Is gambling becoming a problem?
A private 2-minute self-assessment. Your answers stay on your device.
It can be hard to tell when gambling has crossed the line from something you enjoy into something that has started running you.
Maybe you’re betting more than you planned. Going back to win losses back. Moving money around to keep going. Not mentioning how much you’re down. Or telling yourself you’ll stop after one more.
This short assessment can give you a clearer picture.
About this assessment
This uses the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a nine-question screening measure developed by Jackie Ferris and Harold Wynne. Answer each question thinking about your gambling over the past 12 months.
Your results are not a diagnosis of Gambling Disorder. The purpose is to help you see whether your gambling may warrant a closer look.
What your PGSI score means
The Problem Gambling Severity Index asks about gambling behavior and its consequences over the previous twelve months. Each of the nine questions is scored 0 to 3, so total scores run from 0 to 27.
| Score | Classification | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No problems indicated | No gambling-related problems reported on this screen |
| 1–2 | Low risk | Some risk, few or no identified consequences |
| 3–7 | Moderate risk | Risk with some negative consequences |
| 8–27 | Problem gambling | Consequences and likely loss of control |
A higher score doesn't mean you're beyond help, and a low score doesn't mean gambling can never become a problem for you. What the score is good at is telling you whether the pattern you've been privately wondering about is showing up in a way other people would recognize.
A screening tool is not a diagnosis
The PGSI is a screening measure designed for general-population surveys. It was built to estimate how common gambling problems are and to flag people who may benefit from a closer look. It was not built to diagnose anyone.
Gambling Disorder is a clinical diagnosis with its own criteria, and making it requires an actual clinical assessment — a conversation with a licensed clinician about your history, your circumstances, and what else is going on in your life. A number on a webpage can't do that.
What the number can do is give you something concrete to bring to that conversation.
Gambling problems don't always look like a casino addiction
Most of the people I work with have never had a problem in a casino. The gambling happens on a phone, usually alone, often late at night.
- Sports betting and online sportsbooks
- Live and in-game betting
- Online casino games and slots
- Poker
- Daily fantasy sports
- Table games and casino gambling
- High-risk trading in stocks, options, or crypto that has taken on gambling-like characteristics
The form matters less than the pattern. Someone refreshing an options position every ninety seconds and someone chasing a parlay are frequently doing the same thing with different apps.
Chasing is the pattern I see most
A loss creates an urge to get back to even. So the next bet isn't really about entertainment anymore — it's about repairing the last one.
Then that bet loses too, and now there's more to repair. The stake goes up because the hole got deeper. The odds get longer because a small win no longer solves anything.
Chasing is why a gambling problem can go from manageable to serious in a matter of weeks rather than years.
It also explains something people find genuinely confusing about themselves: why they can be completely sincere about quitting on Sunday night and back on the app by Wednesday. The intention was real. The chase just has more pull than the intention does, and willpower alone is a bad tool against it.
When is it worth talking to someone?
You don't have to wait until you've lost everything, and you don't have to call yourself an addict first. Consider reaching out if you notice yourself:
- Repeatedly promising yourself you'll stop, then starting again
- Chasing losses
- Hiding bets, losses, or transfers from a partner
- Deleting the apps and reinstalling them
- Checking scores, markets, or balances compulsively
- Borrowing money, using credit, or moving money around to keep gambling
- Feeling anxious, ashamed, or depressed about losses
- Drinking or using substances while gambling
- Putting a relationship, a job, or savings at risk
- Believing one large win would fix the problem
The size of the financial loss is a poor measure of severity. Someone down two thousand dollars can be in far more trouble than someone down twenty thousand. The better question is how much room gambling is currently taking up — in your attention, your finances, and your honesty with the people close to you.
How gambling therapy actually works
I'm Chris Beerman, MSW, LCSW, CADC. I provide specialized therapy for adults struggling with gambling — sports betting, online gambling, casino gambling, and high-risk trading — in person in Logan Square and online throughout Illinois and Minnesota.
Treatment isn't being told to stop. You already know you could stop; that's usually not the part that's stuck.
We work on the cycle underneath: what triggers the urge, how you get access to money, what the secrecy is protecting, the thinking that makes the next bet feel reasonable, and what gambling is regulating emotionally. Then we build a plan that fits your actual life — including practical barriers between you and the money, because insight alone rarely holds up against a phone.
Start with a free 15-minute consultation. You don't need to have it figured out first.
Need support right now?
Free, confidential support is available 24/7.
Illinois · 1-800-GAMBLER National · 1-800-MY-RESETIn Illinois you can also text GAMB to 833234. The national line takes calls and texts, with chat at 1800myreset.org. If you are in a mental health crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
About the PGSI
The Problem Gambling Severity Index is the nine-item screening component of the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, developed by Jackie Ferris and Harold J. Wynne.
Its developers note that the PGSI was created as a screening tool for population health research and was never intended as a diagnostic instrument. Using it to screen — as this page does — is its appropriate use.
Reproduced and scored with the permission of Harold J. Wynne. This assessment is provided free of charge, as that permission requires.
Ferris, J., and Wynne, H. J. (2001). The Canadian Problem Gambling Index. Final Report. Ottawa: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
This self-assessment is provided for educational and screening purposes only. It does not constitute a diagnosis, medical advice, or a therapist-client relationship. If you are in crisis, contact 988 or your local emergency services.