In March the media reported that NLCB officials, in updating members of the Public Accounts Committee during a virtual meeting, stated that NLCB is “dealing with the challenges of gambling addiction and illegal gambling.” NLCB director Camille Forde said that NLCB was seeking to develop a responsible gaming programme.
Rachael Espinet’s Newsday article on Saturday May 1, entitled: “Gambling addiction is cause for concern in Trinidad and Tobago” shed some light on progress. Espinet was reporting on
NLCB’s virtual media launch of its responsible gaming campaign. NLCB has partnered with Garth St Clair, co-founder of a radio talk show programme called: Eye on Dependency, “to have anti-gambling addiction awareness raised on the talk show’s programmes.” At the media launch, St Clair highlighted the fact that gambling addiction is real in TT and is a cause for concern. He said the pandemic “further exposed gambling problems, particularly for those who had to work from home.”
The Catholic Catechism states that gambling, whether it involves games of chance (e.g., card games), wagers or betting, or even lotteries, is not intrinsically evil: “Games of chance (card games, etc) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant. “(#2413).
I am sure that many of you know persons who have become enslaved by gambling addiction. I recall allowing a friend and her two children to stay with me at my home in London years ago when her husband gambled their house in a poker game and lost. He beat her and broke her jaw in front of their children when she complained.
Addiction to gambling is a global problem. It affects more than just the gambler. The Mayo Clinic states that “Gambling can stimulate the brain’s reward system much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction. If you have a problem with compulsive gambling, you may continually chase bets that lead to losses, hide your behaviour, deplete savings, accumulate debt, or even resort to theft or fraud to support your addiction.
“Compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives. Although treating compulsive gambling can be challenging, many people who struggle with compulsive gambling have found help through professional treatment…compulsive gambling may result from a combination of biological, genetic and environmental factors.”
A compulsive gambler is often in denial that he/she is addicted to gambling, I you all to read about the symptoms, the risk factors, the complications that can arise, and about prevention.
The Mayo Clinic states:
“Although there’s no proven way to prevent a gambling problem, educational programs that target individuals and groups at increased risk may be helpful. If you have risk factors for compulsive gambling, consider avoiding gambling in any form, people who gamble and places where gambling occurs. Get treatment at the earliest sign of a problem to help prevent gambling from becoming worse.”
On March 13, 2019, Rob Davies reported in the UK Guardian: “People with a gambling problem are 15 times more likely to take their own life, according to the largest study of its kind, prompting calls for swifter action by the government to tackle betting addiction. Academics at Lund University, Sweden, monitored more than 2,000 people with gambling disorders, finding a significantly elevated risk of suicide among participants compared with the general population over an 11-year period.
“The study found that suicide rates increased 19-fold among men between the ages of 20 and 49 if they had a gambling problem and by 15 times among men and women of all ages. The authors of the research said that while the causes of suicide were complex and likely to involve more than one factor, their work indicated gambling disorders were associated with far higher than average rates of suicide.”
Newsday reported that The Emmanuel Community (Tel: 628 1064), The Rebirth House and Serenity Place Empowerment Centre for Women (Tel: 466-3166) are the NGOs Eye on Dependency are working with to support helping those with gambling addiction. “Posters for the contact numbers of these facilities will be hung at all NLCB outlets.” If you require counselling and addiction treatment services or know someone who does, contact the NGOs at the numbers above.
