The Social Cost Of Gambling

In Canada, as gambling has quadrupled in the past decade, groups are now asking lawmakers to study the social costs.

1 minute read

January 24, 2005, 5:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"The Canada Safety Council, an independent charitable organization, calls addictive gambling a public-health crisis, saying it accounts for 200 to 360 suicides a year. In a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin urging him to undertake a study, the Safety Council cites a range of growing social problems in addition to gambling-related deaths: an increase in bankruptcies, family break-ups, domestic abuse, as well as other forms of violence and crimes like loan-sharking."

Thanks to Chris Steins

Monday, January 24, 2005 in The Christian Science Monitor

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