How can people be addicted to something that isn’t a substance?
Although no substance is ingested, problem gamblers receive the same effect from gambling as someone else might get from taking a tranquilizer or having a drink. Gambling alters peoples’ moods, and they keep repeating the behavior attempting to achieve that same effect. But just as tolerance develops to drugs or alcohol, gamblers find that it takes more and more of the gambling experience to achieve the same emotional effect as before. This creates an increased craving for the activity, and gamblers finds they have less and less ability to resist as the craving grows in intensity and frequency.
