Powerball craze can be a trigger for gambling addicts

Counselors at Burrell Behavioral Health in Springfield treat people with gambling addictions.

Leaders at the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling say they’ve seen an uptick in calls to their helpline this past week as the winnings continue to grow.

Gambling addiction counselors say that they are keeping a close eye on addicts.

“The Virginia Lottery is not in the business of growing our sales on the backs of people who have gambling problems”, Haggerty said. “You could not tell at the nurse’s station the difference in the vital signs of an individual with an alcoholic withdrawal or withdrawal from cocaine or withdrawal from gambling”. He says there are red flag warnings for those that are dealing with the addiction. Instead of realizing the prize is a fun fantasy, the gambling addict truly believes that the jackpot is their logical way out of a hard solution. “Especially if you haven’t had hope or learned to have hope in a more reality-based way”. “Every time it gets really big, of course it’s never been this big before, when it gets big like this people just go insane”, said Pam Sikora, Fresno.

“When it comes to addiction, the only thing that is actually successful is total abstinence”. “I’ll be working my recovery program for the rest of my life”.

As long as Powerball fans are purchasing tickets more for the social and emotional experience of excitement and anticipation, occasionally taking part in huge lotteries like this can be pure entertainment and harmless fun. “With gambling you’re going to hit, you’re going to win”. Because their young brains are primed to seek out high reward for low effort, playing the lottery with them at a young age could give them a distorted view of gambling, transforming entertainment into something more problematic. Visit the helpguide.org if you or someone you know has a gambling problem.

The world’s biggest lottery jackpot, 1.5 billion dollars, is up for grabs Wednesday night and everyone is talking about lottery fever. The last time he gambled was 10 years ago, but that has taken a lot of support and will power.