As the gambling industry continues to grow globally with the rise of online gambling, a recent report from the medical journal The Lancet’s commission on gambling calls is calling on governments to approach gambling as a public health issue.

Malcolm Sparrow, one of the authors of the report, says this will put gambling in the same category as alcohol and tobacco, which are identified by the World Health Organization as issues of the public interest.

Statistics Canada estimates that in 2018, nearly two-thirds of Canadians gambled in the past year. The data estimates that about 300,000 Canadians were at moderate-to-severe risk of developing a gambling problem, where gambling starts to negatively affect a person’s life.

  • Arkouda
    18·
    1 month ago

    The point is not to ban anything simply because people are, or can become, addicted to it.

    • Laser@feddit.org
      6·
      1 month ago

      Neither alcohol nor tobacco are banned in Canada, and this is asking to put online gambling on the same level.

      • Arkouda
        19·
        1 month ago

        Gambling is already regulated in Canada.

          • Arkouda
            11·
            30 days ago

            Neither alcohol nor tobacco are banned in Canada, and this is asking to put online gambling on the same level.

            If this is asking for gambling to be on the same level as alcohol and tobacco, does that not imply gambling isn’t on the same regulatory level as the others?

            • Laser@feddit.org
              11·
              30 days ago

              Exactly. They’re all regulated. But gambling (addiction) is not an official “public health issue”. As the linked paper states:

              First, gambling is a public health issue. In setting policy, governments should give priority to protecting health and wellbeing over competing economic motivations.

              It’s not a call to start regulating gambling, but to change the way to look at it and act accordingly.

              • Arkouda
                2·
                30 days ago

                Gambling regulation in all countries, regardless of legal status, to reduce exposure and availability of gambling, provide affordable and universal support and treatment for gambling harms, and to de-normalize gambling.

                Looks like it is exactly a call to start regulating gambling to me.

    • Infomatics90English
      11·
      28 days ago

      right, so instead of killing the problem at the root, we just allow it to flourish and nip off the bad buds over and over even if that doesn’t fix the issue…

      • Arkouda
        1·
        28 days ago

        This isn’t killing the problem at the root.

        The root of the problem is a complete lack of care for people with addictions and mental health issues. No amount of regulation will help the root when it does not involve increase addictions and mental health care spaces.

        • Infomatics90English
          1·
          28 days ago

          So you believe that it was a good move to legalise online gambling in Ontario? I agree with your statements on other things but people who I knew who would never gamble are now doing it with all these platforms available to bet on.