Daily Lessons from Life 20 July 2010 - Number of problem gamblers increased from 2008 to 2009

"Number of problem gamblers increased from 2008 to 2009 - Tue, Jul 20, 2010 AsiaOne

The number of problem gamblers referred to the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) increased from 2008 to 2009, but this is not unexpected, said the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sport, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, in a written response at Parliament.

Families and individuals opting for exclusion orders from entering gambling facilities at the integrated resorts have also increased.

Dr Balakrishnan explained that the numbers reflect the greater awareness of the exclusion orders following NCPG's public education efforts. Family members and individuals have also been proactive since the casinos opened."

It is not unexpected to have more gamblers with the opening of 2 casinos in Singapore. In fact, I expect to read about some tragedies due to some 'new' gamblers being sucked into the deep end of the undesirable consequence of addiction to gambling.

Lessons for me are:

1. the casinos were opened with a clear social cost being built into the economic analysis for sure. The question is: how much do you priced a broken family or marriage or death when gambling become an addiction to the 'newly' initiated gamblers due to the promixy of the casinos?;

2. hopefully the government's economists have budgetted enough fund to take care of those who lost themselves in gambling and prevent them from killing themselves or their loved ones or to become thieves or robbers or cheats to fund their gambling addictions. Having said that, I also realized that this government is NOT into taking responsibility for gambling addiction by the gamblers as the gamblers, and their loved ones, are supposed to be responsible for their own woes. The governmet will only step in when the gamblers are really in the dump. This is good as we want to promote 'individual personal responsibilty'. The challenge is: it sounded like a convenient argument to resolve oneself from responsibility of one who placed tempations in front of the 'would be' gamblers;

3. in the cold commercial world, as long as the casinos produced more economics benefits for the country as a whole, the government will have to pursue this course of action. It is the greater picture vs. the micro/individual cases. The conclusion is foregone.

May the casinos truly generate more benefits for more Singaporeans vs. destroying some lives of some Singaporeans who become addictive to gambling!

Good luck to everyone who try gambling as a relaxing pursuit and those who may become addictive!