CASINO NEWS
GAMSTOP surpasses 50,000 female registrants
GAMSTOP, the free, independent self-exclusion tool for people living in the UK, has announced that more than 55,000 women have registered to self-exclude from all online gambling sites through the tool. The proportion of women self-excluding through
GAMSTOP has risen since the coronavirus pandemic struck last year. In March 2020, 26% of all registrants to GAMSTOP were women, a number that had risen beyond 31% by the end of the year. Surpassing the 50,000 mark in registrations is
significant in demonstrating that online gambling addiction, often regarded as being a ‘male’ problem that is linked to sport, is having an increasing impact on women. Statistics released by the National Gambling
Treatment Service had already shown an increasing number of women receiving treatment, up from 19% in 2015/16 to nearly 25% in the year to the end of March 2020. This coincides with increases in those with an addiction to gambling online, up from 57% to 69%. According to Gamcare, the number of women
reporting gambling problems is increasing at double the rate of men, but only 1% of women who experience gambling related harm contact the National Gambling Helpline.
Reacting to the news, GAMSTOP CEO Fiona
Palmer said: “As we begin to understand the demographic make up of our register it is important to feed back to the various support agencies and work together to encourage those women who have registered with GAMSTOP to access the help they may need going forward. 50,000 female registrants is a significant number and we are pleased that they have found the GAMSTOP self-exclusion scheme and that it is a useful practical tool to help with their gambling issues.” Psychotherapist Liz Karter added: “The pandemic
is creating a perfect storm of triggers for addictive gambling in women: feeling trapped, anxious and depressed, and overwhelmed by families or loneliness. As mental health problems increase so too will addiction to gambling. I treat young women who are wild with anxiety and stress, and for whom gambling started as self-medication, but the end results are always devastating costs to their mental health and finances. Women feel that they will be judged more for a gambling addiction than an addiction related to drink or drugs, even though the physical cravings and withdrawal symptoms are similar, and equally dangerous.” Lisa Walker, who has been in recovery from
gambling addiction for more than two years, and now counsels others who are struggling with addiction said: “There is such a big stigma that women don’t gamble, which isn’t accurate. What I have found is that women don’t feel that they can talk about their addiction, with it often being seen as a male issue. I think its fantastic that women are signing up to GAMSTOP and seeking help, though it also shows that there is lots more work to be done. “I have spoken with many women who don’t feel they
can go to support meetings, and I find it so upsetting that somebody could feel that way, as though they can’t even seek help. I hope things change and if we can increase the visibility of women who are recovering in the media, that could make a big difference.” Anna Hemmings, CEO of leading national gambling
support charity GamCare, concluded: “We must get to grips with the unnecessary shame and stigma women feel around asking for help with gambling. Gambling is not just a male activity, and it can affect women in significant, potentially life-changing ways. “Our dedicated Women’s Programme has told us
that we need to remove barriers for women to access help with gambling related harm – the issues that women are facing are often hidden from support services. GamCare is pleased to be able to work with GAMSTOP so people registering for online self-exclusion can also be swiftly connected through to specialist support and treatment services, which greatly increases the chance of sustaining a recovery from gambling harms.”
DRGT facilitates massive Mexico medical bed delivery
As many Mexican health care facilities face the challenge of being unable to receive COVID 19-infected patients due to a lack of beds, Fundación Curando a México, with the help of DRGT Mexico, and a number of local angel funders have facilitated the largest delivery yet of medical equipment into the country. The company had previously forgone its Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2019 supplier and partner event in Las Vegas and donated those funds towards the foundation’s logistic and transportation costs. Recently DRGT made a further donation to the non-profit organisation and secured a number of Angel Investors too, with the help of a ‘dollar-for- dollar’ matched contribution from Mexico’s Fundación IMSS, facilitating the transportation of 1,050 specifically-designed medical relief beds to the country. Curando México’s Operations Director Beth
Conley noted that: ‘...while these beds will serve a specific purpose during the current pandemic, their “flat pack” design will allow us, in time, to literally fold them away, and then access and transport them, to any location across the country, as soon as they are needed again.’
8 FEBRUARY 2021
México’s President, and has done since the NPOs inception in 2010. ‘What Beth and her team have managed to do today is nothing short of a miracle. 7 x 53ft semi-trucks with beds worth over $3 Million is our biggest shipment into México ever; I am extremely proud, and humbled at the same time,’ said Moreno. Curando México is the local partner of the
DRGT CEO Jurgen De Munck with part of the delivery The donation was received into the country
at the Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and Laredo, Texas border crossing by DRGT CEO Jurgen De Munck and DRGT Mexico Managing Director Alfredo Moreno, who also serves as Curando
world’s largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment, Project C.U.R.E.; a foundation that employs 35 full-time staff who in-turn are assisted annually by 15,000 volunteers who collectively source, pack, transport, and then distribute everything from incubators and x-ray machines to said hospital beds, and medical examination kits across the globe on a daily basis, equating to an average of 3 to 4 semi-truck trailer sized containers leaving their distribution centres every week. ‘It’s with partners like these that we are able to assess needs, and then reach as far and as wide as we do in our efforts to meet the medical demands in these under- resourced countries,’ added Project C.U.R.E. President and CEO, Dr. Doug Jackson.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50
