There is a saying attributed to PT Barnum that goes like this: There is a sucker born every minute.

One area of activity that this saying can apply to is gambling.

How might it apply?

The thought is that there is an inexhaustible supply of people who are willing to be exploited using games on which they can play and have fun, while they lose their money and make a profit for the casino or owner of the gambling house.

The owners are correct in their assumption that there are lots of people who are quite comfortable and willing to lose their money. The owners may be confident that there will always be a stream of money coming in. Some people are willing to spend their money and get nothing for it.

What is gambling?

Psychologists look at this phenomenon in slightly different ways. One way is that gambling is risking something of value, even though the probability of winning is less than the probability of losing. Another take is that it is a disorder of impulse control that can result in damage to the gambler’s personal, family, social, and employment life.

When the behavior involves maladjustive, recurrent gambling, this is called pathological gambling. Even gambling that is not that extreme can still have a harmful impact on the gambler, his or her family, significant others, friends, or even people with whom they work.

The general term for all gambling problems is disordered gambling.

What psychological mechanisms are at work here?

The concept is easy to understand. Its simplicity is why it works so well and is so effective. It goes like this: Anything you do that makes you feel good, you will probably keep doing, and eventually do it more and more. We want to prolong the positive feeling as long as possible. We love to win money.

If you won every time you placed a bet, you would keep going until you dropped. Once the winning stopped, you would stop. That is not the way it really works.

In a casino, you may only win periodically. Each time you win, your gambling is rewarded and you want to recapture that good feeling. So you keep going because you hope you will win again and re-experience that good feeling. Psychologists call that an intermittent reward schedule.

Put in 10 dollars and win two dollars. Put in another 10 dollars and win five dollars. Put in another 10 dollars and win two dollars. And so it goes until you run out of money.

Winning intermittently keeps you going. You hope that you might win again if you keep gambling. Gambling addiction develops like other addictions. You probably are not hooked the first time you gamble.

There was no plan to develop an addiction or become an addict. You just want to have a little innocent fun. As additional gambling opportunities present themselves over time, the gambling escalates.

For some people, the addiction develops rapidly, but for many it develops at a slower, insidious pace. Like a rabbit caught in a snare, the gambler ultimately finds himself or herself caught in a destructive, self-defeating, disordered gambling snare.

The loss of self-control, the abandonment of common sense, and the denial of the consequences of their behavior can be devastating. When the gambling addict reaches the pathological gambling level the serious symptoms emerge. They think more and more about gambling. It can become a preoccupation. They gamble more and more, need to gamble more and more, and will increase the amount of money used to gamble.

Little bets are not so much fun. Betting larger amounts is more of a kick. And so it goes. Feed the habit in spite of the developing, serious, increasing, negative consequences. If they lose money one day, they will come back again to try to get even. They will lose more money in their effort to make up for the money they already lost. The hole they are in just gets deeper.

Consequences: As the addiction develops it just gets worse. The lying to significant others, and the efforts to hide what they are doing weaves a web in which they become entangled. Law-breaking is not uncommon.

Embezzlement, theft, forgery, fraud, and exploitation of others are just some of the things gambling addicts have done, and they have had to pay the consequences. Families, careers, and futures have been lost.

It does not matter where or how you gamble. It does not matter if you gamble in a casino, on the internet, or with a bunch of guys at the club or in your own home. It is the act of gambling that can snare you. If you can realistically understand and accept that you are in a disordered gambling situation, get help.

— Dr. Joseph Switras provides clinical psychological services at United Health District in Fairmont to people age 5 and up.