Experts warn that an economic crisis is a breeding ground where more people can be drawn into gambling addiction.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has visited one of many self-help meetings that every week gather people who are struggling not to relapse into abuse.
One factor is pointed out as something of a motor which, around the clock, all days of the year, draws people deeper into the gambling spiral. It’s about quick loans.
For the people who take a step through the door of the old stone house in the Hjorthagen district of Stockholm twice a week, the goal is the same: to live a life that is not controlled by the addiction to play at any price. This is true whether it’s the first stumbling steps a person takes on their journey or if they have crossed the threshold of the house for several years.
Several of those who visit the local on this Wednesday, where the National Association for Gambling Addiction organizes self-help meetings, describe the meetings as a vent that, in many ways, can be compared to medicine. For others, the description is even more concrete.
“Coming here and being able to talk about my addiction, the shame and emotions that I can’t even share with those closest to me, that’s the whole difference between whether I can manage to stay free from gambling or fall back into the darkness,” says a man in his 50s when we meet in the association’s meeting room.
The problem may be more widespread than it seems
There is concern among researchers and experts about what lies behind the economic pressure that has increasingly gripped Swedish households. The concern is based on the large number of people that, due to high inflation, rising prices, and a generally worse economy, can now be drawn into gambling, which, in turn, could risk leading to addiction.
“Not having money is a factor in people starting to play. Gambling offers hope that maybe things will work out. If you just get that jackpot, you wouldn’t be affected by the development, it’s an illusion that’s easy to paint,” said Daniel Harre, Chairman of the National Association for Gambling Addiction.
An increase in people being drawn into gambling addiction is something that is also feared in the local association in Stockholm – but there is a lagging factor.
The control is lost, and the debts grow
Pia Granberg is a former gambling addict who now works full-time as a counsellor within the association, holding self-help groups and individual conversations with people seeking help.
A few minutes before the meeting is about to start, Pia Granberg has settled down at a table in the relatively empty room. She sits there together with colleague Henrik Nygren, who, like Pia, has an active gambling addiction behind him.
“We gambling addicts are experts at finding what gives us the opportunity to play. My perception is that relapses often occur when people start getting back on their feet and feel more comfortable. That’s why it’s important to keep going,” says Henrik Nygren.
People are continuously coming into the cafe to take a seat in the illuminated meeting room. After a quick division of groups and meeting rules about closed phones, not talking about amounts, game strategies or naming game companies, the evening’s meeting is in progress.
Around the table sit people of different ages and from vastly different backgrounds. What they share is the experience of addiction and its devastating consequences.
“I didn’t play for money then, but something lit up”
One by one, they tell about their own journeys from their first games to the moment when it no longer was sustainable. They share their anxiety and feelings of shame towards themselves, their family, and their friends.
“Erik,” who is in his 30s, says: “I remember sitting with Dad and watching football when I was younger. He played a bit on the football pools, and I also filled in a coupon with what I thought the results in the matches would end in. I didn’t play for money then, but something lit up. For many, the biggest thing about turning 18 is getting a driver’s license or going to the bar. For me, the dream was to get a gaming account,” says Erik, who has been gambling-free for about eight months.
He describes a snowball rolling faster and faster. Savings that are emptied and wakeful nights filled with mobile betting on matches in obscure football leagues: “Then I found the payday loans. It was like opening the door to hell.”
And it is here that a red thread emerges through the majority of the stories shared around the table. When payday loans come in, everything changes – and the spiral down, it goes fast: “I had taken all the loans in the world when I played the most, and I would never have even looked at how high the interest rate on the loan was,” says “Julius”.
He is in his twenties, but since he started playing hard at 17, he has already gotten out and fallen in again. Now he has attended the meetings every week and has managed to stay gambling-free for a year.
Sky-high interest rates and loans
According to a report from the Financial Supervisory Authority, the effective interest rate from a typical company that offers what we commonly call SMS loans is 819%. But for those who are desperate, it can be significantly more. Some of the most expensive loans have an effective interest rate that exceeds 100,000%.
Add to that the fact that the market for this type of high-cost loan is full of actors offering loans to people who already have payment defaults. It is clear to anyone who does a Google search for “loans without credit checks.” Companies compete for potential customers with promises of loans despite a dozen defaults and fast payouts. And for those who have started searching, the algorithms on social media mean that you will repeatedly be met with loan companies’ “offers.”
Everyone around the table at the self-help meeting agrees that the payday loan companies and other lenders that offer fast loans with dizzying interest rates and promises of thin credit requirements are a driving force that constantly brings new players into a heavy dependence, where the debt mountain just grows.
“It goes so fast. It’s just a button press away on your phone, and it speaks directly to a gambling addict,” says “Julius.”
It is also not the case that those who have decided to change their behavior stop playing and dig out of their debts are free from loan companies’ offers, which in many cases are more extensive and aggressive than what most consumers are used to.
Among the participants around the table, they describe how gambling addiction is bombarded with messages offering fast loans, emphasising that previous payment defaults are not a problem – sometimes several years after they stopped playing and taking new loans.
This is happening at the same time as targeted marketing from gambling companies is described as a never-ending stream of emails and SMS messages. There are even actors in the industry actively targeting problem gamblers through keywords such as “casinos without Spelpaus (Gamstop)”.
“I get SMS messages every day from companies that offer loans where they write that I can have the money in a few minutes. But I haven’t played or taken any payday loans in over a year. They work quickly and hard once they have you on their radar,” says “Julius.”
