Czechs link drug addiction to gambling

Similarities in addictive behaviour involving drugs and gambling have prompted Czech Republic problem gambling specialists to link the two in a new experiment set to run through March 2019, at which point its impact will be evaluated..

National anti-drug coordinator Jindřich Vobořil told local media this week that the national strategy will now include provision to restrict access to gambling, although he was not specific as to how this will be achieved or enforced.

References to gambling will now be included in addictive measures vocabulary following research which has shown that the nation has a higher gaming machine per head of population ratio than its neighbours, and revelations that online gambling, both with licensed and unlicensed operators, is growing at alarming rates (Euro 508 million wagered through licensed operators alone in 2012).

Vobořil says that there are as many as 170,000 adult Czechs at risk as problem gamblers, with almost half of these developing compulsive gambling issues.

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