A discharge clears the balance but not the behavior that created it. Clinicians who work with compulsive gamblers in the digital age note that the financial wreckage is usually the last stage of the problem rather than the first.
Gambling debt has become one of the fastest-growing categories of consumer debt in the United States, and the reason is sitting in most people’s pockets. Sports betting apps, cryptocurrency exchanges, and in-game wagering have moved the casino onto the phone, where a losing streak can run for hours without a single cooling-off period.
When those losses land on credit cards and personal loans, the problem stops being private and becomes a legal one. The National Council on Problem…