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.
What do Gambling, Social Media, Video Games, and Pornography all have in common?
They aren’t the problem, Dopamine is.
Alright, just ban dopamine /s
Your comment gives off serious “I am very smart” vibes
The point is not to ban anything simply because people are, or can become, addicted to it.
Neither alcohol nor tobacco are banned in Canada, and this is asking to put online gambling on the same level.
Gambling is already regulated in Canada.
Nobody claimed otherwise.
Dopamine is not the problem. Corrupt and incompetent government is.
How exactly is the “Corrupt and incompetent government” responsible for people getting addicted to something?
Nah, predatory capitalism is the problem
Capitalism simply gives people the dopamine they crave in whatever way they choose or are told they want to get it.