Latvia Gambling Problems With Slot Machines on the Rise

Written by:
Guest
Published on:
May/10/2018

One of the downsides to real money gambling is real money losses. Too many people get caught up in their desire to hit it rich, especially on slot machines, as the most popular form of casino-style gambling around the globe. 200 people submitted applications to take part in this program, but nothing is being done to keep anyone out of the Latvia gambling halls.

PlaySlots4RealMoney.com representing Public Broadcasting of Latvia recently posted a report on its website discussing this very issue when it comes to slot machine play in this country. Gambling is big business in Latvia to the tune of a 64 million profit in Euro in 2017. The report talks about a system that was put into place in 2011 that would allow concerned citizens to give up their right to gamble. Over 1,

There is no hard and fast research into how deep the gambling problem in Latvia may be, but this report cited a figure of more than 13,000 adults based on a standard one percent of the population. The actual figure could climb to five percent if you include everyone who might be at risk for developing a problem at some point in time. Gambling halls housing slot machines are rather common across the entire country and this has also led to proliferation of pawn shops and quick-loan companies. These types of fast-cash outlets are an unfortunate offshoot of the gambling business as they tend to prey on those fighting addiction.
 

The law that was put into place to keep the biggest offenders out of gambling establishments by their own request has been highly ineffective to say the least. Signe Birne is the head of Latvia’s gambling authority. He was quoted in this report as saying, “As long as the law doesn’t clearly say the gambling houses must prevent opted-out clients from visiting…we have nothing else to do.”

The viewpoint from those operating Latvia’s gambling houses is that anyone who is addicted to real money gambling should police themselves. The do not want to shoulder the burden of checking ID cards to see who may have filled out an application to opt-out of being admitted to places where gambling takes place.
 

Guntis Libers was quoted in the report speaking on behalf of the ‘Zilais Dimants’ gambling establishments. He stated, “I’d like to say that our company SIA DLV supports the introduction of entry upon presenting ID. But that should be paired with a defined law and an environment that has responsibility for the organizer, the state and the person who has entered [themselves] in the said list.”
The Health Ministry in Latvia has taken up the task of trying to put some quantitative data around the extent of real money gambling in the country. The goal of this initial study is to learn more about people’s overall gambling habits targeting the year end to have some actual data. The report cites that self-imposed bans work with online gambling where the player cannot remain anonymous. Checking ID’s is also part of the process for competitive games.

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