Category Archives: Gambling

The room is never really empty. Customers shuffle between the cases of liquor and through a tinted glass door to the video slots.

A sign above the door, modeled to look like the bright lights of Las Vegas, says Welcome to Fabulous Becks.

Right now, its one of the hottest gaming spot in La Salle.

There are times where our machines are filled up and people have to get turned away, said Becks station manager Cyle Dickens.

Becks hasnt been in the video gambling business very long. The machines were installed in mid-March, and they were an instant hit with customers.

I thought it would be something where you get a few people coming in, but no. We have people here all of the time, Dickens said.

Becks is one of several gas stations that have recently added the gaming machines to their store. Initially, video gaming was relegated to bars, restaurants and truck stops (truck stops had to meet a number of different requirements, including being on at least 3 acres of land and selling 10,000 gallons of diesel per month).

Becks and many stores like them, had its license in limbo for years.

When we opened up, we applied for our license and that was in 2015. We didnt get one right away because we were considered a non-traditional establishment, Dickens said. Restaurants and bars, they would get theirs all day long. Now, you might see an influx of machines at gas stations.

In January, the Illinois Gaming Board informed Dickens that the store would be re-inspected. By March, the machines were up and running.

Lately the Illinois Gaming Board has been approving some more non-traditional locations and that has led to record growth in gaming revenue for the Illinois Valley.

Gaming with groceries

Since January, the gaming board has issued 26 new gaming licenses in La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties. Of those 26 new licenses, 14 were in gas stations, convenience stores or grocery stores.

For a couple of months, Ninas Mexican Market in La Salle experimented with the machines.

We wanted to try something new but it didnt work out, said Mila Tintori, a manager at Ninas.

Ninas, which is a combination market, deli and restaurant, didnt quite take off like Becks. The store sits on a block of downtown La Salle that already has three separate gaming parlors.

I guess they took them out because they werent making the money they were supposed to, Tintori said. Now we have more room again in our restaurant, though,

The Mini-Market in Spring Valley fared a little better. The convenience store and deli quickly became the highest earning gaming spot in Spring Valley just a few months after having the machines installed.

A big spike

March was a record-breaking month for the Illinois Valley. $3.54 million was played in machines in La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties. Before March, monthly totals had only eclipsed $3 million three times.

April didnt quite top Marchs numbers, but the total of $3.28 million still makes it the second highest earning month since gaming was established in September 2012.

The city of La Salle saw its take in revenue jump from about $12,000 to $17,500 between February and March. Thats after a year where revenue numbers nestled steadily between $12,000 to $14,000.

I thought our revenue had stabilized until these other locations had opened up, said La Salles finance director John Duncan IV. You can see where Becks jumped right into significant revenue.

And Dickens said the gaming machines really havent slowed sales for other forms of gaming.

Another interesting part is we havent seen a drop off in our lottery sales, he said. When you see some of these revenue numbers its like, Oh my God. It just keeps growing.

Brett Herrmann can be reached at (815) 220-6933 or svreporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_SpringValley.

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Video gambling continues to grow in the Illinois Valley - LaSalle News Tribune

Added on May 30, 2017 Teri Marin

Probably no other industry has been changed so much as gambling by the advancement of technology. Just think about it: weve gone from brick-and-mortar institutions and gambling hubs such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, to being able to spin the mobile slot reels from our laptop while sat in our living room.Better yet, for more than ten years, approximately when the mobile phone revolution of smartphones started happening, people have been able to gamble on the go. Wherever they had a tablet or a smartphone available to them with

Better yet, for more than ten years, approximately when the mobile phone revolution of smartphones started happening, people have been able to gamble on the go. Wherever they had a tablet or a smartphone available to them with internet connection, masses of people have turned to mobile gambling as a form of entertainment, but also a way to make real cash while they were sitting around waiting for the bus. Exciting!

Is Vegas Doomed? Its a fact that online and mobile gambling has ballooned when it comes to growth. Having started out with just a few sites that were available for people to play real money casino games, there are dozens of thousands of legal and licenced online gambling operators right now. Whats more, most of those sites have recognized that a huge proportion of their traffic comes from mobile device users, so theyve adapted their sites to be as responsive and convenient to use on tablets and smartphones as possible. It has taken a mere decade for the more traditional forms of gambling at offline establishments to get pushed out, only to be favoured by online escapades in the real money gambling world. And thats a global trend thats reached into as many countries as one can imagine. From sports betting, to mobile slots, and even the more traditional table games such as roulette and blackjack, people dont have to plan and wait for that one special weekend over at Vegas to get their gambling hit in them. That said, offline gambling meccas such as Vegas and Atlantic City have nothing to worry about. It still remains a pilgrimage for many people to spend their time and money at these cities, and to gamble at the countless epic casinos there. Especially in America, it is a certain coming-of-age-rite to be able to sit at a slot machine or a roulette table in Vegas and post about it on social media no mobile gambling revolution will ever take that cultural tradition away.

Convenience And Speed However, when it comes to day to day entertainment, no one in their right mind would dare to ignore the benefits that mobile gambling providers. No longer does one have to call to their bookies to make a bet or even go into a shop if they simply dont feel like it. Convenience and speed are the primary drivers of growth of this market, and there is no denying that the excitement of being able to gamble wherever you and your connected mobile device are is overwhelming. These days, tablets and smartphones pack a punch when it comes to computing power and their audiovisual prowess, so its no wonder that more and more online casinos create dedicated apps that people can download. These sit on your home screen and make it even simpler to fire up your favourite casino and games. The alternative isnt so hard either: opening up your browser and logging in to your casino account, especially if you save your login details, is as easy as pie. From there on, the only thing you must worry about is funding your casino account so that you can play real money games. Cue mobile friendly depositing. As the experts of mobile phone billing Android Slots highlight, a huge part of the successful growth of the mobile gambling industry has been the mobile payment industry. More specifically, adding funds to a casino account is possible via sms billing, which means you simply send a text message to confirm a deposit and the amount you wish to deposit is then added to your monthly phone bill.

The Endless Possibilities Of Smartphones Considering the relatively brief history of mobile gambling, its incredible how far its come. From not existing at all at the turn of the century to being a fully-fledged and dynamic industry, mobile gambling is set to grow and grow. With the technological advancements, the opportunities are literally endless when it comes to smartphone gambling. For example, some online and mobile casinos are venturing into virtual reality with the rest of the entertainment industry, which is very exciting. People, who own headsets such as the Oculus Rift, are able to log into their favourite mobile casino and spin the slot reels in a virtual environment. Of course, people wont be carrying around their virtual headsets with them everywhere, but this just goes to show how dynamic the industry is. Perhaps the future brings much smaller virtual reality headsets and mobile gambling can flourish even further, but theres no denying that gambling is quickly becoming one of the top activities that people spend time on when theyre on their mobiles.

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Gambling One Of The Top Mobile Activities In 2017 - Easy Reader

The online gambling industry is huge. Currently, there are over 800 online casinos serving millions of players from all over the world. In most countries, online gambling is a legit business, operating under licenses and paying hefty taxes to the state. There are others where, although not explicitly banned, its frowned upon, having a questionable legal status at best. Yet the need for online casinos is constant people are finding ways to circumvent the bans to play their favorite games online. This leads to one question that couldnt be answered during the two-decade history of online gambling: will it ever lead to the disappearance of land-based casinos, as no doubt many such operators fear?

Both land-based venues and online establishments have their strong points and weaknesses.

Those who play casino games at Wild Jack Mobile are not looking for the most comfortable place to lose their money, as land-based players do, but the most convenient place to play their favorite games. The difference is subtle: most Wild Jack players are not looking for real money entertainment but entertainment, with the extra thrill of risking cash being the icing on the cake. Online gaming venues have massive libraries of games the Wild Jack Mobile, for example, has over 100 titles for its players, with over 600 more in its desktop versions and their patrons mostly play them casually, for fun even with no real money involved. This is what the average frequency of play (once every two weeks) suggests.

As opposed to the convenience and casual nature of playing at the Wild Jack and its likes, land-based gambling establishments have a distinct atmosphere. One does not simply walk into a casino and play a few spins on a slot machine at least not in most settlements. And playing free at a land-based casino is also not a possibility. Casinos were, in the past, meeting places for the rich and powerful, and they have managed to maintain at least part of this mythos to this day. Thus, when people visit a land-based casino, they feel like being part of something special, which makes gambling in a real-life casino feel more mysterious and attractive.

In Europe, land-based gambling coexists with online casinos since the very beginning of the online gambling business. European players are free to visit whichever option they wish. Some cities like Prague have many gambling venues of different sizes for their visitors and for the locals, others like Monaco and Venice have traditional destinations like the Monte Carlo Casino or the Casin Venezia for gamblers to visit. As you can see, land-based gambling was not pushed out of business in Europe convenience, it seems, still has a long way to go before it can overcome tradition, flair, and atmosphere.

Unless the emerging virtual reality allows online gaming venues to match the immersion and magic of land-based casinos, it will most likely not push traditional casinos out of business.

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Will Online Gambling Ever Push Land-based Casinos Out of Business? - The London Economic

Double Olympic table tennis champion Kong Linghui (right in the picture) was suspended as head of the Chinese women's team on Tuesday, the country's sports association said on its website, after it emerged that he faced a lawsuit over a gambling debt.

Kong, who won gold at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Games, was reported to have borrowed the equivalent of $721,000 (647,000 euros) from Singapore's Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino in 2015 and had failed to repay almost half of its debt.

Kong was ordered to return from the table tennis world championships in Germany to help with the investigation, China's Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Contradicting views

"China has a zero-tolerance attitude toward behavior which violates sporting ethics and laws," the country's government agency overseeing sport said in a statement.

41-year-old Kong Linghui himself posted a message on the Weibo microblogging service acknowledging he had visited the casino with relatives and friends.

He said he arranged for members of his party to receive gambling chips under his name, but insisted he didn't gamble himself and was deeply upset by the allegations.

hg/jd (Reuters, AP)

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Pingpong great Kong Linghui suspended over gambling debt - Deutsche Welle

"For most people, gambling is recreation," says Lia Nower, the center's director, who led the study."But the more games you play, the more often you gamble and the more venues you frequent, the more likely you are to develop a problem."

Rates of gambling disorder in the general population hover below 2 percent, but are more than 6 percent in New Jersey. Neighboring states offer many gambling venues to New Jerseyans.

Only 5 percent of gamblers in the study reported gambling online, while 75 percent stuck to casinos and other land-based venues. Nineteen percent of gamblers said they gambled both online and at land-based venues. The most popular games were lottery tickets and instant scratch-offs, gaming machines and live casino table games. Nower says online gambling doesn't seem responsible for higher rates of problem gambling.

"The people with the most severe problems are typically those who gamble on activities like slot machines and video poker at casinos and also played casino games online," she says.

Nower and her colleagues were surprised to find that Hispanic adults reported the highest rates of problem gambling of any ethnic group, 16 percent. That was more than eight times the rate in the general population and three times the rate of white adults.

The study also examined the relationship of gambling to daily fantasy sports play, which federal law excludes from gambling prohibitions. Both frequency and severity of gambling in this group were significantly higher than among gamblers in general, the study found.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gambling-rampant-in-new-jersey-rutgers-study-shows-300464713.html

SOURCE Rutgers University

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Gambling Rampant in New Jersey, Rutgers Study Shows - PR Newswire (press release)

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Caesars, Exiting Bankruptcy, Seeks Growth Beyond Gambling Wall Street Journal (subscription) Caesars Entertainment Corp., one of the most recognizable names in the global casino industry, will emerge from bankruptcy this year after nearly a decade of struggles with debt dating back to the financial crisis. Now it faces a new challenge: How to ... loveman gary w - SEC.govSEC.gov all 41 news articles »

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Caesars, Exiting Bankruptcy, Seeks Growth Beyond Gambling - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

The decision is part of the governments plans to transform the Gambia into an attractive hub for investors and to create employment opportunities for youths.

Speaking at the time of the ban, Mr Jammeh said sports betting and gambling dens have in recent years mushroomed all over the country and pupils including seven year-olds often line at kiosks during school hours and spend their lunch money on sports betting tickets. He added that many families now often go hungry because household incomes are wagered in gambling dens

He added that as Gambian society was built on the foundations of promoting positive social values like thrift and integrity rather than negative ones like greed and avarice, it is the duty of his government to safeguard and promote the welfare of his people.

The Gambling industry is one of the highest employers in the Gambia. The industry employs thousands of youths with decent wages and also pays millions in tax to the government.

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Gambia: President Barrow Lifts Jammeh's Gambling Ban - Jollofnews

Three women face charges in connection with operating an alleged speakeasy. Ted Czech, York Daily Record/Sunday News

York City Police raided what they called a "known speakeasy" in the 200 block of South Sherman Street on April 29.(Photo: Ted Czech, York Daily Record/Sunday News)Buy Photo

Three York women face charges in connection with the alleged operation of a speakeasy, where an entrance fee was charged for alcohol, food and gambling,according to charging documents.

Police said they raided the "known speakeasy," located inside a home in the 200 block of South Sherman Street, York, onApril 29, where they cited 33 people for prohibited patronizing and arrested nine on various criminal charges.

In addition, policeseizeddrugs, guns and more than $11,000.

This week, police filed charges against three women:Latricia Ann Thomas, 43, and Paula Faye Thomas, 60, both of the 200 block of South Sherman Street, and Tina Marie Duncan, 49, of the 800 block of West King Street, York.

READ: Newberry police cite drunken couple passed out in road

Documents did not state if the Thomases are related.

All three were arraigned Wednesday. Paula Thomas and Duncan face charges of dealing in procuring unlawful activity/intent to promote and unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages.

No other charging documents related to the other six who were arrested were available Thursday.

Latricia Thomas faces charges ofdealing in procuring unlawful activity/intent to promote, allowing gambling,unlawful acts relative to liquor, alcohol and license, possession or transportation of liquor or alcohol, and unlawful sale of alcoholic beverages, according to the documents.

The womenwere released on their own recognizance at their arraignment and are scheduled for a preliminary arraignment before District Judge Linda Williams on June 27, according to online court dockets.

READ: Loud, drunk man hangs out on Manchester porch, police say

On Thursday, there was no answer at the home police identified as the speakeasy, and the women could not be reached for comment

According to Sgt. James Lynam of the state's Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement,someone can't just decide to sell things like alcohol.

"You can't sell liquor, alcohol or malt beverages without a license," he said Thursday.

In addition, a casino license must be obtained to run a gambling operation,particularly if a cover is being charged at the door.

"If it's a game among friends, that's fine; however, if you charge an entry fee for a seat at the table where the house benefits, you're facilitating gambling, or in essence, a casino," Lynam said.

Also, the house did not have a food distribution license, according to documents.

Lynam said his bureau was approached by York City Police Officer William Wentz for their help in conducting the raid.

The bureau participated, but as far as specifically how they did so, Lynam declined to say, adding that it was an ongoing investigation.

Police identified Latricia Thomas as the tenant at the home where the speakeasy was operating.

READ: Man in Drunk Lives Matter shirt charged with DUI

Using a search warrant, police went to the home at about 3:45 a.m. Inside, they found crack, heroin, marijuana, five handguns and $11,783, police said.

"Patrons of the speakeasy admitted to being charged a cover charge to enter where in return they received food and drinks and were permitted to gamble," documents state.

Other patrons said they were charged additional amounts of money to buy shots of liquor or containers of malt or brewed beverages, according to documents.

Police spoke with Latricia Thomas, who admitted to charging and collecting money as patrons entered her home, documents state.

Contact Ted Czech at 717-771-2033.

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Food, drink, gambling at 'known speakeasy,' York cops say - York Daily Record/Sunday News

By Wayne ParryThe Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Attracting new customers to interactive experiences is going to be a big part of the future for casinos in the United States and around the world, participants in a major gambling conference predicted Wednesday.

Casino executives, digital experts and payment processors at the conference in Atlantic City agreed casinos need to offer new experiences that directly involve the next generation. This involves new, non-traditional products such as competitive video game contests, skill-based slots, and daily fantasy sports and sports betting in states that allow it.

These would allow casinos to bring in new customers and revenue, the executives and experts said.

"I think all casinos, 10 years from now, will evolve and offer some sort of interactive experiences," said Seth Schorr, chairman of the Downtown Grand casino in Las Vegas.

His casino has gone in big for eSports, the new name for competitive video game contests.

"Young people now consider video games a sport," he said. "It's shocking. It took me a long time to get my head around that. I'm a 40-year-old casino owner who believes in the future of our industry. If I'm not going to take a risk for the future, who is?"

Internet gambling is only offered in three states: New Jersey, by far the largest market; Nevada and Delaware. But other states are considering adding it. On Wednesday, Pennsylvania lawmakers moved a step closer to legalizing online gambling.

A prime opportunity for growth is the expansion of payment processing options for online gambling, said Joe Pappano, senior vice president of the payment processing company Vantiv Entertainment Solutions. Three years ago, when New Jersey offered the first internet bets, credit cards were used for only about 40 percent of transactions involving internet gambling. That figure has now risen to more than 80 percent, he said.

Casinos remain unsure whether daily fantasy sports and sports betting are potential friends or enemies, participants on a panel said.

States across the nation are grappling with how to regulate daily fantasy sports, in which players create a roster of real-life athletes who earn points based on their performances in games.

"Based on public statements from casino executives, there is a desire to see if daily fantasy sports can be added to the mix because of the millennials issue," said Joseph Brennan, CEO of SportAD, a fantasy sports startup firm.

But, he cautioned, it might be difficult to compete with industry leaders like Draft Kings and Fan Duel "that have spent billions of dollars to establish their brands."

Brennan said casinos are perfect partners for daily fantasy sports companies because of the existing player databases and the casinos' knowledge of their customers, their likes and gambling histories.

Sports betting is currently limited to just four states. On Wednesday, Acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear New Jersey's appeal of a lower court decision that invalidated the state's sports betting plan.

Melissa Price is senior vice president of Caesars Entertainment, which was first in the nation to deploy skill-based slot machines at its Atlantic City casinos. Unlike traditional slot machines, which are solely dependent on luck, the amount of skill an individual player has can influence whether he or she wins.

"Yes, it's true that there are fewer millennials playing slot machines," she said.

The company removed the 21 machines after six months because they were not generating enough money to cover the vendor fees, she said.

"We all understood that we were learning and experimenting," she said.

But Price said the company remains committed to the concept and plans to deploy new machines when they are available.

Casinos also have to constantly update their offerings and keep up with their customers' interests, said Vahe Baloulian, CEO of BetConstruct, which offers sports betting and online gambling software.

"The time will come when we're saying, 'This generation is not playing on their mobile phones anymore; they're playing on something else we don't know about.'"

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Gambling meets gaming: Contests of skill are a big part of casinos' future - The Providence Journal

Its not uncommon for gambling addicts to lose sight of the needs of their families when they are consumed by the desire to win at all costs.

Dr Heidi Sinclair of the SA Responsible Gambling Foundation says the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) has reported that mothers have even left their newborn babies in the care of preteen children when they go out to get their gambling fix, and men have been known to turn violent when they discover their partners have been hiding money from them in an effort to keep them out of the casino.

Weve also seen how gambling can make women promiscuous theyll accept money for sex as long theyre able to carry on with their habit. This, of course, poses a threat to their health, Sinclair says.

So many families have been torn apart when there is a partner who gambles. In some cases, children are forced to step in as caretakers, which places an enormous responsibility on them; one they are seldom ready for. The lying that usually accompanies a gambling habit also causes problem gamblers to lose their friends.

While spouses may want nothing to do with their gambling partners ways, they will be affected by it financially, especially if they are married in community of property because they are 100% liable for their spouses debt.

Geraldine MacPherson, legal marketing specialist at Liberty, says: When the couple is married in community of property, they are responsible for each others debt. In the case of surety slips, a spouse may find themselves responsible for their partners debt because you bind yourself as co-principal for the debt and often not only this specific debt, but any debt the person may incur with a financial institution.

So it would be wise to exercise caution when signing surety for your spouse if you are not married in community of property.

Gamblers have been known to resort to criminal activity in their desperation to feed their addiction. Sometimes they will be physically injured, sell all their possessions and even borrow money from loan sharks.

David Briskham, clinical and development director of Twin Rivers Addiction Recovery and Codependency Centre, says: At Twin Rivers, I worked with a gambler who lost R30 million and also owed money to the Chinese mafia.

Gambling in South Africa, involving legal and illegal gambling halls, is at epic proportions and, next to alcohol, is the biggest addiction in this country.

How many people are affected?

Sibongile Simelane-Quntana, executive director of the SA Responsible Gambling Foundation, says that, over the past 17 years, 18 100 people had been helped by the NRGP. The programme is a public-private sector initiative that was founded in June 2000. It is funded by the gambling operators.

Calls to the helpline are free and, if necessary, the caller will be enrolled in an outpatient programme with one of the NRGPs medical professionals. This is paid for by the programme and not the patient.

In response to the fact that gambling also affects the addicts family, the SA Responsible Gambling Foundation has introduced a Family Treatment and Counselling Programme, which it announced on Monday through the NRGP.

Sinclair says the initiative provides assistance that ranges from helping the family unit to regain its stability, to giving family members advice on how to handle the financial fallout of a gambling addiction. Its also free of charge.

But those who have been helped by the NRGP are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the number of people who suffer from a gambling addiction.

The people who have come to us have admitted that they had a problem. The figure excludes people who have not come to us, those who havent asked for help and those who attend Gamblers Anonymous, says Simelane-Quntana.

She admits that the system itself is not foolproof.

There is a collaborative effort between operators and the SA Responsible Gambling Foundation, but its up to the individual to get help, which is why the system is letting them down we leave it to the individual to get help.

For those who can afford it, there are private institutions that can help with gambling addictions, but these are expensive and are often not covered by a medical aid scheme.

Briskham recommends going to a specialised clinic that understands gambling addiction and knows how to treat it.

Your average rehab professes to be able to deal with gambling addiction and will try to help the addict in the same way it works with a drug addict, which is unlikely to work. A gambling addiction presents with an individual psychology, which is a specialised area, he says.

Gambling and getting into debt dont only affect the poor. According to debt counselling firm DebtBusters, its average client has a net income of R20 000 a month.

Seth Whitehead, marketing manager of Intelligent Debt Management Group, which owns DebtBusters, says: This is quite a high figure. We see an even spread of income earners signing up for debt counselling [low to high], but what we have been experiencing recently is a big reduction in the average age of our clients 23% of our new clients now are younger than 30.

Why its so hard to give up

Shaking your gambling addiction can be tough. While the NRGP is backed financially by the gambling operators, the casinos themselves do a lot to encourage the practice once customers enter their premises.

For instance, Sun International, which owns GrandWest Casino in Cape Town, makes gambling effortless it is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; it offers smoking and non-smoking gaming facilities; and theres even a supervised crche.

Most casinos are built without windows so that players arent aware of the time and happily play on. Some casinos even offer free drinks and food to keep people content and focused on the task of gambling if a gambler grows hungry, they may leave the premises to get a meal and so fall back to reality.

Kavi Kilawan, a certified hypnotherapist, life coach and compulsive behaviour specialist, says: Casinos apply their marketing as soon as you step into that door and, although their marketing is aggressive, it is subtle enough for you not to notice it. But it has powerful effects on a subconscious level.

Some may say that this is an unfair strategy keeping our minds busy while they drain our finances but we also are given choices all the time, Kilawan says.

Unfortunately, these habits are addictive, especially because the casinos make it difficult for us to quit as they make us feel like royalty by giving us gold and diamond cards.

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Gambling: How to get help as addiction worsens - News24