Gamblers' brains similar to those of drug addicts

People prone to serious gambling show a similar pattern of brain activity to those who are addicted to drugs, according to new research. According to the researchers from the Universitäts-Krankenhaus Eppendorf (UKE) http://www.uke.uni-hamburg.de in Hamburg, Germany, this showed gambling was also a form of addiction. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, the parts of the brain which are active when people feel rewarded, curbing activity, are less so in those who take drugs or gamble to excess, the researchers say.