I recalled that gambling stimulates dopamine release in the brain, a
trait shared with, among other things, alchohol, cigarettes, marijuana,
addictive drugs, falling in love, and sex. The sensation is
pleasurable, and causes short term happiness.

[However, there is an important distinction between gambling, and alcohol,
cigarettes, marijuana, addictive drugs and sex (setting aside "falling in love"
because it is full of too many hidden factors). The latter cause a direct
physiological production of dopamine with respect to which the body/mind has
only indirect control. However, even here by dwelling on the negatives of such
activities, one can still moderate the production of dopamine (which is
precisely the mechanism of ridding oneself of long term harmful but short term
pleasurable habit). OTOH, the pleasurable sensation of the former, gambling, has
no direct physiological component but is *totally* under the control of the mind
of the person performing that activity (never mind that s/he may have a
psychological personality that is prone to enjoy gambling). For example,
gambling would not be pleasurable to me specifically *because* I know that it is
an activity (a negative sum exchange) that by its very nature is not optimal for
increasing my lifetime happiness. I would much rather spend my time at any
number of other activities - eg high energy dancing, from which I would get much
more dopamine production from both the direct physiological effect of the
exercise and the mental enjoyment of the motion and the music. --Paul]


A pubmed search of
"gambling dopamine" elicited a long list of abstracts. A quick perusal
leads me to think chronic gambling (and other risky behaviors) are
related to a genetic pecularity (D2 Taq1A allele, perhaps others) that
results in higher fluctuations in dopamine levels than is usual: Such
"pulsile dopinergic abnormalities" wherein the short-term dopamine
reward stimulus overwhelms the anticipatory reward system. Subjects
indulge in behavior that offers short term happiness, but a disregard
for longer term consequences and effects.

[This only described the *mechanism* of the addiction. It does not imply any
impossibility to change. As I described above, this is no different than any
other "bad" habit, particularly those bad habits which have *only* a mental
component rather then any autonomous physiological component. No matter what
one's genetic makeup, they can all be overcome and beneficially modified once
one has understood and accepted the fact that they are harmful to one's lifetime
happiness. --Paul]


So can gambling contribute to an individual's overall happiness?
Perhaps, in moderation only, and depending on one's genetic makeup.
Given the list of other dopinergic stimulants, I would be cautious.

[Since the overall effect of gambling is negative sum without the enjoyment of
it for its own sake alone, whereas productive exchanges are positive sum
precisely because the results directly benefit the lives of participants in some
absolute sense - they promote life, I maintain that gambling should not
contribute to the overall happiness of any rational person. What I meant by this
is that any rational person would not include gambling among those activities
that optimally increase his lifetime happiness. --Paul]


Richard Kaufman aka Max Watt