Top 10 Gambling Addiction Books

1. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schull

An Overview
Machine gambling, especially in Las Vegas is a unique world unimaginable by those not inside it. Gamblers enter a zombie-like “machine zone” when gambling on slot machines, and the goal becomes to continue playing as long as possible, rather than to win. Physical and economic exhaustion combined with this trancelike state are clear signs of gambling addiction. Is it the market's fault for designing the machine ergonomics, casino architecture, and managing the ambience to encourage this behavior of maximizing the time on each device? Or is it the consumer's fault for returning to the product, despite attending Gambler's Anonymous meetings or seeking gambling addiction treatment? It is most likely the overwhelming interplay between the two, and how the traffic between people and machines of chance are intensifying at an alarming and overwhelming rate.

Who This Book Is For
Addition by Design is not one of many gambling addiction help guides. It is an in depth look into the way machines are designed to create and retain gambling addicts to maximize profit. This book is for those who seek to understand the mind of gambling addicts and the workings of the gambling industry, and how those interplay to create the gambling addiction cycle. Whether the reader has or still has a gambling addiction and wants to understand what caused or causes it, has a close friend or family member with a machine gambling addiction, or just has an overwhelming curiosity of the psychology behind gambling addition, this book provides startling insight into the cycle.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim that Addiction by Design is a page-turner. It addresses video gaming gambling addiction in a detailed and rich way that no other gambling book has done before. They are compelled by the practical and philosophical questions about the players and the psychology behind individuals and machines designed to entrance and trap them.

2. Gripped By Gambling by Marilyn Lancelot

An Overview
Gripped By Gambling is an autobiographical memoir of Marilyn Lancelot's struggle with addiction. This isn't one of your typical gambling addiction stories. Lancelot began her nightmare by becoming addicted to alcohol, followed by prescription drugs and overeating, all which led to the most financially burdensome addiction – gambling. She first visited a casino in 1984 when she was 53 and continued to travel four hours to gamble every weekend for seven years. Her unhealthy cycle came to a climax when she was caught embezzling. She had been signing her employers' name to company checks to support her gambling. When she was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison, even her family was surprised to hear about her gambling addiction. After twenty years of recovery from gambling, Lancelot has written this memoir and her experiences to help other women gamblers. She has began Gambler's Anonymous meetings in her home town and local prison, where she especially seeks to help women, whose needs are often unaddressed at men's Gambler's Anonymous meetings.

Who This Book Is For
Women gamblers or those who know one are the target audience of this book. Sometimes what helps best in overcoming problems in gambling is to know you are not alone. The signs of gambling addiction are not unique to any individual – they are shared by all those who are overcoming problems of gambling addiction. Lancelot's book can help by sharing an example of where the road of gambling addiction takes you, so maybe you can learn from Lancelot's mistakes instead of making the same ones.

Highlights and Praise
Compulsive and pathological gamblers rave that this is the book that touched their heart and caused them to examine their own gambling addiction problems. Lancelot's account of recovery has inspired many to make the journey themselves. She proves that no matter how far and low the addiction has taken you, even to prison, there is hope for recovery. Readers also rave about how fast paced the book is and call it a page turner.

3. Gambling: Don't Bet On Itby Joyce B. Taylor-Marbury

An Overview
The story of a gambler, Gambling: Don't Bet On It is an in depth look at the experience of having a gambling addition. Joyce B. Taylor-Marbury tells her story and the twenty-five years she spent addicted to gambling. Her addiction led her to lie, cheat, and scheme to get money to support her habit, and she slowly began to realize that she couldn't stop. The cycle of winning and of not winning led to an obsession to desperately continue gambling, through whatever means necessary. Marbury finally began attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings and her recovery began. She claims she is still in recovery, even today.

Who This Book is For
If you are curious about what causes a gambler to continue gambling, if you've ever asked “why doesn't he or she just stop?” then this book is for you. Marbury gives readers an inside look into what it is like to fall into a cycle of gambling addiction and not be able to stop. Maybe you are a reader who doesn't consider your gambling a problem. Maybe it is just something you like to do on occasion, or more often than occasion. Marbury will show you the slow descent into addiction that you can not see coming until it is too late. Whether you gamble, admit to a gambling addiction, or love a gambler, this book will open your eyes to gambling addiction symptoms, the signs of gambling addiction, and the gambling addiction cure.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim the book is eloquent and honest about gambling addiction, the pain that comes from it, and the effort it takes to recover. They claim the book is not just for those looking for healing from gambling problems, but for anyone looking to read an emotionally intense story about healing. This memoir could be the encouraging and uplifting boost you need, whatever your addiction or pain.

4. A Day at a Time by Gamblers Anonymous

An Overview
A Day at a Time is the handbook for participants of Gamblers Anonymous. It is an essential recovery tool for compulsive and pathological gamblers. The book provides daily reflections and prayers meant to offer hope, support, and guidance every day of the year for those in recovery. It addresses the fears, struggles, and problems that those overcoming problems in gambling face on a daily basis, and encourages constant and dedicated growth and recovery. Each daily passage is packed with encouragement and support so readers can face whatever they are going through each day. Having a daily reminder of goals and positive thoughts to focus on is essential to the gambling addiction cure.

Who This Book Is For
A Day at a Time is an essential handbook for anyone on the path of recovery from a gambling addiction. This book, a staple at Gambler's Anonymous, is much like other Anonymous Anonymous daily reflections. It addresses issues all those who struggle with addiction face. For those recovering from a gambling addiction, it is essential, but those who struggle with other addictions or pain can also find benefit from this guide. Many of the passages can relate to anyone who struggles on a daily basis to maintain a focus and presence. Though all Anonymous Anonymous meetings have their own handbooks, the pathes to recovery are similar.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim that this handbook gives them encouragement no matter what they are going through or facing every day. It helps them feel less alone and give them the strength to continue on the path of recovery. It offers readers a complete self examination and helps them face their illness and addiction head on.

5. Addiction and Responsibility: An Inquiry into the Addictive Mind by Francis Seeburger

An Overview
Francis F. See burger, Ph.D., is a retired Professor of Philosophy from the University of Denver. He taught for forty-one years and wrote The Stream of Thought, Emotional Literacy: Keeping Your Heart, and also The Open Wound: Trauma, Identity, and Community. He also writes a blog called “Trauma and Philosophy.” Well qualified to talk about addiction, Seeburger writes about the addictive nature in all of us. Few of us have nothing in our lives that does not have some characteristic qualities of addiction. We often excuse our addictive behaviors when we see people who have bigger problems or addictions than us, saying “at least I'm not like that guy; I must not have a problem.” However, Seeburger argues it is more beneficial to ourselves to see the ways in which we really are like the addicts we claim to be above. Their experiences can help illuminate our own and help us see the addictions in ourselves, which in turn, makes it easier to address them.

Who This Book Is For
This book is for everyone, but especially those who know they face addictions and are trying to identify and address them. Dr. Seeburger knows it is better to know what you are facing than remain in denial, because when you do, you have a chance of recovering. Living in denial means there is no chance of recovery or change – only the possibility of intensifying the problem. Facing or admitting to addictions can seem scary, but what is scarier is letting one take over your life unseen, building until it is to big to handle alone.

Highlights and Praise
Readers love the way this book not only addresses addictive behavior, but addresses how addictive thinking produces this behavior. They claim the book is not easy reading and full of hard truths, but essential into understanding what is necessary for recovery.

6. Taking Back Your Life: Women and Problem Gambling by Diane Rae Davis Ph.D.

An Overview
Having a gambling addiction is tough, and being a woman with a gambling addiction adds an entire new layer of issues and pressure. There are more than five million women with gambling problems struggling today – just in the United States. As gambling venues, casinos, and online card rooms multiply, so do the number of addicts. Even women who seek assistance run into blocks due to the taboo of being a woman with a gambling problem. What many gambling support groups do not address are the social and cultural pressures that women face in addition to the addiction itself. Dr. Diane Rae Davis, an addiction expert presents information on preventing relapse, finding support groups, and healing relationships while in recovery.

Who This Book Is For
Taking Back Your Life is for any woman with an addiction, especially if the addiction is gambling. Davis gives women the support and the words they need to hear as they face this illness. She presents the steps necessary to take back control of their lives. If you are looking for methods and treatment to identify what makes you vulnerable to addiction, recognize the consequences of addictive behavior, and know how to begin recovering, this book is for you. It is full of techniques, tools, user-friendly guides, and gambling addiction stories of women who have gone through the same problems as you.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim the book describes exactly what the seductive slide into hopeless addiction is like, and how this compulsion to gamble uniquely affects women. They say the personal narratives and women's stories give them just the hope and strength they need to face their addiction head on and that it is a must read for anyone who finds themselves drawn to the casino to escape the stresses and anxieties of their lives.

7. Overcoming Your Pathological Gambling: Workbook (Treatments That Work) by Robert Ladouceur and Stella Lachance

An Overview
Robert Ladouceur and Stella Lachance are both psychologists at the School of Psychology at Universite Laval and have designed this workbook with a corresponding therapist guide that work together to form a complete package for overcoming problems in gambling. Meant to be used in conjunction with therapy, Overcoming Your Pathological Gambling helps readers to learn recovery skills for completely eliminating the need to gamble. Ladouceur and Lachance have spent over twenty years studying the psychology of gambling, and have compiled the treatments that are most effective in curing the gambling addiction. All the programs have been thoroughly researched and tested in clinical trials and include forms, worksheets, and assignments to keep readers' attention and engagement. Not only do they lay out specific techniques to use to control the urge to gamble, they help readers understand the truth of gambling games, and why they have developed an addiction.

Who Is This Book For
This book is for anyone who can not control their gambling. Once gambling has started taking over you life and you find it is disrupting relationships and work, it is difficult to stop alone. This workbook will aid you in your search for truth and freedom. Pathological gambling is greatly increasing in society. The problem not only comes from desires to escape from problems, but also from incorrect beliefs about gambling, and the feeling that you can control the outcomes. Gambling is designed to be addictive, and you are not alone in succumbing to its hold.

Highlights and Praise
Readers and participants with this workbook claim it is simple, but effective. It provides an understanding of the nature of the problem and tools to combat the compulsive behavior. The information presented is highly accessible to everyone, even those who do not understand pathological gambling, and produces direct benefits and results.

8. Born to Lose: Memoirs of a Compulsive Gambler by Bill Lee

An Overview
Bill Lee has written a memoir about his life, focusing on his gambling addiction and how it has affected him. He is a Chinese American who grew up in San Francisco Chinatown. In Born to Lose, Lee chronicles his forty year gambling addiction. He claims he was born to be a pathological gambler, being brought into a culture where many lose their children in bets. His gambling addiction began in third grade where he lost his baseball card collection and continued throughout his youth and adulthood until he forfeited everything he owned in Las Vegas at blackjack tables. His self esteem relied on winning and he became obsessed with money, losses validating his feelings of worthlessness and driving him to gamble more to win back his self value. He claims he would have bet his life if he had the opportunity. Hopeless, Lee turned to Gamblers Anonymous' Twelve Step program and began his 15 year journey to recovery. In the end, the memoir is one of hope. Recovery is possible, even for those as lost as Lee.

Who Is This Book For
Born to Lose is not only for those struggling with a gambling addiction, though they may greatly benefit from it, but it is for anyone looking for a story of overcoming addiction, loss, and rising from the bottom. Anyone who doubts that Twelve Step programs work should read this book. From compulsive pathological gambler who had lost everything to successful entrepreneur and writer, Bill Lee will convince anyone that Gamblers Anonymous can help.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim that Lee's memoir is compelling, easy to read, and encouraging. Those struggling with addiction themselves find hope in Lee's story of recovery, and those with family or friends who are pathological gamblers find a way to understand what they are going through and why the grip of gambling is so strong. They claim Lee tells the fascinating story with neither self pity or self glorification, but with hope.

9. The Gambling Addiction Client Workbook by Robert R. Perkinson

An Overview
Robert R. Perkinson is a licensed psychologist, Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and is the clinical director of Keystone Treatment Center in Canton, South Dakota. He specializes in treating alcoholics, addicts, and pathological gamblers. He has written numerous books and workbooks on curing addiction and attaining recovery. The Gambling Addiction Client Workbook is designed for patients to be a walkthrough of the recovery process of addiction. Treatment methods include skills training, medication, motivational enhancement, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. The course is a twelve step program that leads patients through exercises to help them reflect on the causes of their gambling problem.

Who Is This Book For
This workbook is intended for those looking to recover from gambling addiction. It is not just one of many gambling addiction help guides – it is a course designed by a leading expert in the field of addiction and recovery. It provides a patient set of exercises that leads addicts from the beginning of recovery to the end. Those looking for concrete and implementable tools for gambling addiction treatment should work through this book. Twelve step recovery programs are proven to work, and have many successful personal stories to prove it. It will help users to identify defects in the character that lead them to gamble, and give them told to prevent relapse.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim it caused them to take a hard look at themselves and their addiction, an essential part of recovery. It helps addicts to truly see their addiction and how it has taken over their lives. They claim reading it made them feel less alone in their pathological gambling. It is clear and honest about what addicts need to change.

10. Nicotine Dreams: A Story of Compulsive Gambling by Katie Cunningham

An Overview
Unlike many other gambling addiction stories, this one is fictionalized. Katie Cunningham, seeking to understand her own gambling compulsion and to find others with gambling addictions, she wrote a fictionalized account of her struggles with gambling and descent into gambling hell. The story is about Kim, an ordinary mother with two children and a husband she doesn't always get along with. At the beginning of the story, her vices are the stock market, shopping, and cigarettes. However, when a casino opens hear her house, her addiction to gambling begins. Her compulsion to play slots and power machines becomes so great, so will risk everything to continue.

Who Is This Book For
This book is for anyone who wants to learn more about gambling addiction, feel less alone in it, understand a loved one going through it, or just enjoys a well told and compelling story. The book depicts gambling addiction like none other. Unlike other memoirs and books about overcoming gambling addiction, instead of telling readers what it's like, Nicotine Dreams shows them. You will understand clearly how the addictive cycle unfolds and drags gamblers down into a hell they can not climb out of.

Highlights and Praise
Readers claim this is one of the most frightening and real depictions of pathological gambling that they have ever read. The psychological aspects of the book are real and compelling, the the writing is eloquent and compelling. Readers who have struggled with addiction find themselves relating to the book is terrifying and surprising ways, and those who know compulsive gamblers are able to understand the psychology behind the habit.