After the release of Statistics Canada’s 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey–Gambling Rapid Response, three Saskatchewan men have shared their gambling addiction recovery journey. The study has found that the Prairie provinces have the highest percentage of past-year gamblers at moderate-to-high risk of gambling problems with 2.5%. With a national average of 1.6%.
According to the 2018 research, the rate for men in the Prairies territories who were at risk of developing problem gambling was 2.7% for men and 2.2% among women. In comparison, national rates were 2% and 1.2% respectively. The study found that Saskatchewan men who gambled in the previous year had 76.9%, which was the highest across the country.
- No Win is Ever Enough
The three men preferred to stay anonymous but they have shared some light on what is to recover from gambling addiction. The first one who suffered from online gambling addiction explained that he started once he was old enough to get his first credit card. He also said he once made CA$74,975 from CA$1,000 and when he tried to win CA$25 more he lost them all.
The individual further elaborated that as a gambling addict no win was ever large enough for him to stop playing. He admitted that due to losing money on gambling he was also worried about paying bills. But he tried out a program that blocked out gambling websites and started to attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings last summer, and it helped him big time in overcoming his destructive habits.
The second gambler who also stayed anonymous admitted that he has bet more than CA$10,000 on a single game more than 50 times in his lifetime. He said that getting into more debt makes gambling even more difficult to give up on as players do not want to admit that the money has gone to waste. And according to calculations he had wagered between CA$4 to CA$5 million from his winnings.
The third and last gambler said that he was recovering from VLTs addiction and he started at the early age of 14 when he was working at a racetrack. He shared that he felt that gambling owned him and he had no control over himself when he started to play. Fortunately, a friend of his told his wife and he then decided to seek help for his condition.
- The 2018 Study and its Deductions
Statistics Canada published its 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey, Gambling Rapid Response last week and it includes over 26,000 respondents. Its findings suggest that gambling addiction should not be neglected, as more than 300,000 residents of the country are at severe or moderate risk of developing gambling-related problems. It also found that middle-aged Canadians between the age of 45 to 64 are at the highest risk.
In addition to that the 2018 research, has disclosed that Indigenous people are at a higher risk of developing gambling addiction as they are three times more likely to develop one than non-Indigenous people. But, the president of the Indigenous Bar Association, Drew Lafond said that Indigenous people are much more susceptible due to the generational trauma that fuels addiction and other mental issues.
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