Women Gamblers

A search of the literature revels much less information regarding women gamblers as it does men.  It appears women tended to start gambling later than men but that their disorder progressed faster. 

Women tend to progress two to four times faster than men between the onset of gambling regularly until they sought their first gambling-specific treatment  Is this because women are more likely than men to ask for directions and help?

The stereotypical gambler is male, middle age, high-roller and cigar smoking.  If gamblers eventually develop a specific look, it is disheveled and of poor personal hygiene.

This is no specific look to a gambler.  That may be why it is even more difficult to identify the female gambler.  She can be anyone's daughter, aunt, sister, mother or grandmother.  A female gambler can have achieved advanced education or limited education.  The female gambler can be single, married, divorced or widowed.  By history women have lower incomes and resources than men.  They do not fit the image of high roller yet suffer the same financial devastation as their male counterparts. 

At this point in time it appears that women are passive rather than action gamblers.  Is this result of women generally being less aggressive than men, not wanting to be noticed or savoring the isolation of passive gambling.  It is estimated that 40 percent of self-identified pathological gamblers are female.  Passive gamblers have more bouts of depression than action gamblers that shift much like a person with bi-polar disorder. 

Women are taught not to express themselves as fully or aggressively as men.  Is it possible that passive female gamblers are turning their anger inward and self-medicating via gambling.  Many females with alcohol, drug and prescription medication addictions have been the victims of sexual abuse and aggression.  Will this prove to be as equally significant for the pathological female gambler.

The limited current research suggests that men gamble for the high-energy rush that comes from "action gambling" like betting at the racetrack or dice games. Women are believed to be more prone to "escape gambling" in the form of slot machines or video lottery terminals.

The Women's Liberation movement of the 1960s provided women equal opportunity in all areas including addiction.  It is a fact that female gamblers will neglect personal responsibilities just as men do.  Female gamblers will develop secondary addictions and will resort to the same criminal behavior as men to cover gambling debts.

It is a biological fact that men and women have different brain formations.  It is also a fact that pleasure centers of the brain are affected by gambling, especially which addiction is factored in.  Are there subtle neurological and biochemical differences yet to be discovered that will distinguish the pathology of gambling for women that is unique to them.

What really matter is how to help the female gambler and her family.  Often she is a single parent and the neglect of her children can set the stage for the next generation of addictive behaviors.