Why online gambling isn’t worth the risk

People who preferred to gamble in venues may turn to online gambling during this time. Find out why that's risky.

Join the Dots: The connection between mental health and gambling

For many Gambling Help clients, the struggle with gambling can be a symptom of a broader issue: a reaction to a stressful experience in their life, such as grief or loneliness, or a response to an ongoing mental health issue. Sometimes we might not realise the connection until a counsellor helps ‘join the dots’. Some …

Growing pains: When childhood distress stretches into adulthood

If you had a difficult childhood and now find yourself wanting to make a change to your gambling, it can be helpful to understand that there may be physiological or emotional factors that led you to this situation, as it can help you to figure out how to act from here. Counsellor Sam discusses the link between childhood trauma and adult distress.

How to talk to your teen

Encouraging your teen to think critically about gambling can help prevent them from developing problems in the future.

Young people and gambling

Youth gambling is a concern for many parents especially with the increasing presence of gambling in sports and online. There may be one person suffering from gambling in every high school class. Ideally young people won’t gamble at all, if they do sometimes it can become a serious issue which may result in depression, missing …

The conversation – talking to a family member or significant other who is gambling

  Partners, family members and friends often ring the NSW Gambling Helpline (1800 858 858) wanting advice about how to talk to their loved ones about their gambling. Many times they want to talk about how to begin the conversation. Other times the family member or significant other admits gambling has been an ongoing discussion …

The magic wand question

“If I could wave a magic wand and gambling was no longer a problem for you, how would your life be different?” This might seem like a strange question, considering there is no such thing as a magic wand and gambling is a very serious issue. Counsellors ask this type of question, because focusing on …

The gambler’s fallacy – a risk for relapse

If you have been gambling for some time and you find you are having more trouble controlling the amount you spend, you might notice that you often have thoughts that make you want to gamble more urgently.    Many people battle with these thoughts and try different strategies to distract themselves from focusing on them.  For …

Thinking errors in problem gambling – Part Two

  In our previous blog we discussed some common errors in thinking that contribute to a gambling problem. Here are some more types of  ‘thinking errors’ that might look familiar to you if you are having problems with gambling, or know someone who is.   One ‘thinking error” is Selective Memory    Selective Memory refers …

How do my thoughts affect my gambling?

     Often people don’t stop to think if their thoughts are entirely true, and whether these thoughts are helping them to achieve our life goals. Often the ways people think about things are not correct but they believe them anyway. For example, many people with gambling problems develop beliefs about their chances of winning …