(Jamma) The Municipality of Bolzano is strongly involved in analyzing the phenomenon of gambling in the city and so this morning in the town hall during a press conference the Councilor for Social Policies Mauro Randi presented some initiatives in this sense. In particular the actions put in place by the municipal administration to try to counteract or at least contain the phenomenon of gioco d’azzardo such as convention on the theme scheduled at 18.00 of Friday 8 November in the Hall of Representatives of the town hall entitled: "Gambling: We bet on prevention” and above all the results of a game investigation with cash prizes promoted by the Observatory for social policies and the quality of life.
The volume of gaming revenues in Italy in 2012 reached the remarkable figure of 88,5 billion Euros, 2,5 billion in Trentino Alto Adige, while the average monthly value of gaming revenues in the region is 116 million Euro which means about 60 million in the province of Bolzano. The so-called machines are the masters in the collection of money (75,2 million Euros in October 2012 in the region), followed by remote skill games (19.3 million Euros online skill games and 12,4 million lotteries).
In Bolzano there are currently 18 active video and video lottery arcades (1/3 of the provincial total) with a strong increase over the last few years. Also in Bolzano, in August 2013, there were 214 bars equipped with gaming machines. Currently 121 are equipped with them, while 93 have been removed. 133 bars sanctioned, 433 gaming machines detected in bars.
During the press conference some other interesting in-depth elements were then disclosed on the basis of a survey on the playing habits of the Bolzano players. Thus, some additional questions on the subject of gaming with cash prizes were included in the "MonitorCittà" survey, carried out by DataMonitor. The survey was carried out using the CATI methodology and is
which took place in December 2012 for a sample of 800 people from Bolzano.
The data, most likely underestimated due to the reluctance on the part of the interviewees to respond on a sensitive and rather personal topic such as gambling habits, showed that around 30% of the population of Bolano, in the last 12 months, has spent money at least one game. Scratch cards are the most popular (52,8%) followed by Totocalcio, Lotto, Tris etc. (36,2%), then sports betting (5,3%) video poker (3,6%) and others with lower percentages.
75,2% of those interviewed said they play less than once a week, 20,1% from one to three times a week. As regards the money spent, 57,6% declared an expense between 1 and 10 Euros, 25,2% less than 1 Euro and 15.9% between 10 and 100 Euros. Obviously you play to win money (37%), but also to challenge fate (26,5%) or simply pass the time (21%). Other data: 84% of those interviewed considered the removal of gaming machines a useful initiative to prevent and combat the phenomenon, as well as awareness-raising initiatives (79,8%) or the Game Over prevention campaign (71% ). The number of people who have a gambling problem (persons in charge of the Addictions Service for "pathological gambling") is also growing sharply (+112% in the period 2012-2012).
Finally, it was underlined at the press conference that the phenomenon of gambling needs to be further investigated and monitored before it becomes problematic or, worse, pathological. The results of the research were edited and illustrated by Michela Trentini, Tiziana Marcolin and Luca Frigo of the Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bolzano.
