The operational meeting of the municipal observatory to combat pathological gambling took place in Ruvo di Puglia (BA). At the meeting, convened by the Municipality's councilor for well-being and social justice Nico Curci, in the presence of the mayor Pasquale Chieco, in addition to the Social Services of the Municipality and the Local Police of Ruvo di Puglia, the Oasi 2 cooperative, the Serd of Ruvo di Puglia, the CSM Area 1 Mental Health Center of the ASL Bari and the Bari Chamber of Commerce were represented.
The Municipality of Ruvo di Puglia has been working in this area for some time with careful monitoring work and awareness and information projects aimed above all at younger citizens.
“The meeting – said councilor Curci – was extremely operational and very concrete. All parties present confirmed the community of intent and willingness to collaborate that has distinguished us to date. Pathological gambling is a sneaky enemy, people with gambling problems rarely ask for support from social services, which is why the "sentinels" present in the area are very important, and awareness and information activities become essential.
Our Municipality has already started an important activity in this sector for some time with targeted actions and important planning: the local police periodically carries out checks and has undertaken to further intensify them for 2024, especially to avoid the use of slot machines or scratch cards by minors, the Oasi 2 Cooperative presented a detailed program of activities intended for schools and aimed at supporting youth protagonism in prevention actions for the protection of health and the promotion of conscious attitudes and behaviours.
Greater involvement of the trade associations of merchants will certainly be necessary, which is why the collaboration with the Bari Chamber of Commerce is strategic. We expect important collaboration from the operators to contain the inconvenience and to identify particularly problematic situations.
Another objective for 2024 is to bring the great work done by Ruvo di Puglia to the level of the Corato-Ruvo-Terlizzi Territorial Area, since coordinating our interventions and sharing Methods and objectives on a larger territory can certainly greatly improve the effectiveness of our action”.
