Many people make New Year’s resolutions convinced that willpower alone will propel them to success. We tell ourselves to eat less. Exercise more. Get more sleep. Want it. Believe it. Do it.
But successfully conquering a gambling addiction requires more than sheer willpower.
Consider the high-profile example of Charlie Hustle, one of Ohio’s most beloved sports figures. Former Cincinnati Reds third baseman Pete Rose was banned from baseball in 1989. In 2004, he admitted to gambling on baseball games he managed, and recently unsealed court documents show he bet on baseball games while he was an active player in the mid-1980s.
Rose sought Major League Baseball reinstatement again this year. In his October 2015 denial of Rose’s request, Commissioner Robert Manfred noted that Rose has “never seriously sought treatment” for his gambling addiction.
Why does treatment matter?
First, addiction is not just a bad habit. It is a mental illness, just like depression or bipolar disorder.
That means the desire to quit in and of itself rarely succeeds in achieving lasting change. Extensive health and behavioral health studies document this fact, as does research from other diverse experts such as Katherine Milkman, a behavioral economist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She consistently finds that people with a strong social support system more frequently overcome destructive behaviors than those who rely on willpower alone.
Milkman’s research also suggests that people are more likely to tackle their goals immediately following important dates such as holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. She proposes that such landmark dates create new “mental accounting periods” which let us put imperfections in the past, take a big-picture view of our lives and give us additional motivation.
“If true,” she writes for the Social Science Research Network, “this little-researched phenomenon has the potential to help people overcome important willpower problems that often limit goal attainment.”
So a New Year can indeed mark a New Chapter.
And that’s good because it also brings New Temptations — temptations like the Super Bowl.
According to ESPN, Super Bowl gamblers wagered a record $119.4 million at Nevada casinos last year. The American Gaming Association expects more than $3.8 billion in illegal wagers on the game this year. That’s a lot of money and, more importantly, a lot of people who may be breaking their resolution right out of the gate.
The bottom line is that it is important to resolve this year whether you or someone you love gambles too much.
But don’t stop there. Find social supports through resources like Maryhaven, Gam-Anon or both. Willpower is a great starting gun, but it’s not the only element that drives you to the finish line.
