Gambler's Thread 01 (May 08 - Nov 10)

[winston]

Hi investar,

You may want to check out the "Macau" thread as well as the "Gaming" thread.

SJM has run up before their earnings announcment.

Shun Tak is losing money on their ferry.

Rexlot is expensive and has run up from 0.70.


Take care,
Winston

[Musicwhiz]

Apr 26, 2010
What motivates gambling addicts?
By Li Xiuping , FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

SINCE Resorts World Sentosa opened as Singapore's first casino early this year, there have been cases of people committing fraud or running up large gambling losses.

In anticipation of this, several initiatives such as exclusion orders were introduced. Exclusion orders allow individuals to apply to be barred from entering casinos here because of their gambling addiction.

Families of problem gamblers can also seek these orders. Singapore is only the second country in the world after Australia to have such a social safeguard.

The number of calls in February and last month to the National Council on Problem Gambling's helpline has more than doubled.

The nature of the calls has also changed. Callers used to seek information about gambling addiction. Now, they seek advice on how to deal with gambling addiction. The number of self-exclusion orders has also risen.

To identify and treat their addiction more effectively, we need to know what motivates problem gamblers.

Some are driven to gamble because it is a form of self-medication: They use it to escape from negative emotional states, such as depression and stress.

Others become addicted to gambling because they gain pleasure from it.

Thus, there are two types of gambling addicts: self-medicating gamblers and pleasure-seekers.

While the motivation of problem gamblers may vary, we found that there are demographic and behavioural characteristics associated with each of the two types of gambling addicts.

Self-medicating gambling addicts, more than pure pleasure-seeking gamblers, are more likely to have other substance dependencies or addictions besides gambling. And the risk of the self-medicating group to have other substance dependencies becomes greater as their gambling problem escalates.

By contrast, as the pleasure-seekers' problems with gambling worsen, their likelihood of other substance dependencies decreases.

It has also been shown that gambling addicts with a parent who gambled are more likely to have other substance dependencies. And men in this group face a higher risk of having other substance dependencies than women.

Further, our research showed that self-medicating problem gamblers are less likely to commit illegal acts to facilitate their gambling compared with the other group.

We also found that there are some factors that will predict a tendency to break the law to support a gambling habit:

Higher-income gamblers are less likely to commit illegal acts than their lower-income counterparts. And the longer a problem gambler has been gambling, the more likely he is to commit criminal acts. Male gamblers pose a greater risk in these respects than female gamblers.

Finally, older, higher-income individuals with gambling parents are more likely to be self-medicating gamblers.

These findings suggest that different treatments are needed, depending on what motivates the addicts. Self-medicating problem gamblers are likely to be hooked on more than gambling.

Those seeking to help them need to tackle the root causes of their dependency. Otherwise, addicts weaned off gambling may simply turn to other forms of dependency, such as alcohol or drug abuse.

In this context, it should be noted that families of self-medicating problem gamblers who apply to bar them from entering the casinos may inadvertently encourage the addicts to substitute gambling with other dependencies.

Apart from restricting their access to the casinos, perhaps the National Council on Problem Gambling can help to identify such gamblers and direct them to the proper treatment.

The writer is an assistant professor at NUS Business School. This commentary is based on research done in collaboration with Lu Qiang and Rohan Miller, both of the University of Sydney. The research findings were presented to the Association of Consumer Research.

[kennynah]

Apart from restricting their access to the casinos, perhaps the National Council on Problem Gambling can help to identify such gamblers and direct them to the proper treatment.

what proper treatment?

have addicts visit buangkok medical centre? that is their idea of a conducive location for people who want to seek help? the social stigma of getting treatment from a seow lang keng is enough to put off the most determined gambling addict wanting to seek help....

[winston]

Some motivation for blid2def ....

===============================

Single ticket racks up largest British lottery win

A ticketholder in the UK scooped more than 85 million pounds (100 million euros) in the EuroMillions draw on Friday, the largest ever lottery win in Britain, organisers said.

A spokesman for Camelot, which operates the lottery in Britain, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news -- and the biggest-ever lottery win in the UK.

"Subject to a claim being received and validated, the prize could be paid out when the banks open on Monday.

"The winner can then decide whether or not to go public and share their news."

The British winner was the only player to use the numbers 1, 17, 31, 43 and 47 plus the Lucky Star numbers 02 and 03.

The total win was a colossal 100,037,101 euros -- the third largest in EuroMillions' six-year history.

The largest was the 126.2 million euros won by a 25-year-old Spanish woman in May last year.

Britain's previous biggest lottery win was the 64.8 million euros scooped on EuroMillions by Nigel Page and his partner Justine Laycock in February.

The couple have kept their word to "spread the wealth" by giving their cleaner their old four-bedroom house. They bought a six-bedroom environmentally friendly mansion in a village where supermodel Kate Moss lives.

EuroMillions tickets are sold in Austria, Britain, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.

Source: AFP European Edition

[millionairemind]

50K for each family destroyed... I guess we have enough for 1400 as of now...

Given its only been 3 months.. by year end we will have enough for 5.6K families...

May 19, 2010
$70m in casino entry levies
THE two casino operators have collected about $70 million in entry levies as of May 10, said Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan.

In a written response to a question from Nominated MP Terry Lee in Parliament on Tuesday, the minister said it would be premature to draw conclusions 'on casino patronage and its attendant social impact from the entry levy data as it is still early days'.

All casino entry levies are paid to the Singapore Totalisator Board and are used to fund projects which benefit the community.

MCYS will continue to ensure that sufficient resources are dedicated to tackle the issue of problem gambling, through research studies and programmes, said Mr Balakrishnan.

[Aspellian]

50K for each family destroyed... I guess we have enough for 1400 as of now...

Given its only been 3 months.. by year end we will have enough for 5.6K families...

May 19, 2010
$70m in casino entry levies

How do you calculate above? 70million means 700,000 visits made by sporeans/PR paying $100 per entry.

[winston]

They could have paid the Annual Pass.

[Aspellian]

They could have paid the Annual Pass.

Hi Winston,

you are right. i didnt think of that. thanks!

[kennynah]

well ...sands and genting didn't build those entertainment centres just so they feel philanthropic... these are necessary so that they disguise their ugly facade; casinos

just like the devil can deliver on just about anything...in exchange for the incumbent's soul...

nothing is for free... when the gahmen wants to make money from casino operations...the people will pay its associated debts

[millionairemind]

Not sure if we should call these ppe. idiots.... all the ways to cheat in a casino have probably been recorded by the casinos themselves... and with all the electronic surveillance, what odds do the con artists have to succeed??

Every single week there are a few reported cases of ppe. trying...

May 26, 2010
2 on casino cheating charges
Foreigners allegedly placed bets at roulette tables after results declared
By Elena Chong
A TANZANIAN has been charged with trying to cheat the newly opened Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino of $35,000 in a roulette game.

Kipuyo Lemburis Israel, 34, was brought to court last Friday for allegedly trying to cheat a dealer on duty at a roulette table at MBS by past-posting.

Past-posting is the act of placing the bet after the result is known.

He is said to have intentionally placed a chip with a cash value of $1,000 on a single number bet last Thursday after the result had been declared, to induce the dealer to pay him $35,000 worth of chips.

The amount is the largest so far in a casino-related crime here.

MBS, which opened on April 27, is the Republic's second integrated resort, after Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which opened in February.