{"id":209983,"date":"2022-04-20T06:04:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T13:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=209983"},"modified":"2022-04-20T10:15:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T17:15:27","slug":"entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming Entrepreneur Quits, Launches Platform to Help Problem Gamblers"},"content":{"rendered":"

QuitGamble.com<\/a> is a web platform and mobile app that offers support and counseling for people with problem gambling. It\u2019s also a growing community of 400-plus members, where people can discuss their problems and share their stories.<\/p>\n

\"QuitGamble\"
The QuitGamble app. Bergman hopes that one day it will become a tool that will tackle all forms of addiction. (Image: QuitGamble)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Its founder, Anders Bergman, says he wanted to create a platform that tackles addiction using modern mobile technology, offering an alternative to traditional support groups.<\/p>\n

But what makes Bergman different is that he previously ran his own online gambling business.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Swede tells Casino.org<\/em> he always wanted to change the world for the better, but he didn\u2019t quite know how. He just knew he needed money to do it. And that\u2019s how he ended up working in the online gambling industry in Malta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bergman\u2019s younger brother, Erik, had made a big splash<\/a> in the affiliate sector, and suggested Anders try his luck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun, it\u2019s easy money,\u201d Erik promised.<\/p>\n

Stop the Train<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But life in Europe\u2019s primary online gambling hub wasn\u2019t all it was cracked up to be. Bergman launched his own affiliate company in 2014 and worked hell for leather for four years. By 2018, he was burned out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did OK,\u201d the relaxed, chatty, workaholic told Casino.org<\/em> via Zoom. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t call it easy money. It was a stress, a hassle. My workforce got the salary, but I got the losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2018, I worked 300 hours a month, lost a lot of money, and I felt like I was driving my train into a wall. So, I stopped the train. I\u2019d had enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the plane home to Sweden, Bergman wondered what he would do next. A friend and traveling companion gave him the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said you should do something for people with [gambling] problems instead. And that sparked something in me, because I had never thought about it before.<\/p>\n

In my previous business, you wouldn\u2019t see the people who are affected by gambling,” Bergman says. “You might see a code for someone gambling, but you don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a man, a woman, if they\u2019re in Germany or the UK. You just want that number to be as high as possible.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSo, around Christmas 2018, I started thinking about what I could do for people instead. I had a knowledge of the industry that many people working in problem gambling don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Understanding Addiction<\/h2>\n

Bergman was inspired by British-Swiss writer and journalist Johann Hari, who has written extensively about drug addiction. But it was a 2015 TED talk by Hari titled Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong <\/em>that particularly caught his attention.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Anders
Anders Bergman, pictured, believes that pain is the cause of addiction, and addiction is a mechanism that helps us hide pain. (Image: QuitGamble)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe said the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it\u2019s \u2018reconnection,\u2019\u201d Bergman says. \u201cAnd that struck a chord with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergman studied hard and began to feel that people become addicted to escape from reality. Most of us have pain of some kind, whether it\u2019s stress or loneliness or boredom, low self-esteem, or even physical pain. Pain is the cause of addiction, according to Bergman, and addiction is a defense mechanism that helps us hide pain.<\/p>\n

What happens when you gamble?\u201d <\/strong>he asks. \u201cIs it creating a moment of peace, time when nothing else matters? Perhaps that\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard to quit. Instead of talking about the consequences of gambling for an individual, I\u2019m trying to understand what it does for the individual. Something happens in the moment you gamble. It all starts there. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI have built different modules, video courses, targeting different kinds of pain that might lead people to addiction. Some people gamble because they\u2019re lonely,” continues Bergman. “But many also don\u2019t feel lonely. There are other reasons. And then loneliness may be just one factor \u2013 there may be other things that you need to work on. But if we can target one at a time, I believe we can actually help people free themselves from their addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at support groups and there are people there who say they have been gambling on and off for 40 years, or people who have not gambled for years but say they are still gambling addicts, which means they\u2019re not free. But if we can target these areas that currently cause pain, we can create happier people, and happier people are more resistant to addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Regrets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Casino.org<\/em> wonders whether, on some level, guilt played a part in Bergman\u2019s desire to create QuitGamble. But he insists he has no negative feelings towards the gambling industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not. I still believe in personal responsibility,\u201d he says. \u201cNaturally, I don\u2019t like the idea of gambling companies targeting those they know are weak. I tried my best when I worked in the gambling industry. I tried to create a website with the best information and to be as honest as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergman says his primary goal is not to make money from the app, which is largely self-funded, but first to conquer problem gambling. Then he wants to use the tool to tackle other forms of addiction.<\/p>\n

Because he came from the industry, \u201cGambling was just a good place to start,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

QuitGamble.com is a web platform and mobile app that offers support and counseling for people with problem gambling. It\u2019s also a growing community of 400-plus members, where people can discuss their problems and share their stories. Its founder, Anders Bergman, says he wanted to create a platform that tackles addiction using modern mobile technology, offering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":209991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEntrepreneur Quits Gambling Industry, Builds Problem Gambling App<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anders Bergman launched problem gambling support app QuitGamble.com after working in the online gambling industry in Malta.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Entrepreneur Quits Gambling Industry, Builds Problem Gambling App\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anders Bergman launched problem gambling support app QuitGamble.com after working in the online gambling industry in Malta.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-20T13:04:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-20T17:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/quit-gamble-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1239\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/\",\"name\":\"Entrepreneur Quits Gambling Industry, Builds Problem Gambling App\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/quit-gamble-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-20T13:04:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-20T17:15:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Anders Bergman launched problem gambling support app QuitGamble.com after working in the online gambling industry in Malta.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/entrepreneur-quits-gambling-industry-builds-app-to-aid-problem-gamblers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/quit-gamble-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/quit-gamble-1.jpg\",\"width\":1239,\"height\":712,\"caption\":\"The QuitGamble app. Bergman hopes that one day it will become a tool that will tackle all forms of addiction. 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