A.S.P. 7 of Ragusa, in accordance with the Council Decree No. 435 of the 25th of March 2015 “Approval of the guidelines on gambling addiction prevention”, by resolution of the Authority, established the Provincial Standing Coordinating Body for Gambling Addictions (Coordinamento Provinciale Permanente per il Gap – CPPGAP). In conformity with the objectives of the regional operational plan for gambling addictions, and by means of the funds which have been allocated, A.S.P. 7 of Ragusa developed an intervention project, as provided for by the Council Decree.
The project “Gambling Addictions Care” deals with the problem of gambling, a disease that nowadays has an high socio-economic impact at national level. The general purpose is to perform prevention interventions for the protection of life and health.
Manifold activities are provided for, such as training, research, interventions, prevention, establishment of a “CAMPER” mobile unit, creation of a TV commercial, a Facebook and an Instagram page, publication of all the activities and organization of a regional conference. To this end, this project aims to highlight the resources of the territory and to provide information and training on the territorial services that deal with the care and the rehabilitation of the people who suffer from gambling addiction, in order to encourage assistance requests and to reveal the needs which are not manifest.
Nowadays, gambling represents one of the diseases, related to addictions, with the highest socio-economic impact. Epidemiological data show that in Italy, almost 20 million people play the legal games of the State monopoly while an unknown number play the illegal games managed by organized crime. The total turnover of legal games amounts to approximately 90 billion euros per year, making the “industry of gambling” the third industry of the country and making Italy the third nation worldwide as far as gambling is concerned.
From the standpoint of healthcare, the harms related to gambling increasingly constitute highly complex health and social challenges. This is due to the fact that, compared to the already difficult rehabilitation task that Ser.T.s have in relation to substance addictions, they require competences belonging to more disciplines and professions.
As a consequence, non-substance addictions are a contemporary challenge that Health Service cannot avoid, even if it is often in contradiction with other undertakings. Gamblers undergoing treatment in public and private accredited facilities are still small in number. Many people suffer from this problem, but due to the fact that they still not have an adequate awareness of their addiction-related behaviors, they tend to not seek help. On the other hand, despite they are trying to face this overwhelming problem, public and private services are still unprepared to confront a phenomenon of such magnitude; few users are undergoing treatment and the results of rehabilitation projects, in terms of efficiency and efficacy, are insufficient.
There is, as a consequence, a wide lack of knowledge about the dynamics that lead to gambling, the places where it is played, the motivations and the differences among the territories. The lack of training must be resolved as soon as possible and, lastly, it is necessary to break the monopoly of the advertising related to gambling, which is, in our opinion, monothematic and not completely truthful.
To this end, the State allocated additional funds, provided for by the Law of the 23rd of December 2014 No. 190, for financing projects aimed at experimentation and at the management of subjects which are at risk for this disease. They are also allocated for ensuring additional services of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, aimed at people who suffer from gambling addiction. The project is a positive example of intervention that connects the annual plan which is provided for by the regional decree of March 2015 and the work of the Provincial Coordinating Body for Gambling Addictions.
- Director:
Dr. Giuseppe Mustile - Project coordinator:
Dr. Monique Gentile - Team:
Psychologist
Social worker
Driver
Computer technician
Statistician
