How Does Gaming Affect Our Lives? 

Mind is not the only one bearing the brunt of online casinos. Physical health is also at stake with an increasing trend of Social Networking Gambling.

Gyms shut down, economies plunging, and poverty predicted all over, yet Australia’s online casinos saw a surge of up about 67 percent. Disturbing is the comparison, but it jots down the preference given to gamble over fitness. The fitness sector, after losing the revenue of 95%, was among the most hit areas. Australians playing online casinos offering online casino bonuses benefitted the most during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Online Gambling and Health

Latvala, Lintonen, and Konu in 2019 found out that as compared to the non-gamblers, the gamblers reported more deteriorating health. In this regard, different research works carried out in 2006, 2011 and 2013 found out that players were more prone to

• weight-related diseases
• severe headaches
• blood pressure
•  increased risk of heart diseases
• chronic disorders related to stomach and liver

An important aspect in the declining health of the online gamblers is not only a sedentary lifestyle but is also their inability to seek help. With multiple studies, developing a positive relationship of substance abuse with gambling, there have also been instances of chronic episodes of stress. WHO, 2017 discussion paper on Gambling Disorders, stressed on the relationship between problem gambling and increased morbidities.

Age is the Factor

With online gambling mostly illegal in Australia, the Australian government is still concerned with the overseas online casinos that have not been very successful in imposing the age restriction of 18 years. Indulging into online casinos and adopting a sedentary lifestyle at a very young age can double the negative impact on health.

Why is Gambling an Intense Experience?

It was also found out during the above study that gambling produced the same ‘thrill’ that is produced during intercourse. For Australians who gamble double than most European countries, this is quite a news.

Overlapping of Gambling Addiction

Studies have shown that any addictions lead to an addiction of gambling and vice versa. However, according to the Australian Gambling Research Centre the intimate relationship between the gamblers gets a negative influence of this gaming habit, they are most likely to:

• Have dissatisfaction in relations
• Weaken communication
• Disagreements
• Arguments
• Disturbed children
• Children more prone to problem gambling
• Divorce

Conflict in Couples

Those couples who visited Australian Gambling Support Services mentioned the negative impact on their relationship. The problems started from stress or decreasing work capacity and from physical deteriorating health to financial issues. But they all played their role in damaging the relationship of that every couple. According to one study by Statista in 2019, 7.4 percent of Australians faced a conflict in their relationship after online gambling. 

Gaming Causing Financial Loss

Influence of losing online pokies or playing the table casinos would be not as tangible as its influence on your pocket. Again, the case study of Australians who are losing a great amount of money in online betting is enough to highlight the intensity of this issue.

A Cambridge study found that interactive gambling has equal stimulation as that of trading in the stock market. With the perks of not being bound to any currency and having diverse options of gaming, online casinos have done an enormous favour to the gamers, especially to the most significant gambling community of the world, the Australians. But how the Australian online casinos have played a negative role in resulting in financial losses for many social media gamblers?

Online Traps Eating the Gamers Financially

The Australian Minister for Human Services has flagged you the danger of never seeing your winnings if you are trying to play in one of the overseas online casinos. Learning from the experiences of others has always been considered wisdom as compared to making mistakes blindfolded by the lust of your addiction. If you see an Australian flag or a native animal on the online casino site that doesn’t mean that you have landed at the right page rather these are the traps by the offshore online casinos to attract the Aussies who face bans on tables like casinos, pokies, in-play betting, and virtual scratchies.

Australian Communications and Media Authority allow Australians to complain against any fraudulent online casinos. With 0.7 percent of South Australians already gone through the harm in gambling because of such spam of online casinos, further 2.2 are still at risk for it.

The influence of games on the human mind, body, and pocket is becoming complex with the evolution of interactive gaming. The collection of research that was limited to understanding violent games and their influence on the human brain is now touching the more complicated part of it. The introduction of online casinos; table games and pokies made it necessary for the researchers to weigh the influence of interactive gaming on the financial aspects of the player’s life.

Troubles induced by the losses of internet wagering and the need for the governments to regularise the online casinos, for instance, the restrictions on the Australian Online Casinos speaks of the complexity. The availability of dozens of toll-free numbers to help the gamers going through problem gambling and the number of people reaching out can’t be ignored. Many say that even after years of research, exploring the influence of gaming on humans has still a long way to go. But the studies analyzed until now have helped us reach the following conclusions: 

Way Forward

Increasing indulgence in online casinos and becoming addictive to the one can be balanced.