March is Gambling Awareness Month and Jessica Smiley with Heritage Behavioral Health Services says gambling addiction isn’t often associated with behavioral health. Because of the legalization of gambling and the widespread distribution of advertising of it, Smiley calls it ‘accessible in a different way’.
“It is accessible in a different way and it is promoted in a different way. I saw the ads also about if you put this much money down, you get this much automatically, not matter what. A lot of people, a lot of advertisements about trying to put a bet on something and it is readily accessible, not like just at gaming places, but for sports and other things that come around that you can put money on and maybe win some money off of it. For some that have that challenge of not being able to stop doing it when it becomes to potentially any access, it creates more of knowing you can do that, which leads to additional challenges.”
The National Center for Responsible Gaming indicates around 1-percent of the adult population has a severe gambling problem and that recent research suggests six to nine percent of young people and young adults experience problems related to gambling.
***Report Courtesy of farmweeknow.com***
