Many people enjoy a good time in Las Vegas, Reno or other hot spots gambling at the casinos. While casino gambling may make a fun activity for a weekend away, other people rely on it as a way of life. They believe that by putting their money on the line, they are actually starting a wise investment. They hope to get a profit with card games or craps, and oftentimes come up short. There are times when a lucky individual will win big at a casino, but this is rare.

According to SMR Research Corporation, a study found that gambling may be the single fastest-growing motivation for bankruptcy. The research group noted that at least 20 percent of all gamblers in 1997 were forced to file bankruptcy because of the losses that they had incurred. In 1996, the University of Minnesota Medical School conducted a survey and noted that 21 percent of the people who participated had filed for bankruptcy. In this random sampling, 94 percent of the bankruptcy filers had at least one gambling-related problem in their life. 9 out of 10 of each of these individuals confessed that they had borrowed from a bank credit card companies, or loan company to finance their gambling habits. 77 percent noted that they had written bad checks in order to sustain their gambling hobby.

In 1999, the Kansas City Star was motivated to research the correlation between bankruptcy and gambling when a woman in the city gambled away $20,000 in short amount of time. The lady had been a successful sales representative in Kansas, and then began spending her profits at the casino riverboats. She had to declare personal bankruptcy when her fortune fell after continual bad luck in the casinos. She filed with $45,000 of debt resting on her shoulders. The newspaper found that 3.5 percent of all bankruptcies in the area were the result of a gambling problem, but the actual figures are probably higher. Most people did not want to admit that they were struggling because of a gambling addiction, and avoided the newspaper's questions on the subject.

A gambling economics professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas admits that gambling has a social cost. In 2002, bankruptcy filings shot up 34 percent in the state of Iowa, and credit counselors and bankruptcy experts linked almost 25 percent of all the filings to a gambling addiction. A government document on gambling notes that 20 percent or more of compulsive gamblers are forced to file bankruptcy, and 90 percent of all compulsive gamblers use a credit card to gamble. Harvard Medical School noted that about 1.3 percent of all Americans have a gambling disorder. In states where gambling is legal, the statistics for bankruptcy are often higher than in states which outlaw the practice.

When you have pressing debts to pay because of gambling addiction, a bankruptcy may be your only way out. You can discharge the debt by filing, but you may also be prosecuted for failing to satisfy your gambling marker within the proscribed amount of time. In Nevada, the limit is normally set at about 30 days. Because of this, even after discharging your debt with a bankruptcy, you may still face criminal charges and incur marks on your record. In the end, it is best to refrain from gambling when in a tight financial situation. Use gambling as an enjoyable hobby that is budgeted and calculated, not as a means to make money or create a needed profit. Gambling is a luxury, not a way of life. If you do not spend your money wisely and budget correctly, you may end up in a precarious situation and need to file for bankruptcy to satisfy your creditors.