Compulsive gamblers fall into two main types—action and escape gamblers.
1. Action gamblers
Action gamblers tend to appear self-confident, controlling, successful, and outgoing. They begin gambling because they believe they can become skillful enough to beat the odds. This pursuit provides an exhilarating rush but as the gambling progresses, even the Action gambler is gambling to escape their own pain.
2. Escape gamblers
Escape gamblers often gamble to escape from problems, feeling they can free themselves from pain while gambling. The pain they are often trying to escape is emotional pain; depression, relationship difficulties, changes in marital status, or the “empty nest syndrome” is particularly common for women gamblers.
Persons who develop a gambling problem may start gambling for different reasons but at the end of their gambling career, nearly all find themselves gambling to escape life’s difficulties and the pain created by the gambling.