Today in Campania the day dedicated to raising awareness of problem gambling.
For the occasion, the Campania Region Observatory on the phenomenon was presented.
The General Director of ASL Salerno and President of Federsanità Campania opened the proceedings, Gennaro Sosto.
“The region – said Sosto – today we spend on a strong message. In this sense, an Observatory was created about a year ago and today, after the first year, it is important to underline the work carried out because the numbers give us indications, very strong messages. Gambling pathology has become one of the important issues to follow in Campania and there are numbers that make it clear that attention needs to be paid. In recent months I have approached ASL with initiatives to raise awareness among our population, because in the province of Salerno we have a high incidence of the phenomenon, the highest compared to the other provinces in the region. But the fact that struck me most is the value of the collection on a national scale figure higher than the national health expenditure. We have a collection figure that is close to 136 billion and a public health expenditure figure that stands at around 131 billion.”
The General Director also recalled during his speech that the ASL Salerno is committed to guaranteeing help to people suffering from gambling addiction, a an example is the structure in Sant’Arsenioamong the few in the South that offers a dual diagnosis for patients who have a particular complexity of gambling disorder.
The activities were then illustrated by the president of the Observatory, Dr Aniello Baselice.
“Our peculiarity – Baselice stated – is to build paths together, considering that in recent years system work has also started on possible solutions and projects to propose to the Region and institutions. This makes us understand how this is not just a formal moment of restitution for quite intense work. Every month we have our comparison period interspersed with different projects. There is one thing in particular that strikes us. Until the lockdown, physical play it was the privileged terrain of enthusiasts and online gambling was being launched but not particularly aggressive. The lockdown certainly spilled the habits of Italians onto the internet and we had a reversal of the trend: online gaming began to be more profitable in that period. This makes us understand that regulation on the network still needs to be studied. There are considerations to be made in that no man’s land that is online gaming today, especially the payout, i.e. a return on winnings which is greater online. The problem with young people and minors is that they receive a lot of attention from virtual platforms for their digital unscrupulousness. We therefore need to work in terms of engagement and prevention. And even more important are the skills to be attributed to family, educators and school”.
Regarding the situation in Campania: and the first region in Italy for online turnover with 10 million euros; first region for number of gaming accounts opened; it is the second region for the collection of physical gaming, in first place is Lombardy. On average in 2021 each Campanian spent 2,460.8 euros between physical and online bets. And again, among the records, certainly not positive, Campania appears the highest prevalence of “gambling” gambling in the youth population and the highest spending on online betting, poker and slots.
Among Campania’s favorite games are slots, new slots, video lotteries for which 1,531 million euros were wagered, followed by Lotto, lotteries and sports betting and finally virtual betting, Bingo and horse racing betting.
At the provincial level Salerno has an unenviable record: every citizen plays on average 2,633.19 eurosfollowed by Naples with 2,590 euros and Caserta with 2,555.98 euros.
Campania also has the highest number of users followed by public services for gambling disorder compared to the rest of the more developed regions in the area. For the player, then, treatment and reintegration of the player’s socio-economic condition into the family should not be underestimated.
“The Campania model – Baselice underlined – it is what we can activate to improve the care of patients currently followed by our institutes and which allows us to develop the early interception network. Training regarding online assistance for players is also essential. We as the Observatory this year have been interested in what the answers could be, we are supporting the development of a toll-free number that every citizen of Campania can access. A proposal that this number be implemented with a national service open 24 hours a day to guarantee support for families with people at risk.”
The President of the Campania Region spoke for the conclusions Vincenzo De Luca: “The feeling I have is that we have a national company which is truly in the balance. If we add to all this the explosion of social media and the difficulty of controlling the penetration of social media into the lives and education of young people and the lowering of the age of sexualisation of the young generations, we have an image of a society at risk of decline, of suffering. The consequences are then dramatic. The phenomena of isolation of young people are growing and elements of compromise with criminal organizations are growing, episodes of violence are multiplying. The problem is a bit like this: we are at a crossroads of a fundamental choice, that is, which society we want to build and how much social suffering we are willing to tolerate. After the approval of the gaming law we have developed various experiences and theObservatory carries out valuable work. This makes us proud and motivates us to move forward. On the management front, you have heard the figures on gaming and betting, we are talking about enormous interests, starting with the State, which needs gaming to raise cash. Even in the territories, the interests that move around the topic of games and betting are enormous. The intervention of the Municipalities is also needed but the Local Social Plans do not deal with problems related to gambling. Here we must implement integrated projects to make an extra effort and attempt to govern this phenomenon. In Campania we need to carry out a good information campaign, because this issue still remains too under the radar. The theme is dramatic and dangerous for very young people, out of control by the families themselves. Because of this – underlined De Luca – information on the risks that also exist in games and betting is fundamental”.
In conclusion, De Luca highlighted the focus on the Sant’Arsenio care center which will see the doubling of beds in June and which carries out important work for the recovery of patients addicted to gambling, drugs and alcohol. “We have a structure that will be strengthened and which is a concrete response for intervention in extreme cases” stated the President of Campania.
