Youth realize gambling risk

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Posted 3 years ago

At the thought of addictions, those pertaining to drugs and alcohol often come to the forefront. We all know that dependency on drugs and alcohol have nasty physical effects, which is why some consider those to be among the worst addictions. Gambling addictions, however, can be just as bad.

Compulsive gambling may not be directly responsible for sending someone to the emergency room, but its effects can be far reaching nonetheless. With the recent surge in popularity of poker and online gaming, a number of success stories have been documented. One such case is Chris Moneymaker, the winner of the 2003 World Series of Poker. The former accountant transformed from an average Joe to a legend after gaining entry into the annual tournament from playing on the PokerStars website. But for every success story such as that of Moneymaker, there are countless numbers of gamblers who fall short of their dreams and come across some rough times.

A group of young volunteers from the Timmins Native Friendship Centre has identified gambling addictions as a major problem and is making it a point to steer youth clear from any such problem. As part of Youth Voices, a program that is funded by the Ministry of Health and Promotion, the group decided to take photos and put them on a poster to display the ill effects of gambling.

"There is a potential that this poster will also be distributed to all Friendship Centres across Ontario," said Shawn Roy from the Youth Gambling Awareness Program with the YMCA, which is helping to oversee the project. "The youth chose to use photography to express their thoughts on gambling and stigma in the Aboriginal communities."

According to gamblingwatch.ca, six per cent of the total population will most likely have gambling problems within their lifetime and addictions are more common among men, persons who have lower socioeconomic status and ethnic groups. Someone overtaken by the need to gamble normally exhibits most of the following signs:

* A lack of focus for more important tasks. Employees may choose to miss work, or students may choose to skip classes to gamble;

* Frequent arguments about gambling with friends and family;

* Gained the reputation as a "compulsive gambler;"

* Sees gambling as a solution to pay off debts and other financial difficulties;

* Borrows money to finance gambling activities;

* Is unable to take a loss and continues to gamble. Luckily, the group at the local Friendship Centre has

learned about the perils and hopes to share their realization with the community. A special ceremony will take place at the centre to celebrate the completion of the poster, which took two months to perfect. Various community agencies are invited to come and pick up free posters.

On a similar note, to create awareness of compulsive gambling, a group of children from St. Joseph School is putting together a carnival which will feature games of all kinds.

Some games will test the knowledge of participants with rewards at stake. All schools in the Northeastern Catholic District School Board in Timmins will be attending. The event takes place at O'Gorman High School.

While gambling may be a popular hobby, it's one thing to casually participate and another to spend every waking moment thinking about it. From the sound of it, however, the youth in Timmins have a leg up in identifying any cases, which is key in cutting losses.

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