by Colin Bland, CEO of Sporting Chance
Recent years have seen a global increase in athletes breaching the gambling regulations of the sports they compete in. This rise can partly be attributed to the change in gambling legislation in the USA in 2018, which enabled individual states to legalise various forms of betting. Consequently, there has been a massive investment by gambling companies in American sports, leading to an explosion in sports betting across the country.
This is, of course, a society-wide issue, but athletes are part of that wider society. Evidence suggests that athletes are at a higher risk of developing gambling problems than the general population. This area of increase appears explainable and obvious. However, what is less obvious is why we have seen a similar increase in other competitive sports populations, including in the UK. It could be that more people are gambling, or that more people are being caught breaching gambling rules.
I have written several pieces in recent years regarding sport’s uncomfortable relationship with the gambling industry, which I see as a co-dependent convenience that inevitably has casualties. Perhaps my time and words would be better spent offering a message of hope to those suffering from gambling problems: there is a way out, and help is available. Not only is it available, but it is also accessible quickly, confidentially, and often funded by the sport you play.
I believe there is value in exploring why perfectly intelligent and often rational individuals in most other aspects of their lives become trapped in a cycle of gambling, placing career-threatening or ending bets on the sport they play.
There are some who make a conscious and calculated decision to gamble, endeavouring to beat the system for greed or ego. I cannot speak for or to these individuals, and to be perfectly honest, I have met very few, if any, during my time at Sporting Chance. There are also a few who place bets in ignorance of the rules, perhaps believing that because they are injured or without a club, the rules do not apply to them, these too are very rare.
Most of those we meet with gambling issues do not understand the severity of their condition or their own dilemma and why they keep repeating a behaviour that threatens the career they worked so hard to establish. More often than not, one of the most confused people in the room when asked why they have done this is the gambler themselves. They are not ignorant of the rules or unaware of the risk to their career, they are not unintelligent or driven by greed—they are ill.
Gambling is a recognised behavioural addiction that is diagnosable and treatable, pure and simple.
I witness processes in sport that attempt to rationalise the irrational, justify the unjustifiable, and excuse the inexcusable in the pursuit of explaining a gambling addict’s actions. I see confusion over whether addiction should be a defence for someone’s behaviour or hidden from the process. My personal view on the sanctioning processes in sport is that they should be commensurate with the offence for all. Accountability is part of a therapeutic process, and sanctioning processes that rob addicts of the consequences of their actions do not help anyone. That said, I do not support individuals being made examples of in an attempt to deter others. This is unfair, and it will not work.
What is an addictive disorder? This is a question that the medical, philosophical, and therapeutic worlds are still trying to answer and have been for all of time. They have progressed as far as naming the symptoms in definitions. The UK National Health Service defines addiction as "not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you." The World Health Organization says, "Addiction is a chronic disease; it affects a person's brain and changes their behaviour so that they act in a way that harms them. They become unable to stop taking a drug or engaging in a certain behaviour to the point where it becomes harmful." These both seem to describe the symptoms, which might be helpful to remember for all concerned in the sports betting conversation, but they do not answer the "why."
People have been debating this conundrum ever since man crushed grapes, or for this example, since two flies crawled up a cave wall. Volumes have been written on the topic, and much discussion has taken place about whether addiction is a mental illness, a disease, a spiritual condition, or an individual’s folly. You may note that earlier, I stated that gambling addiction is a mental health condition that is diagnosable and treatable. This is true, but it probably feels incongruent with my assertion that the great minds of the world, now or in the past, cannot tell you what it is or why it is.
Sadly, my arrogance tempts me to immediately tell you "what it is and why it is," and this is part of the problem. It is not that many disciplines say "we don’t know"; it is that different schools of thought say "we have the answer," sometimes contradicting each other or while holding only one piece of the puzzle. The medics will talk about chemistry and dopamine, the neurologists about neural-reward loops, the psychotherapists about historic trauma and attachment theory, the genealogists about family history, the spiritual advisors about the hole in the soul, the sociologists about the addict’s environment, and the behaviouralists about learned behaviours and triggers. My assertion is not that they are all wrong; it is that they are all right, but it is the combination of the sum of all their theories that provides the answer. People are individuals and bring their own unique combination of all or many of the elements suggested in these individual theories. To assess an individual, you need to cover all areas, and that is what we do at Sporting Chance.
When assessed properly, the picture becomes clear, not only for the professional offering support but also for the gambler. Once the problem is clear, it becomes easier to plan the solution.
Problem gambling may be addressed through CBT models of therapy, goal setting, and education.
Addiction needs treatment. Sporting Chance has been treating addiction in professional and elite sportspeople for over two decades using a recognised and proven model. We run the only residential clinic in the world exclusively working with players and athletes, and we have a network of specialist therapists working with those who are on the journey to recovery.
My simple message to sport and those who compete is this: there is always a solution and treatment works.
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