Why it's so hard to kick a gambling addiction

We now know that gambling can be as addictive as drugs, but there are factors that can make it even harder to quit

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The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the text produced by the World Health Organization that summarises all the medical issues they recognise.

When the latest version, the ICD-11, was produced, the section concerning addictive disorders included a category for addictive behaviours. It's now medically recognised that people can become addicted to specific actions and not just substances. Chief among these behaviours is gambling.

Gambling addiction is undoubtedly a real thing and a big problem. Hence the UK government bringing in measures to hopefully curb, or at least reduce, the harm it does.

But how do people end up addicted to gambling? And why is it often so difficult to treat compared to more 'typical' substance-based addictions?

The 'how' is relatively straightforward. The primary appeal of gambling is essentially obtaining large amounts of money for next-to-no effort. When it comes to making decisions, the human brain is constantly weighing up effort against potential reward. If something ends up being heavily skewed towards the latter (for example paying a small amount of money to receive a large amount in return), we tend to really approve of it.