Gambling to increase over Xmas

Johannesburg - A slight increase in gambling over the festive season is expected, as consumers treat it as just another form of entertainment, the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) said on Thursday.

Only about 0.5 percent of the South African adult population had severe gambling problems, and their situation could become aggravated by Christmas bonuses, which made additional spending on discretionary items more accessible, executive director Peter Collins said in a statement.

The NRGP's toll-free counselling line dealt with about 500 problem gambling inquiries a month and referred about 100 problem gamblers for free treatment.

Collins said research this year had shown casinos were less likely to be associated with problem gambling than illegal and informal gambling. The latter included games like Fafi, dice and cards, frequently played in and around illegal shebeens, especially by the unemployed.

Casino gambling was relatively expensive and not as easily accessible by poorer South Africans, those most likely to get into financial difficulty.

Internet gambling was not yet a visible problem, but Collins said there were concerns about access to inadequately regulated foreign-based sites as technology became more widely available and user-friendly.

International and local research showed that an increase in spend on gambling during the festive season closely tracked that of other entertainment options and for the most part, this was harmless entertainment.

Collins said gambling could become a problem when people believed certain rituals or superstitions could bring them good luck, or when they had false beliefs about how gambling operated. He advised gamblers to stick to a budget.

"Many people don't understand the laws of probability or how random numbers are generated in a slot machine or on a roulette table. They do not realise that systems and formulas can never guarantee success, but only create an illusion of control," he said.

- Sapa