Once just a gentleman’s game, U.S. gambling began its rise to the center of attention around 400 years ago. A time where gambling was the root of all evil, yet it could still help the colonies from financial issues. Deliberation over the subject went on for years and still is today, but gambling never stopped to wait for an answer. While challenges were being discussed, different forms of gambling were being created to stave off bankruptcy and other money problems.

The first company to hold a gambling lottery was a bank in Jamestown, Virginia, which’ of course’ was an instant success. It wasn’t like the state lotteries you see today, but still was beneficial for a short period of time. After awhile, England felt as though they weren’t making a profit from this form of gambling, so they ended up banning it from everyone. However, that wouldn’t last long as all thirteen colonies eventually were allowed to hold their own without question.

Four centuries removed, you can drive along the eastern states and see prestigious universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale that were all started by revenue created by state lotteries. As several other venues were being built thanks in part to U.S. gambling, greed started to as people in the colonies wanted freedom and independence from England. While this was over several issues, lotteries were one of the bigger issues never mentioned in history books.

Obviously the most prestigious form of gambling at the time, state lotteries weren’t the only U.S. gambling going on around the country. By this time, horse races had already been around since 1665, but most bets were between owners only and not of a spectator kind. Also making its mark on cities throughout the colonies in the 1800s were casino style gambling with cards and dice. As areas grew, so did the size of gambling halls and local watering holes where games could be played.

Then came the Mississippi River and everything it had to offer with barter and trading through several owners. Business this way was quicker, and several well known individuals met on riverboats to play some casino style gambling. This was the true introduction of the professional gambler. Winning enough money in small towns to play on the riverboats with the big boys was a common tale. After awhile, many were thought to be cheaters and many would perish at the hands of people who lost money to them.

Just as the state lotteries were part of the reason for the American Revolution War, it was the Civil War that ended the time of professional gambling in the 1860s. While not the main reason, it created a business stand still, which led to no traffic up and down the great Mississippi. For the next sixty years, gambling would be loved by many and hated by that many more. States that had good fortune would create gambling booms like in California and Nevada,

As years moved ahead, people like Al Capone and his mob used gambling money to front their businesses, while at the same time sports were becoming one of the major things to bet on during this period. Fast forwarding to the seventies, lotteries held around the country were making over a billion dollars on a annual basis. Gambling in the United States was considered a normal part of living and still is today.

Now we’re in the 21st century and the gambling business is booming with billions upon billions of dollars being made annually. The Super Bowl is the most anticipated gambling event each year, and land based casinos are popping up all over the country. Still, many Americans protest gambling due to family members who have ongoing problems with controlling their addictions. However, the future looks bright and the government will have a hard time trying to give up all the tax revenue that is made off of gambling alone.

Which brings us to the future, and online casino gambling. While the United States was one of the leaders in gambling online, President Bush tried to ban them from using debit cards that are bank issued to try to control the outbreak. It didn’t take long for U.S. players to realize that adding money to different accounts like Netteller or Moneybookers, then transferring it over may take a little longer, but the end result is the same.

There will never be a solution to gambling no matter if it’s online or offline, and others will always protest the morals and what it all stands for overall. A cat and mouse game that will never be solved, and while everyone continues to argue back and forth, the sport of gambling will only become bigger. Hurry, someone go check the odds on that, you might want to bet on it.

At the initial level, gambling seems to be an exciting activity but later it turns fatal for many, who become addicted to gambling. In fact, a large part of the world population is affected by gambling addiction. In America, the gambling addiction is found more in Caucasian Americans. Around 2.5 million are reported to be suffering from compulsive gambling and 15 million are likely to become problem gamblers in the coming years.

What Happens in Gambling Addiction?

The addicted gambler experiences a number of psychological, physical, financial and social dilemmas. Problems of alcohol and drug abuse also become associated with majority of the gambling addicts. Other problems associated with gambling addiction are mood disorder, depression and anti-social personality disorder.

Gambling addiction is very closely associated with a specific medical condition termed as compulsive or pathological gambling. In compulsive gambling, an increase in the uncontrollable preoccupation of the addict takes place with gambling, despite of the negative effects involved. To continue with their addiction, they also resort to means like cheating, lying and even stealing.

Studies reveal that the failures of gamblers are often perceived by them as “near win.” This is caused due to an inflated and faulty activation in their cortices’ region of the brain, which often deals with handling rewards. The gamblers are unable to comprehend that the mistakes are the same and will result in loss.

According to Luke Clark, the study researcher and expert at University of Cambridge, the same system is targeted by gambling as that by drug addiction, which is the dopamine system in the brain. In gambling, the neurotransmitter dopamine gets released during the “near miss” instances.

Primary Causes of Gambling Addiction

In females, this addiction is developed as a consequence of wanting to escape from unhappy situations such as broken relationships or marriages and job frustration or poor mental health such as depression, loneliness, anxiety or hopelessness. It usually affects women aged around 45 years and they gamble at places where heavy skill or experience is not required like slot machines.

In males, this addiction is developed due to low self-esteem or insecurities. It usually affects men aged around 35 years and they opt for competitive table games. Instead of improving their feelings, it often leads them to debt problems, financial losses and broken relationships.

Treatment of Gambling Addiction

Similar to a drug rehabilitation center, professional help treatments are provided to the addicted gamblers in terms of psychotherapy and medications. In treating this addiction, medications like anti-depressants are generally used. In psychotherapy, a useful technique is used where the gambler is asked to interpret the “near misses” in an accurate manner. Considering factors such as the addict’s age, severity of the problem and more, treatments are provided to the gamblers such as group activities and support and therapies dealing with cognitive behavior.

Gambling addiction often intervenes in psychological, physical, social and vocational spheres of life. The addiction of gambling could be devastating for not only the addict but to his or her family also. The only manner by which the loved ones can be protected from this addiction is by making them aware of the facts regarding the addiction.

Gambling is all fun and games until you hit the point where you cease seeing the fun in it, or you become irredeemably addicted.

Admittedly, most people do not see it coming. They start gambling for very noble reasons including,

1. The need to take time away from work and family pressures
2. Escape route from depressing thoughts on other issues.
3. Hopes of winning a fortune and living lavishly ever after
4. To bring a tinge of excitement into their otherwise dull lives
5. A chance to go out there, socialize and make new friends.

As you can see from the above points, no one anticipates that gambling will grow into the Frankenstein that now threatens to push them off the sanity cliff. A lot of people are able to keep their gambling under rein. They do it for fun, to pass some time and to socialize. Others lose it completely. They become slaves to online and offline gambling. It throws their lives off-balance. They start putting more time and money into gambling, and they gradually neglect other aspects of their lives.

At this point, problem gamblers look back at their lives and get surprised at how and when it happened. For a lot of people, the problem starts with a shift in mentality. A big loss or a big win, and you are hooked. You start gambling more money than you had planned to spend on gambling, you invest a lot of time in the casinos and before you know it, you are a slave to gambling. You can’t eat, sleep nor breathe without thinking gambling.

To help you understand how gambling addiction works, I have analyzed some of the most common factors that pull people deeper and deeper into addiction.

1. Illusion that You Can be in command of Chance
No one can control chance. It doesn’t favor anyone, smart or otherwise. Unfortunately many problem gamblers think that they can manage to overturn their luck on the tables through sheer power of the mind. They have this skewed illusion that they can win if only they can learn the tricks of the game. They spent hours on end in the casinos trying to perfect their game. They fail to acknowledge the fact that gambling is 100% chance and not something to be learned. There are no tricks and knowledge that will all of a suddenly overturn the tables to your favor.

2. The Lure of the Jackpot
Winning a few hands on the tables can make you feel unconquerable. Everyone loves winning, and science has proved that people remember their victories more than they remember their losses. Fortunately, or probably unfortunately in this case, new gamblers have what is commonly referred as ‘beginner’s luck’. They begin their gambling hobbies on the right foot. They become obsessed with the idea of winning the jackpot.

3. Faith of Changing Luck
In life, we are encouraged to get up after every fall. We will make it in the end. We will accomplish our goals if we do not quit. After all, who wants to quit while the gold vein could be just a few inches away. There is only one place where this advice does not apply. If your quests are governed by pure luck, there is very little chance that you will ever make it. The statistics are open for anyone who wants to take a look. Gambling only ends up in massive losses, debts and frayed social relationships. There is no better time to quit than now. Lady Luck will not smile at you anytime soon.

How To Know If You Are Addicted To Gambling
Although there are clear pointers that indicate you are going down the addiction lane, it can be extremely difficult to identify them if you do not know what they are. This is probably the saddest thing about addiction. We never know we are addicted until we take a step back and look at ourselves in hindsight, at which time the damage has already been done.

In this section, we will discuss the 5 major red flags to watch out for.

1. You Just Can’t Stop
Remember the wise Gambler who Kenny Rogers sings about? Every wise gambler knows when to hold and when to fold. Compulsive gamblers on the other hand do not have limits. They will gamble everything they have thinking that they are having bouts of fun, when in actuality they are driven by compulsions beyond their control.

2. Gambling with Money Not Meant for Fun
Problem gamblers will gamble with money that they can’t stand to lose. They do not have a set gambling budget and will often risk money meant for important things such medical bills and other utility bills.

3. Gambling to Win or to Recover Losses
If you find yourself gambling more for the sole purpose of hitting the jackpot than for fun, you need to reevaluate yourself. Same case applies if the main driving force behind gambling is to recover losses that you had suffered earlier.

4. Obsessively Thinking about Gambling
If you eat, drink and sleep thinking about gambling, you might already be too deep in the trench.

5. Borrowing to Finance Gambling
Have you ever borrowed money to finance gambling? Chances are if you have, things are not looking so good.

What other key pointers do you think indicate a problem with gambling? I believe that you know them better. You know what triggers that red flag and siren at the back of your mind. A lot of gamblers realize the symptoms that point to problematic gambling in their lives, yet stopping becomes a quagmire.

Project managing and investing in a new website build can be a big ask for a financial organization. Even if you have dedicated marketing staff, it can be difficult to persuade internal stakeholders that a new site is necessary. Whenever you broach the topic of a new site, you may receive pushback comments like: “What’s wrong with the old one?”

“OKAY” is not the label you want to attach to your website. It should be your organization’s demand-generation machine, producing a healthy flow of inbound leads for sales teams to qualify and follow up on.

Keep reading to learn the four key areas of a typical financial services website, and why they are often ripe for investment and improvement.

#1. Mobile-Friendly or Responsive Design

It’s no secret that numbers of smartphone user have been steadily rising. In 2017, the number of smartphone users is set to reach 222.9 million well over two-thirds of the total population. So, if your company is still using a site template that is not mobile-friendly nor responsive, there is no question that you will be losing potential customers and existing customers who drop onto your site via their mobile device.

There are two options to solve this problem. The first is to have your web designer create a separate mobile-friendly website at m.yourdomain.com. The second, generally preferred option, is to use a “responsive” template and layout.

“Responsive” simply means your website’s pages will auto-size to whatever screen dimensions the device they are being viewed on. Your site will look great on all kinds of mobiles and tablets without doing any extra work customizing your site specifically for mobile.

You don’t want to lose prospects simply because they can’t access a full version of your site on their mobile device, and, with responsive design, you don’t need to.

#2. Modern Navigation

Your current website may follow the “old-school” layout of a nav bar across the top pointing off to the main sections of your site, possibly with subpages linked underneath. This type of layout works. Users can find the information they are looking for in a few clicks. You may want to make your navigation more dramatic, however, and take extra steps to minimize the number of clicks and “wrong turns” the user may make to find what they are looking for.

Consider, for example, dividing your home page up visually – with three main blocks or graphics across the home page. The entire “tile” or “slide,” if you are using a carousel, links off to that section of the site.

Once there, you can use calls-to-action (CTAs) to direct people to where YOU want them to go. For example, your goal might be to have visitors fill in a lead generation form, subscribe to your blog, or get a quote.

If you are using a responsive site, users can keep scrolling down and “unfolding” more visually-pleasing, relevant information as they go. There doesn’t have to be a fixed cut off to the bottom of the site, as with older designs.

A search bar at the top right-hand corner of your site is a great idea. Note that this area is also the perfect place to add a CTA too. A good CTA might be: “Call today for a free consultation 1-800-YOUR-PHONE.”

Try to look at your site as though you are a new visitor. Being honest with yourself, how easy is it to reach the information you need?

Even better, invite someone to test the site. Set him or her a task and then watch how they approach it. Do they find the information they need? If the answer is “no,” it’s time to speak to a user experience (UX) expert.

#3. Links to Social Media

When you make a new connection, do you find yourself flicking down their LinkedIn or Instagram feeds to get a twenty-second snapshot of who they are? Your clients and potential clients do the same when they are evaluating your brand. They are trying to gauge if your brand resonates with them. They want to know if you have similar values to them, and of course, if you are trustworthy and legitimate.

If your social profile links are hard to find – or if you haven’t included all of them – put them in a more prominent position on your homepage and throughout your site. You may feel that social links are a distraction because they take your traffic and give it to distracting sites, such as Facebook. Every additional “like” or “favorite”, however, adds to your credibility via social proof. If your business is linked with someone on a social network, you are then able to engage with them and generate valuable interaction and feedback.

Also, you can mitigate the risk of losing a potential client due to them navigating away from your page, by putting what is called a “wrapper” at the top.

The wrapper is a banner with your branding that hides the address bar of the browser window. When it is clicked, it diverts the user back to the page on your site where they previously left off. Social media companies like Bebee have found this to be an effective way to stop users exiting the site sooner than they would have if they hadn’t been distracted by opening a link in a new window.

Your goal is to keep users on your website as long as possible. The more engaged your audience, the longer they will stay, and the longer you have to convert them to a lead.

#4. Customer-Focused Content

A mistake some financial organizations make with their websites is not creating enough customer-focused content. Creating “buyer personas” is a useful way to categorize types of queries. Then, create content to match your personas or “ideal buyers.”

For example, “Refinance Ruth” may be looking for information relating to refinancing her home. “Equity Release Eddie” may be looking to take out equity in his home through a release plan. Ensuring you have high-quality, easy-to-access content on your site that addresses each type of user, and answers their questions with great content, is key to securing trust and credibility with your prospective customers.

If a visitor doesn’t get a sense that you have invested in the look, the feel, or the content of your website, they will click back to Google’s search results and head to your competitor.

Financial businesses are often accused of being out of touch with modern times. By investing and updating your website, you will not only be keeping your demand-generation machine in efficient, working order, but you’ll also be demonstrating your integrity, adaptability, and readiness for the future.