Deadly gambling

“I began to play when I was still a kid. Then I dropped it because I got married and had children. When they grew up, I got to it again. My wife abandoned me, my parents died, and I remained alone. Playing a slot machine is my only comfort: when the reel is spinning, I forget about everything else. I don’t care about a nagging wife, wayward children, and office problems — there’s none left.” This is what a man next to me at the Jackpot casino told me. It was he who started the conversation. Watching the player for a long time, I noticed that he was nervous, slow-thinking, and erratic. He was also spewing out some ideas of his and trying to teach me right from wrong.

Five to eight percent of people in the new millennium have fallen hostage to gambling. They incline towards recklessness and will not stop short of stealing and robbing. The achievements of humankind can do good as well as harm. For example, in 1895 a mechanic, Charles Fey, invented a machine consisting of three consecutive disks with figures inscribed on them and named it “Bell of Independence”. He saw to it that the chances of a player to gather a required combination of symbols are absolutely unpredictable and obey the law of random numbers, while total winnings depend on the program installed in the machine. That was the beginning of the gambling era, which has also reached Ukraine.

The year 2006 saw the beginning of an all-out attack on the gambling business, one of the major segments of entrepreneurship. But this produced no results: the gambling areas became money-laundering lagoons to which the powers that be, Ukrainian nouveaux riches, and lower-level people flock in search of fun.

An estimated 5,000 plus entities of the gambling business are operating in Ukraine. The number of the created jobs is almost 150,000. The state budget receives an annual 0.5 billion hryvnias in revenues from gambling business licensing alone. According to the Ukrainian Association of Gambling Business Owners, the annual profit of one gambling business entity is $1–1.5 billion. And according to the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 33 percent of the population play either cards or the roulette for money at least once a month and 3 percent are inveterate gamblers. Almost 5 percent of Ukrainians spend their free time in gambling or computer-game clubs.

Casinos have their own special ways of luring customers and keeping them. There are no clocks or windows there, so one cannot see how fast the time runs and it seems to one that he or she has just come in and can stay “just a little more, more, and so on.” Until they see that they have an empty wallet and have run up a debt. This kind of gambling has long been called a dependency, as much as alcoholism or drug addiction. Among those affected by the gambling addiction are people of different ages, but most of them are teenagers. It is their parents who usually bring them to doctors and psychologists. But this does not always produce a result, for the goal of the game is to satisfy the need for safety. So one searches for a world that he can control, and he thinks that a slot machine is this very kind of oasis. Some organizations suggest healing by means of faith. They take care of gambling addicts in a rehab and try to tell them about God.

Visiting several casinos, I saw a different — radiant and dynamic — world, where everything shines and flickers. There is even a bureau de change here—for customers’ convenience. The players were of diverse social status and income: some in a Yomomoto jacket and well-polished shoes, some with well-worn plastic bag by their side. Some were eating sandwiches, washing them down with beer and watching a television. The players’ eyes kept lighting up and blurring. And nobody cared about their destinies.

COMMENTARY

Roman LISHCHUK, Candidate of Sciences (Medicine); Director, Institute of Drug Addiction and Narcotics-Related Crime:

“Owing to the current financial instability, frequ­ent loss of employment, and diminished self-assessment, people are looking for ways to satisfy themselves and, unfortunately, are often taking this illusory path. They think it is easier to go and win money in slot ma­chines than work as long as a month for a few thousand [hryvnias]. But it is always the player, not the machine, that loses.”

“There is a 100-percent chance to get rid of the gambling dependency, but one should meet a few conditions for this. Firstly, the individual must have a will and a desire to shed this habit. He or she should be aware of being addicted and facing serious problems: financial, such as the never-ending borrowing of money, and personal, such as cheating their friends and relatives — aga­in, for money. Besides, in this condition, one can take things out of home, stay away from office, run away from creditors, etc.

“Secondly, the person has to have the desire to find an expert to turn to for help. There are about 20 services in Kyiv now, which provide assistance to people addicted to gambling. In other words, one must find a place and an expert who will help. The pattern of treating gambling addicts is the same as with other addicts — glue-sniffers, for example (these people display a similar style of behavior). How long an expert will be offering help depends on the desire of the person in question to get rid of this nasty habit. I think about 30 percent of such addicts will stop gambling provided there is the right professional approach.”