Spotlight on Gambling Addiction

Play puts spotlight on problem gambling

Students at Pauline Johnson Collegiate got a lesson in the risks behind gambling on Wednesday.

They got to watch 82%, a play about how a gambling addiction can destroy lives and relationships, which was staged at the Colborne Street high school courtesy of the Responsible Gambling Council. The council is an independent non-profit organization committed to problem gambling prevention.

The play was inspired by the growing popularity of poker and other forms of gambling. It follows the trials and tribulations of a first-year university student named Chris who becomes so obsessed with gambling that he steals from his best friend, Sean, to support his addiction.

"We've been performing this play all over Ontario, up north in Timmins and North Bay, and we've been in eastern Ontario, as well," said Rick Simm, who plays Sean. "Our whole focus is on prevention.

"We want to show students the risks and the harm that problem gambling can cause before it becomes a problem for them."

The play follows previous efforts including R U Up?, house of cards, Caught in the Game, Three of a Kind, and after the beep. It is based on submissions sent to the council's Flash Fiction program, which encourages students to communicate with their peers about risks associated with youth gambling.

The actors are young and they use language that would be used by high school and university-aged students. The play covers the most common signs that there is a problem, including thinking more and more about the game and skipping classes or work to gamble.

Other common signs include: spending more money to win back money that has been lost; lying to family and friends about gambling and expecting to make money from gambling.

Cathy Lihou-Perry, the head of guidance at Pauline Johnson, said that, while the play centres on youth gambling, it is also about addiction.

"Gambling isn't something that we'd hear about," she said. "But I can say that addictions are a problem for some students and what we're hearing a lot about these days is video game addiction."

In some cases, students become so addicted to video games they skip school to play video games.