could make people like such an unlikeable character.

1988’s Rain Man is perhaps one of the most well- loved movies that deal with the subject of gambling. Dustin Hoffman’s autistic character, Raymond, has an uncanny talent for counting cards. His brother Charlie takes advantage of this talent when he finds out that their late father left Raymond a $3 million inheritance, but Charlie wasn’t left with anything. Charlie’s solution to the problem is to kidnap Raymond and threaten him if he doesn’t give up the inheritance.

1996’s Hard Eight was a drama about Sydney, a professional gambler that teaches everything he knows to a man named John who lost all of his money. The two have a chance meeting outside of a diner in which Sydney buys John a cup of coffee. The two men then travel to Reno together and Sydney instructs John on the best way to get a room in a hotel casino for free. Thanks to the lessons he learns from Sydney, John goes on to find success as a professional gambler.

Croupier was a 1998 movie starring Clive Owen as a struggling writer named Jack who accepts a job working as a croupier in a casino. As a result he becomes involved in a murder and robbery when he meets a woman at the casino who talks him into participating in a heist.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was also a 1998 movie about gambling. The two main characters, Duke and Dr. Gonzo, travel to Vegas to follow the American Dream. Their journey is fueled by drugs and alcohol as they struggle to live the life everyone wants for themselves.

Also a 1998 movie, Rounders is about a man who quit gambling only to find himself back in the lifestyle in an attempt to help a friend who is being pursued by loan sharks. This is perhaps one of the darkest gambling movies to date.