Online gaming is “far far too accessible” thinks a former addict

Just before finally quitting her addiction, she tried a few games on the Internet. And what she discovered scared her.

I found that online gambling was much too accessible, even worse than anything. It was at our house. I could have done it at any hour, in the night, anytime. I could have woken up, then played she explains.

At this point, she decided to put everything aside. But this is not the case for all compulsive gamblers.

Exploding popularity

Atlantic Lottery launched online casino games in August 2020 in New Brunswick and their popularity has exploded over the past year.

Online gambling revenues have increased by 240% between 2020 and 2021. This represents a sum of $43.2 million for Atlantic Lottery.

In New Brunswick alone, revenues jumped 300% and totaled $13.5 million during the same period.

Twice as many people sought help for their gambling addiction from Community Addiction and Mental Health Services, or 242 people.

The ease of access to online gambling worries Shirley Fecteau, a professor in the department of psychiatry and neurosciences at Laval University in Quebec. The fact that […] games are available at our fingertips, I think it can facilitate the development of addiction. And especially when people want to stop playingshe says.

Atlantic Lottery maintains that gambling addiction problems have not increased in the provinces that have decided to legalize it.

It’s hard to get out of an addiction

For Lydia Austin, it all started in 1995, when she and her sister went to the Halifax casino. They discovered gambling for the first time.

I loved my experience. I found it to be the best hobby for a single personshe says.

But little did she know that her new hobby might become addictive.

She then had periods of intense play. Other times, she was forced to quit, for lack of money.

Lydia Austin has lost large sums, to the point of having almost nothing.

But, since January 2017, she has not touched the game. Ms Austin does not even participate in 50/50 lotteries organized for charity purposes.

To get by, she joined an anonymous group of people addicted to gambling. The retiree also discovered travel. With her recreational vehicle, she undertakes long journeys in North America, which helps her not to think about the game.

” The only thing we want to do is this: play. I don’t know why, but it’s in the brain. It’s wanting that pleasure. This hormone of pleasure that we always want to stimulate. »

She wrote a book about the difficulty of overcoming such an addiction published in 2017: I raise my sails.

Atlantic Lottery CEO Calls Online Gambling Safe

the CEOCEO of Loto Atlantique, Patrick Daigle, explains that Loto Atlantique offers several tools to prevent players from developing an addiction. It is possible to impose a time limit, a limit of money to spend, to exclude yourself and to use a tool to self-assess your game.

Online gaming is the safest gaming environment we can offer. We have a relationship with our players now he assures.

But, can people who suffer from gambling addiction decide for themselves to impose limits with these tools?

According to Theo Saulnier, social worker and prevention coordinator for addiction treatment and mental health in the Acadie-Bathurst region, many people do not seek help on their own. They are ashamed, but that is not the only reason.

They need to mourn too. I’m not going to play anymore. I won’t have a chance to pay everything I have, all my debtshe explains.

Mr. Saulnier believes that more prevention efforts are needed.

Lydia Austin agrees. According to her, a lot of people don’t understand how hard it is to quit.

If you tell them you’ve been playing, and then, oh my god, I’ve been played every day this week, I’ve pretty much spent all my money. [Ils répondent] “Well stop! You just have to stop!” As if it’s that simple, but it’s not true that it’s that simpleshe said knowingly.

With information from Maya Chebl