Ignoring Costs!

Ignoring the Costs of Gambling Addiction is universal.....

Study suggests more money could be saved with tighter regulations

Prague, Oct 9 (ČTK) — According to a study by the Psychiatric Center Prague, coping with the consequences of gambling costs the Czech Republic 14 to 16 billion Kč annually, while 2 to 5 billion Kč could be saved with an effective regulation of gambling machines, daily Lidové noviny (LN) writes today.

The authors of the study included in the calculation not only the state's costs of treatment of gambling addicts, but also money spent on exacting debts, court fees and the cost of police interventions, suicides and social benefits paid to those who lose their job over addiction, LN writes.

It writes that lottery companies are critical of the calculation method. They say some 1,500 gamblers are being treated in the country, while there are 10 times more alcoholics, which makes it difficult to precisely calculate the costs.

National anti-drug coordinator Jindřich Vobořil also takes a reserved stance on the study, but he concedes that the calculations of lottery companies are problematic as well, LN writes.

The Finance Ministry will present a new bill on gambling today. It is expected to largely tighten the rules for operating gambling machines, while Internet lotteries may be legalized.

LN writes that the study it releases today is unique in this country, and that similar calculations are not common abroad.

The study authors refer to is from an Australian government research team that attempted to make this calculation at the end of the 1990s.



http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/41985-gambling-consequences-cost-czechs-16-billion-crowns-a-year