Experts say compulsive gamblers may have brain malfunction

Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

"One pull won $696,000," boasts a Station Casino St. Charles sign.

But what's hard to see is the destruction gambling and gambling addiction could be causing. Experts say that sometimes the desire to gamble can outweigh everything else, and can lead to debt, divorce and crime.

Casinos emphasize that most people can control their gambling. They say employees are on the lookout for people who get in too deep.

Mike Ryan, head of the Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association, says employees are supposed to call their supervisor if, for example, they see someone "who's there all day and all night and is clearly unhappy."

But researchers are still studying why some people lose control, but evidence points to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

Think of your brain as a car. The brain likes to be on idle. When a gambler places a wager, the brain gets a dose of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The gas pedal is pressed.

For most people, the brakes kick in when they hit their limit. Another neurotransmitter - serotonin - helps the brain return to idle. With compulsive gamblers, the serotonin levels fail to come back up. They need to gamble more, in increasing amounts, to feel alive.

Compulsive "gambling isn't really about winning or losing, it's about staying in action," says Arlene C. Miller, a social worker who lectures on pathological gambling at an area college.

Experts say it's unclear whether the chemical imbalance in the brain causes the gambling problem or the gambling causes the brain dysfunction. Studies are under way to see whether a particular gene is associated with the disorder.

What researchers do know is that people are more prone to develop gambling problems if they suffer from depression, alcoholism or drug addiction. They gamble for stimulation or relaxation, to buoy low self-esteem or escape stress.

"Clients will talk about being numb," says Glenn R. McGowan, who treats gamblers at Provident Counseling in south St. Louis County. "They all gamble alone."

In a three-month look at compulsive gambling, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that: