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.

  • socsa@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    I saw this shit crush people back when it was a legal grey area operated out of random sites in Bermuda and shit. The fact that it’s every other commercial during sporting events, and you can just scan a credit card to start an account, is a ticking time bomb in our society.

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      1 day ago

      It’s no different than when provincial gov’ts found lotteries and casinos were thee cash cow they needed to fund their tax coffers instead of taxing the rich … which is what should have been done.

      Privatize and tax the fuck of ALL forms of gambling and get the gov’t out of it.

  • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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    19 hours ago

    or maybe make life here more affordable and less miserable so people don’t seek out literally anything that will make them temporarily feel better or a risky bet on an easy way out

  • 4am@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Man I remember when the web was new online gambling was banned. When the fuck did we get paid off? We know this shit is bad.

  • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    What do Gambling, Social Media, Video Games, and Pornography all have in common?

    They aren’t the problem, Dopamine is.

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      24 hours ago

      Alright, just ban dopamine /s

      Your comment gives off serious “I am very smart” vibes

      • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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        23 hours ago

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

        • Laser@feddit.org
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          23 hours ago

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

              • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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                5 hours 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
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                  4 hours 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.

    • ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social
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      19 hours ago

      Ah yes, dopamine. The pop science final boss. Neurotransmitters are way more complex than this… Dopamine is responsible for some functions to do with the brains reward systems, but definitely not all, and it has LOTS of other functions in the brain and body.

      • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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        23 hours ago

        Capitalism simply gives people the dopamine they crave in whatever way they choose or are told they want to get it.

        • streetfestival@lemmy.ca
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          21 hours ago

          I think you mean commerce and marketing ‘give’ those things. Capitalism is about preserving financial wealth and dividing access to health and agency in regulating one’s dopamine (to use your pet metaphor) according to wealth

      • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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        23 hours ago

        How exactly is the “Corrupt and incompetent government” responsible for people getting addicted to something?

        • streetfestival@lemmy.ca
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          21 hours ago

          That’s an easy one. For example, by allowing the marketing or product to be unduly attractive to children

          • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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            5 hours ago

            How does one market something in a way that isn’t attractive to anyone between the ages of 0 and 17?

        • Nik282000@lemmy.ca
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          20 hours ago

          A total lack of regulation and a wold view so far behind reality that they cant even identify problems until years after they occur.

          • Arkouda@lemmy.ca
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            5 hours ago

            Why is the Government responsible for regulating an adult activity beyond age restricting that activity?