Psychiatrists Say Gambling Related to Proximity

Psychiatrist Claude Uehlinger, head of the Fribourg Addiction Treatment Unit, says it really is common sense – the closer a person lives to a slot machine, the more likely they are to become addicted to it. Uehlinger says that proximity and personality are the two main factors in determining if someone will become a slot machine addict or not.

For example, not everyone who lives near a slot machine is going to become addicted to it, but only those who are predisposed to having an addictive personality will find themselves drawn to the slot machines over and over until they have lost everything.

He says that income also plays a factor in the slot machine addiction, as most people who come to him are of a lower income status. Some say this has to do with the fact that those of lower income status are also usually not as educated as those in the upper echelon, and therefore are unable to understand that they really cannot win at the slot machines – that all they can do is lose.

Uehlinger says that the amount of time that a person with a tendency toward gambling is exposed to the slot machines, the more likely they will be to develop an addiction. He says that a lot of it has to do with how long they are exposed to the slot machine, how close they live, how much education and money they have, and if they have an impulsive personality or not.



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