Inside Asian Gaming

MARCH 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 31 “People who had gambled at least once in the previous 12 months …was around 50% in 2016. Taking into account that 2.5% to 2.6% of all people suffer from some level of gambling disorder, that means the percentage of people who gamble that suffer from a gambling problem is around 5% today.” IN FOCUS disorder, that means the percentage of people who gamble that suffer from a gambling problem is around 5% today. AWS: Do you have any research that gives you any insights into why it has gone down? DF: Unfortunately we don’t have any testing regarding the downtrend in so-called problems, but there are four primary speculations. First is the introduction of responsible gambling initiatives in 2009 – in their ninth year already. I think people actually understand problem gambling and responsible gambling now. To be more precise, before we did any promotion of the issue, around 16% of people understood and knew about problem gambling and responsible gambling. Now that figure is 63%. From 16% to 63% – I guess there may be some effect from those people who understand it and can control their gambling behavior. This is one of the speculations: the effect of promoting responsible gambling. Second, the government has directed a lot of resources to NGOs. Before 2004, there was only one treatment center. Now, One of the 20 responsible gambling kiosks currently found in Macau