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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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