These are the 20 Questions asked by Gamblers Anonymous.  I am posting them following a request in the groups this evening.

Q1: Do you lose time from work or school due to gambling? Yes No

Q2: Is gambling making your home life unhappy? Yes No

Q3: Is gambling affecting your reputation? Yes No

Q4: Have you ever felt remorse after gambling? Yes No

Q5: Do you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties? Yes No

Q6: Does gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency? Yes No

Q7: After losing do you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses? Yes No

Q8: After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more? Yes No

Q9: Do you often gamble until your last pound has gone? Yes No

Q10: Do you ever borrow to finance your gambling? Yes No

Q11: Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling? Yes No

Q12: Are you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures? Yes No

Q13: Does gambling make you careless of the welfare of your family? Yes No

Q14: Do you gamble longer than you had planned? Yes No

Q15: Do you ever gamble to escape worry or trouble? Yes No

Q16: Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling? Yes No

Q17: Does gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? Yes No

Q18: Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create an urge within you to gamble? Yes No

Q19: Do you have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling? Yes No

Q20: Have you ever considered self-destruction as a result of your gambling? Yes No

At GA they say that “Most compulsive gamblers answer Yes to at least 7 of these questions.  I would actually disagree –  in hindsight I can say that I was a compulsive gambler when i was answering yes to just ONE of those questions.  At that stage though the problem hadn’t progressed enough to notice/want to do anything about it.  I guess 7 yeses means people start noticing the problem.

This problem is progressive; if you answer yes to some of these questions and continue to gamble then please bear in mind that your “No” answers should probably be changed to “No, not yet!”