(Jamma) “Italy is by now one of the European nations where gambling is practiced the most and this is leading to a worrying increase in the number of people who are squandering entire estates. We must avoid adding to the drama of the economic and employment crisis also the drama of those who give in to the temptation of easy earnings, impoverishing even the few remaining resources” Thus intervenes the Hon. Sergio Berlato, Member of the European Parliament and Coordinator of the People of Freedom of the Province of Vicenza, in the heated debate of these days on the need to offer immediate and concrete answers to the rampant scourge of gambling addiction.
"Gaming fever is taking on the characteristics of a national emergency - continues the MEP from Vicenza - for this reason measures are urgently needed to protect the most vulnerable people, creating the conditions for creating systems that prevent access to the game to those subjects who show the signs of a pathology that involves serious social repercussions, but also to those who voluntarily choose to protect themselves because they perceive the possibility of not controlling the impulse that drives them to play compulsively". This solution to limit access to the game was proposed in recent days through the local and national media by Mr. Francesco Fiore, a former player residing in the Vicenza area who asked the State to intervene by making access to the game subject to the use of magnetic health card with the possibility of disabling it at the request of the interested party or following the recognition of a form of gambling addiction.
"I feel like sponsoring and promoting this solution - says Berlato - because it is not possible to limit or abolish the legal activities that allow the most disparate types of game, the dignity of people and their health must still be protected".
“With the introduction of an electronic system for accessing games, and especially slot machines, real social dramas would be avoided. The cost of installing these mechanisms and the consequent decrease in revenue for the state would be amply repaid in terms of social benefits. I appeal to the Minister of Health Hon. Beatrice Lorenzin - concludes Berlato - to take action as soon as possible to make this proposal feasible. It is not possible to stand still in the face of the vastness and gravity of this phenomenon".
