The signs of a gambling problem tend to show in three places: your money, your time and your mood. Money signs include betting more than you meant to, chasing losses and borrowing to keep going. Time and mood signs include betting longer, later and more often than you planned, and guilt, secrecy or irritability when you try to cut back. One sign on its own is not a diagnosis, but several together, or one that keeps coming back, means betting is costing you more than it should.
A nine-question self-check, the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), puts a number on how often the common signs have shown up in the last 12 months. Whatever it says, free and confidential help is on 1800 858 858, and by chat and email through Gambling Help Online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Warning signs in your money
- betting more than you set out to, or more than you can afford to lose
- betting again, often bigger or faster, to win back money you have lost
- borrowing, selling things, or using money meant for rent, bills or food to keep betting
- cancelling a withdrawal so the money can be bet again
- depositing again minutes after a loss, or asking to raise a deposit limit as soon as you hit it
- opening another betting account when one has hit its limit or been paused
- bills, debts or overdue payments piling up while the betting carries on
- not knowing your real result across all your accounts.
The last one is the easiest to check. Under the national framework, every active betting account gets a monthly activity statement showing your net result, and adding the statements up across bookmakers gives the honest figure.
Example: Illustrative statements. Over six months, your statements show a net result of -$420 at Bookmaker A, +$85 at Bookmaker B and -$310 at Bookmaker C. Together that is -420 + 85 - 310 = -$645, or 645 / 6 = $107.50 a month. If you had been telling yourself you were roughly square, the statements say otherwise.
Warning signs in your time
- betting for longer, or more often, than you planned
- betting late at night or early in the morning, or on whatever race or game happens to be on
- checking odds, results or your balance many times a day
- betting cutting into work, sleep, meals, or time with family and friends
- planning your day around betting, or thinking about it while you do other things
- placing a bet because a notification or an offer arrived, not because you had planned one
- in betting software, turning up a maximum stake, or turning off a loss setting, after a losing run.
Warning signs in your mood and behaviour
- needing bigger bets to get the same excitement
- feeling restless, irritable or anxious when you try to cut back or stop
- betting to escape stress, boredom, loneliness or a low mood
- feeling guilty about how much you bet, or about what happens when you do
- hiding it: deleting messages, keeping statements out of sight, or not being straight about where money went
- getting defensive when someone close to you raises it
- trying to cut back and not managing to.
Betting to win back losses, the sign behind many others
Chasing means betting again, often with bigger stakes or at a faster pace, to recover money you have lost. Each new bet carries a bookmaker's margin just as the last one did, so chasing tends to deepen a loss rather than repair it. Chasing losses explains why the urge is so strong and how to interrupt it.
The PGSI, a nine-question self-check
The Problem Gambling Severity Index comes from the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, and Gambling Help Online offers it as a free online self-assessment. It asks how often, over the last 12 months, you have been:
- betting more than you could really afford to lose
- needing bigger bets to get the same excitement
- going back another day to try to win back money you had lost
- borrowing money or selling things to get money to bet
- feeling you might have a problem with gambling
- having gambling cause you health problems, including stress or anxiety
- hearing people criticise your betting or say you had a problem, whether or not you agreed
- having gambling cause money problems for yourself or your household
- feeling guilty about the way you gamble or what happens when you do.
Each answer scores never 0, sometimes 1, most of the time 2 and almost always 3, so the total runs from 0 to 27.
| Score | Band |
|---|---|
| 0 | Non-problem gambling |
| 1 to 2 | Low risk |
| 3 to 7 | Moderate risk |
| 8 or more | Problem gambling |
Middling answers add up quickly. With two illustrative sets of answers:
| Answers | Arithmetic | Score and band |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes on five questions, never on four | 5 x 1 + 4 x 0 | 5, moderate risk |
| Most of the time on two, sometimes on four, never on three | 2 x 2 + 4 x 1 + 3 x 0 | 8, problem gambling |
Gambling Help Online describes the PGSI as a screening test, not a diagnosis. A low score does not cancel harm you can already see in your money or your relationships, and a GP, psychologist or gambling counsellor is the person to assess you properly.
How harm reaches family and finances
The Department of Social Services lists harms gambling can cause: lost money and financial problems, emotional, psychological and physical health issues, strain on relationships, problems with work or study, cultural problems and criminal activity. Most of them land on more than one person.
- Shared money: savings for a holiday, a car or a home that thin out, joint accounts that run low, and bills that go unpaid.
- Trust: secrecy about accounts, statements and where money went can hurt a partner as much as the money does.
- Debt: borrowing from family or friends, missed repayments, and a partner left with debts they did not choose.
- Time and attention: evenings and weekends spent on betting apps, and arguments when it is raised.
People affected by someone else's betting can get support for themselves: the National Gambling Helpline and Gambling Help Online help family members and friends as well as the person who gambles. Helping someone with a gambling problem covers how to raise it. If debts are building, the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 offers free financial counselling on weekdays. Betting more is never a fix for a money problem.
What to do next
If this sounds familiar, the next step is a conversation, not a decision about the rest of your life.
- Call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858, or use Gambling Help Online's chat and email. Both are free and confidential and run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and helpline calls do not appear on phone bills. A counsellor can listen, suggest strategies and refer you to ongoing counselling near you.
- If you feel unsafe or in crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency.
- See your GP about the stress, anxiety or low mood that can come with gambling harm.
- Put barriers in place while you decide: lower your deposit limits, take a break at each account, register with BetStop, and ask your bank about a gambling block. How to stop gambling puts those steps in order, and gambling help services describes every service in detail.
- Tell one person you trust.
The responsible gambling tools hub explains each of those barriers and who controls it.
Mistakes people make when judging their own betting
With illustrative figures:
| What people tell themselves | What to check instead |
|---|---|
| "I'm about square" | The net result on every account's statements, added up as in the example above |
| "They're only small bets" | The count: 15 bets a day at $5 is 15 x $5 = $75 a day, or $75 x 7 = $525 a week in stakes |
| "I can stop whenever I like" | Whether a short break at every account actually holds |
| "It's a money problem, not a betting problem" | Whether the money problem started or grew with the betting |
| "Other people bet far more" | Your own money, time and relationships, not someone else's |
| "I'll get help if it gets worse" | Help is free at any stage, and talking early is easier |
Risk: Betting involves risk. A self-check can show a pattern but cannot tell you a safe amount to bet, and help works best early. For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au. See responsible gambling for limits and support.