Key points
- A culture of instant gratification propels online gambling.
- Young men have several risk factors for developing a gambling addiction.
- Senior citizens are gambling online in steadily increasing ways.
- Two fallacies often govern the way gamblers think.
We live in a culture that supercharges our wants and desires. We operate under a constant barrage of advertisements and enticements. Most of us are focused on what those pitched products or experiences promise us. Give us our joy, success, and pleasure. We happily concede to our flights of fancy instead of thinking about the likely disappointing or negative consequences.
The growth of online betting
Those ads and enticements feed an ever-growing hunger for instant gratification. This is becoming apparent with the exponential growth of online betting. A person can place an online bet at any time and from any place on an election outcome, a military action, or when a favorite animal at the zoo will give birth.
Sports betting is the easiest and most common form of online betting. It is becoming impossible to escape online sports betting. Whether watching on television or streaming, the odds for a match or game are constantly being shown. In major sporting events such as the Stanley Cup Hockey finals and the NBA finals, spectators were exposed to gambling marketing every 20 seconds.
Every shot, every point, every period score, and final score is an opportunity to place a bet.
Sports Illustrated has gone so far as to rank the top six online sports betting programs. Never mind discussing the sports themselves; SI now discusses betting on the sports.
Easy access to sports betting is creating a world of pain for many people. People no longer need to seek betting opportunities; they can find all sorts of opportunities on their phones. For young people who have grown up with their phones glued to their hands, the temptations may be too hard to ignore.
Risk factors for developing a gambling addiction include being male, younger in age, having a family history of gambling problems, certain personality traits, and co-occurring mental health disorders. The phone has never been more dangerous.
Older people are also beginning to participate in online gambling to very dangerous effect. Many seniors are now regular users of online gambling platforms that are available at every hour. People who have never gambled to a dangerous effect in the past are losing their retirements, spouses, and well-being.
Twin fallacies driving online betting
As players place more bets at higher amounts, they become victims of the sunk cost fallacy. The fallacy: I have already spent or lost so much money that I am willing to continue to invest and invest more heavily rather than re-evaluate my circumstances and change my behavior.
With a credit card conveniently stored on their phones, many using online betting apps may find themselves gambling more liberally than they would have. Senior citizens may have a very robust line of credit that can be decimated quickly. When people recognize the sunk cost fallacy and try to cut down on or quit these gambling platforms, they are often lured back with enticing offers. There are always workarounds for whatever self-imposed deposit, wager, or time limits a person may put on their account.
With gambling available on phones, it is very easy for seniors to hide in plain sight, hunched over their phone right next to younger people doing the same thing.
Winning will make some vulnerable to the aptly named gambler’s fallacy, the belief that past events influence future probabilities in independent events, such as thinking that after several losses, a win is due. It does not pertain to the belief that past performance guarantees future results. Combine this with the sunk cost fallacy, and the results can be devastating. In suffering significant losses from gambling, most people will feel deep shame. This may be especially true for people who always see themselves as hard-working and saving responsibly for their retirement. This shame may bring isolation and loneliness. Hiding losses from family members, confronting economic insecurity, and believing yourself to have ruined not only your future but your family’s is devastating.
Addictions in their myriad forms can spring from and reinforce loneliness and social isolation. Whether it is a younger person feeling as if he is already behind in his life or a senior whose identity and life have been altered by retirement, loss of a spouse, or adult children who are busy with their own lives, gambling promises excitement and the possibility of a payout. The payout may be small at first, but the jolt of joy accompanying it isn’t. For those who feel lonely, isolated, or simply flat in much of their daily life, that jolt is seductive.
Don’t mistake that jolt for joy. That jolt may be the harbinger of shame.
Originally published on psychologytoday.com June 30. 2026