The problem with problem gamblers
Posted Apr 30, 2011 7:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta has a problem with problem gamblers.
That’s according to a new, three year study by the University of Lethbridge which finds six per cent of those making bets in the province account for 75 per cent of the province’s gambling expenditures.
According to the Calgary Herald, many of those six per cent don’t make big money, with one in three earning less than $50-thousand a year and about 15 per cent in that group making less than $30 thousand a year.
Study co-author Professor Robert Williams says the findings raise a serious ethical question for both charities and governments which derive 50 percent of their revenues from problem gamblers.
Since the late 1970’s, gambling revenue in Alberta has increased from $300 million to $2.5 billion in 2010.
