Research has shown that there are over a quarter of a million people living in the UK who are addicted to gambling or who have problems related to gambling. Especially now that regulations on advertising for gambling sites make advertising possible (depending on the company) there are serious concerns about a possible rise of online gamblers in England. The Gambling Commission (researching gambling data for the English government) says that at least 6% of the adult UK population now gambles online.

With gambling games and online casino sites on the computer screen it can be pretty hard for people to stay away from playing games when they really shouldn’t. People admit to even playing at the work place if their partner has asked them to play online gambling games less often. Whether is it a game of craps or an online slot machine, the British cannot resist a good game. With so many people playing games in secret it is hard to say what the exact effect of a gambling addiction is on the private life of a person. The financial consequences may become clear if someone has not earned any money from bets for a while and the lack of finances is often explained away somehow.

Many people with gambling addictions only found themselves in trouble when they started playing online gambling games. Some people end up playing games 24 hours a day, especially if there is no social circle around a player. People end up locking themselves away from the world to play games and lose touch with the reality of losing money on games. Instead of quitting a game they will think of playing a new one to make back any money that may have been lost in a previous game.

People will resort to playing in secret, stealing bankcards from others and making up excuses to keep playing if they become addicted. The player may end up in a winning stretch in the game and if he or she then loses money the person becomes convinced that a new winning streak must follow. Ideas that a living could be made from gambling and that the person has reached a professional level as a player are all part of the cloud that covers the mind if someone becomes addicted to gambling.

Many websites are now looking into installing security player clocks to warn players about the danger of playing too long during the day and the Gambling Committee in the UK wants to look into ways to reach gamblers to educate them about the dangers of online casinos if they are not able to step away from a gambling site anymore.