Poker Writer
It’s generally accepted that external traumas can provoke addiction — including to gambling — but a recent study out of Israel suggests that traumatic events may just as readily jar someone out of a pre-existing problem.
The study, published in the Journal of Gambling Studies, aims to examine the effects of mass trauma on people. Specifically, it looks at signs of gambling addiction among Jewish Israelis in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. The focus is on the relationship between the trauma of that conflict, participants’ emotional regulation, and their gambling behavior.
The method categorized the pool of individuals from which to collect data. A large sample of adult Jewish Israelis was used as the base of the study. Participants had completed an emotional regulation assessment in April 2022, 18 months before the violence. Those same participants were assessed on the same scale in late 2023 and throughout 2024.
The researchers found, not unsurprisingly, that participants without a prior history of problem gambling were more likely to show signs of problematic habits in the aftermath of the violence. What was less expected was that they found a reduction in gambling severity among those who were already suffering from a gambling problem. Furthermore, that reduction was larger in magnitude than the increase for the first group.
However, participants with poor emotional regulation were more likely to see an increase in gambling intensity if they were not gamblers to begin with, and the mitigating effect was weaker. Conversely, participants with good emotional regulation were less likely to see adverse effects and showed a greater tendency to reduce their gambling in response to the external shock.
Non-Gamblers Turn to Gambling
One segment of the study focused on participants who were classified as non-problem gamblers. In other words, these people either did not gamble or gambled in a way that did not tick boxes on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). The PGSI is a standard tool in the study of gambling addiction, consisting of a series of questions like “Have you bet more than you could really afford to lose?” and “Have you gone back on another day to try to win back the money you lost?”
Conventional wisdom suggests that people can turn towards gambling as an escape from life during traumatic events. And in the case of non-problem gamblers, that conventional wisdom held up.
Results indicated that for non-problem gamblers, among men, high difficulties in emotion regulation scores were associated with increased PG scores from the time before to the times during the war.
The results suggest that people who had no previous involvement in gambling were susceptible to jumping into problem gambling. They had the most significant increase.
Additional analyses indicated that this increase in PG was predominantly evident among participants not at risk for PG before the war.
Another example outside of this study relates to another ongoing conflict, the Russia-Ukraine War. Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly fallen into problem gambling as a means to cope with the stress of having their lives at risk at all times of the day. The problem became so bad that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy restricted online casinos to try to curb problem gambling among soldiers.
Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto scientist Nigel Turner commented on the phenomenon in Ukraine:
Most people who gamble don’t have a gambling problem, but it’s elevated amongst veterans and I suspect it’s elevated, generally, amongst soldiers, partly because they have these very strong risk factors, namely, the stress of being in combat.
Decrease in Severity Among Problematic Gamblers
Perhaps the more interesting finding of this study was the opposite effect for people who already had a gambling problem before the war. Their level of risk dropped significantly in the period after October 2023. That was especially true for those with healthy levels of emotional regulation, who dropped by an average of seven points on a 10-point scale between April 2022 and June 2024.
There are several potential conclusions to draw from these findings. People with healthy emotional regulation having a big decline in gambling severity suggests that gambling may take a back seat in times of turmoil. Individuals may have to use their personal resources for immediate needs, such as safety. They no longer have the excess means to participate in gambling. Gambling can also interfere with daily life functions, disruptions that those in wartime can no longer afford to entertain.
Problem gambling can also stem from distress and negative emotions. But if the source of that distress comes from an outside source, like war, the need to gamble as a way to cope reduces. People often fall into depression and addiction when they feel disconnected and helpless. But when a nationwide crisis is happening, people are far more likely to feel they are connected to a cause. Studies have indicated, for instance, that suicide rates drop during wartime.
Outside of the scope of war, these findings could be useful for people trying to fight problem gambling. Providing a higher purpose for who are susceptible may be a path to reducing their propensity to participate in gambling.
Limitations of the Study
The study produced some significant and fascinating findings. However, there are some limitations that may have colored the findings a certain way.
It uses only Israeli Jews and does not factor in Israeli Arabs, which make up about 20% of the population and may have experienced the conflict quite differently.
The behaviors were also self-reported as opposed to observed actions. So, the potential exists for dishonest answers or exaggerations.
Focus on the specific recent Israel-Palestine conflict could also change results. Israelis in the study could feel a sense of togetherness not present in all worldwide conflicts, giving them a sense of a higher purpose and therefore reducing problem gambling.
All of that said, as more widespread legal gambling creates a need for more responsible gambling resources, studies such as this may help illuminate better paths forward for the industry.
