No Rise in Problem Gambling

August 26 - Contrary to the message that anti gambling groups are trying to get across regarding the so called dramatic rise of problem gamblers in South Africa, the National Responsible Gambling Program (NRGP) has reported that that that number of problem gamblers has remained constant since 2005.

According tot he NRGP, less than one percent of adults suffer from 'problem gambling' as a result of their wagering habits.

"Over 95 percent of the adult population experiences no problems of any kind," said the Executive Director of the NRGP, Prof. Peter Collins. "About 0.5 percent experience very severe problems and about a further four percent more or less mild problems."

A comprehensive study was undertaken among over 3000 adults in South Africa and the results were released by the NRGP this week.

"It was also clear from the study that, contrary to popular belief, regular casino players are no more likely to become problem gamblers than those who regularly participate in other forms of gambling," said Collins. "On the other hand there is a high correlation between becoming a problem gambler and playing informal or illegal games."

Prof. Collins also dispelled another myth that South Africans were turning more to gambling activities as recession set in.

"Contrary to popular belief," he said, "people don't tend to gamble more in the hope of getting out of financial difficulty. On the contrary, they tend to gamble less because they have less to spend regularly on entertainment. This is well documented in relation to gambling revenues around the world, both past and present."

Slot machine play at land casinos dropped from 13.9% in a similar study done in 2005, to just 3.7% in 2008.

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