“Hello, my name is Stefan”. This is how a 27-year-old gambling addict begins his life story. He got in touch with the Council Tower to explain why the new law that bans “pizza” halls in towns with less than 15,000 inhabitants is not helping anyone. And to talk about a life that for several years has become a torment.
“I no longer have control or the power to make lucid decisions”
Ștefan says he has been playing since he was 12 years old and he understood that he was addicted three years ago. But he says that he cannot resist, and neither psychological counseling, nor family, nor friends, nor priests have helped him.
“I want to mention that I have been addicted to gambling for more than 12 years. 3 years ago I realized that I was in danger, until then I just played with my fate, because there were times when I lost and times when I still managed to get money, to pay off the accumulated debts.
3 years ago, I came to the conclusion that I’m sick, that I’m a pathological gambler, and I really don’t have control anymore, nor the power to make some lucid decisions anymore. I didn’t care about anyone or anything anymore, a bastard.
Effectively, I would go in and play until the last lei, after which I would start calling, borrowing money, I would lose those too, and there were many times when I ran out of money for food, cigarettes, not even 2 lei for bread I didn’t let myself. I ended up stealing from the house, I ended up being the biggest liar, I ended up cursing the day I was born and I was tired of how many times I promised my loved ones that I would stop and I woke up still there, at the “games”. I knew that what I was doing was not good and that I had let everyone down and everyone was suffering because of me, I knew that they ended up working for me to get me out of trouble with the loan sharks.
They are currently the same, nothing has changed. I tried for more than 3 years with the churches, after which I surrendered to the penitents. I called home 12 pastors to pray for me maybe I will escape. It did not work.
After that I ended up looking for information about addictions, to see where it comes from, but I still didn’t succeed,” he says.
He wants to be excluded and he can’t
Ștefan confesses that he has filed requests not to be admitted to the gambling halls in all the places where he used to go. He’s left with only one brand, which he says there was nothing they could do to stop them from taking him in.
“For a year I have banned myself from all the halls and casinos in the area where I live, because I have reached despair.
I ended up giving them my consent to have my picture, to recognize me in case I enter. I sent emails after emails to ONJN (no National Gambling Office), but they didn’t contact me, they gave me some answers completely outside of what I wanted them to do for me. To put me in the system, to not be able to enter any game room.
In the end, there were those from XXX (I have not anonymized the name of the company because until now I have not received a response from this institution), where I have access to enter and where I lost a lot of money this year. I also sent them emails, asked them to self-exclude me, sent them a request and nothing.
They say they don’t have the self-exclusion database, but it’s the only agency that doesn’t. Given that it is number 1 in Europe, they have self-exclusion only online. But they are not only active online, they also have agencies where people can physically enter there and no one legitimizes them.
As proof, I’ve been playing since I was 14 and now I’m 27″, explains Ștefan.
“I’m a taxi driver and I spent 36 hours in the car, all to get money, to get rid of loan sharks.
I have a girlfriend, but honestly, I don’t know how long she will accept me like this. He now gave me the rent money, because I had very high debts for both rent and utilities. After he left, I put them to the test and lost everything.”
Why is the “Law of Scammers” not good
Ștefan claims that the new law actually encourages gambling. He says that the problem was not in the villages, the people there either come to the city to play, because that’s where they usually have their jobs, or they don’t have money to spend on the “cheats”. In contrast, for the largest mass of players, those from the cities, nothing was done, he explains.
“The approved law for the removal of gambling halls from villages is fixed zero. The problem is not in the villages, that’s not where the players are.
The biggest problem is in big cities like Bucharest, Ploiesti, Sibiu, Brașov, Cluj and many others.
All the betting houses had to be removed from here, here they are everywhere, near the school, near the shops, near the pawnshops, everywhere there is a gambling hall and all people who are addicted are at risk of entering those halls.
The only solution to protect people is to stop advertising these games and move all Superbet, Fortuna and the rest of the small neighborhood halls out of town and make 1,000 machine casinos there if they want.
This is the only way the self-exclusion and ID scanning system will work before entering the gambling halls or big casinos,” says the young man.
He claims that the information according to which the players will take refuge online is not real.
“Online doesn’t attract me, it’s not the same thing. And all my acquaintances say the same thing. I like the atmosphere in a game room, there no one judges me, there I can be me. Everyone is like me there. Girls give me a drink, keep me company, listen to me and don’t ask me questions. And what’s more important, they don’t judge me”, explains Ștefan.
He says that the online mechanism is even more dangerous than the one in the “real” halls.
“Online you earn, let’s say 37,000 lei. But you can’t transfer this money on the spot, like you can do in games. If you won, you took the money and left. That you’re coming back, that’s part two, get me? In online, the money stays in your gaming account for 72 hours. Only then can you transfer them. During this time, no one but no one who is a player is waiting to collect them. It’s 30,000, you’re thinking of putting in 7,000, because you still won it for nothing, and so it remains a round figure. And after 10,000 you put another 10,000, to recover the first ones. Until you lose everything. In less than 3 hours, not 72 hours, which is their deadline,” he explains.
What does the “Law of Pedigrees” say
The law recently voted by the Parliament, prohibits the “pačanele” halls in localities with less than 15,000 inhabitants and was promulgated last week by the president Klaus Iohannis. Market operators had asked the president to request a review of the law by Parliament.
The law promulgated on Wednesday, April 17, by the president is to enter into force in ten days. That is, on April 27.
The fast way in which the law was passed in the Parliament caused reactions including among the politicians present at the vote on April 9, USR deputy Ionuţ Moşteanu accusing the governing coalition of hypocrisy.
“The scourge of gambling does not exist only in localities with 15,000 inhabitants. Scams are destroying millions of families from all over the country”, said USR deputy Diana Stoica, initiator of several bills on the topic.
This in the conditions where seven other laws, with wider effects on the industry, are making their way through the Parliament.
Over 80,000 slot machines operate in Romania. The exact number of gambling addicts is not known. A study carried out by the industry itself in 2016 indicated approximately 100,000 people, writes Europa Liberă.
Two of them were even initiated by the formations in the governing coalition, PNL and PSD.
One of the projects removes the gaming halls to the limits of all cities and municipalities in the country, and the other strictly prohibits gambling and betting advertisements in the audiovisual media.
Alfred Simonis says that those can also be approved urgently, but first the effect of the law just promulgated by the president must be seen.
“There are extremely many disputes, including that with paid licenses and rental contracts, some operators could not close. In 10 days I want to see if those rooms will remain open and if there are vulnerabilities that we will have to correct”, he says.
Psychologist: An addict is a person who experiences clinical distress
Psychologist Mihai Copăceanu claims that gambling has become normal in Romania. Out of 5 boys, definitely two have gambled at least once, and in every high school class someone has a classmate who is addicted to gambling, asks for loan money, has a lot of debt, can’t stop, is stigmatized and ashamed of his own addiction, he explains.
Gambling has a very high potential for addiction. If we start from this psychological truth, we can understand that a gambler who becomes addicted is a person who experiences clinical suffering, plays driven by impulses, cannot control himself, has repeated attempts to stop in despite losses on several levels, he has regrets, he is helpless, he plays despite negative consequences, he hides the truth, so he needs help and interventions.
Near Sibiu, at Șura Mică, there is a residential center where alcohol addicts and gambling addicts are treated. Unfortunately, in Romania, the number of those who end up in treatment and recovery is very small.
The number of addicts is particularly high also because we are facing an incredible growth of gambling halls everywhere, in every neighborhood, in every village and city in Romania.
We are talking about an impairment not only from a financial point of view, but especially an impairment of mental health, we are talking about depression and in serious cases of suicide and suicide attempts. The whole family suffers, from daily conflicts, aggression and high stress, to divorces.
In Romania, unfortunately, among young people, in recent years this practice has become normal. Out of 5 boys definitely two have played gambling at least once. In every high school class, someone has a classmate who is addicted to drugs, borrows money, has a lot of debt, can’t stop, is stigmatized and ashamed of his addiction. But in general we are talking about the normalization of gambling among young people, which represents a serious problem”, says Copăceanu.
He argues that the proximity of arcades encourages this addiction.
“The interventions are at the personal, individual and private level, but also at the societal level. One of the effective measures, in addition to strict regulation, is to reduce availability. The fewer games you have in the community (or none at all) the less you will play. Reducing the supply of gambling is an effective strategy for both the general population and at-risk or problem gamblers.
Certainly, the measure of banning in small communities has a role in preventing the suffering caused by gambling addiction, but how much it will influence, we cannot yet make estimates.
Australia, for example, has set up free advice lines that are available 24 hours a day where players can call and get help. Great Britain has developed national strategies to reduce the negative effects of gambling.
Some of the players will migrate online, but for some of them this is not an option, because they experience different emotional states when they enter a place where they play”, confirms Copăceanu, exactly what Ștefan said.
Photo source: Pixabay
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by Alin Bratu
Political
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