A risk is a decision or event with an uncertain outcome. This means that either the hoped-for or the feared case can occur. In short, gamblers can either win or lose when they gamble.
It should be noted that all people have different basic attitudes toward risk. On the one hand, there are people who are willing to take higher risks and feel great thrills in doing so. On the other hand, there are also people who would rather avoid risks and are therefore considered cautious. Of course, people who are willing to take risks are generally more prone to problematic or pathological gambling behavior. Young men in particular tend to accept risks, ignore dangers and overestimate their own abilities. This combination may ultimately lead to problem gambling behavior in the context of gambling activities.
In addition, it should be noted that emotions such as euphoria, anger, fatigue or annoyance can influence one's own risk decision. The difficulty lies in developing one's personal risk competence in the best possible way. This means that when gambling, players are able to weigh up the possible opportunities and dangers and thus manage the situation in a risk-optimal way. They gamble only a predetermined amount of money and do not, for example, gamble in emotionally exceptional situations.
In gambling, there are various factors that promote Gambling addiction or at least problem gambling behavior. We will now briefly summarize the most important risk factors:
Basically, there are Games of chance that are riskier than others in terms of problem gambling behavior. Lotteries, for example, pose only a comparatively low risk. The situation is different for classic Slot machine players. Around 73% of people who visit an addiction counseling center because of their gambling behavior are slot players.