All About Pachinko
The Risks of Super Casinos
The bigger the casinos, the bigger the problem. This was the warning issued by experts regarding the governments plan to establish a super casino in the UK, and the growing lure of building bigger and bigger casinos.
Professor Rod Griffiths, president of the Faculty of Public Health is one such figure that is opposed to the plan of building a Las Vegas type super casino. He said that the UK was 'daft' to be trying to emulate the American way of gambling, with bigger and fancier casinos.
"I think we have to keep watch on increases in problem gambling," said Dr. Griffiths. "It is almost certain to go up."
The doctor expressed these concerns in the faculty's scientific meeting in Glasgow. Short-listed to be the venue of the first super casino are eight cities, one of them Glasgow. The super casino will have up to 1,250 gaming machines and unlimited jackpots. There are already early indications of problem gambling on the rise in the region. At present, the United Kingdom is home to an estimated 350,000 gambling addicts. Worse, there is not much help offered to sufferers of gambling problems as it is an addiction that is usually overshadowed by the more obvious alcohol and drug problems.
The Salvation Army similarly was concerned about the easier access and hypnotic lure of gambling. "What we are saying is that there are more ways to regenerate communities than to build a supercasino on top of them," a spokeswoman for the West Scotland branch said.
"We have concerns about the social impact," she added. "If people get more addicted to gambling their job is at risk, their lives can be terribly affected."
The church also warns of casinos back-lashing at the community. One religious authority has called the super casino a "danger area for the whole of society."
This comment was from retired reverend Dr. Idris Jones, Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway. He said that the potential human cost of gambling is unavoidable.
"I think it's a great concern when the state endorses a pattern of behaviour which is going to make some people very vulnerable and as a result of it some people are going to suffer," he said.
"And the fact of the matter is that people can become addicted to gambling, and when they do, that it is completely destructive of family life, of simply holding down a job," he added. "All addictive behaviour is destructive to the human personality. This is a danger area for the whole of society, and nobody can pretend they haven't been told or the alarm bell's not been rung."
In defense, the government stated through its Department for Culture, Media and Sport that the new gambling legislation that would enter the scene hand in hand with the building of the new super casino would help lessen the impending problems.
