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Hong Kong is one of the worst areas in Asia for gambling addiction and maybe even the worst in the world. Hong Kong representatives would like to lose the tag that it has earned but centers that provide counseling still say that the city has a major problem with gambling and addiction.
The Caritas Addicted Gamblers Counseling Center has pleaded with the government to raise the legal gambling age from 18 to 21 years old. As of now, the center has already offered assistance to numerous gambling addicts. Since 2003, the center has seen over 4,000 gambling addicts and on average, the center has 40 new open cases of gambling addicts each month. Of the other three major counseling centers in Hong Kong plus the Caritas Addicted Gamblers Counseling Center, there are at least 120 new cases of gambling addicts seeking counseling every month.
According to statistics collected by the Caritas Addicted Gamblers Counseling Center, one out of every six gambling addicts is ages 29 years old or younger. A whopping 62 percent of gambling addicts in Hong Kong are between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Nearly 22 percent of these gambling addicts are aged 50 years or older. When looking at demographics, 96 percent of the gambling addicts are males and at least half of these gamblers have collected debts that calculate at least HK$200,000 or more.
When further looking at the gambling habits of these addicts, many of these people that have gotten themselves in hot water because of gambling began wagering between the ages of 16 and 20 years old and some of the youngest had started gambling at the age of 10 years old. Of these cases that have visited the Caritas Addicted gamblers Counseling Center, many of these gambling addicts are suicidal. Based on current surveys and statistics, there are well between 100,000 and 200,000 gamblers in Hong Kong that have gambling problems and many have not and probably will not seek help for their addiction.
In Asia, it is not uncommon for Chinese people to gamble as it is something that the people seem to love. However, it has become a major frenzy. Over the past ten years, it shows that at least four million citizens have participated in gambling activities. Some of the wagers are even put on games such as Mahjong and Mark Six and Mark Six often leads the Chinese people into becoming addicted, destructive gamblers.
If the government would enforce a higher age that people would be allowed to gamble, it would be a more preventative measure that would try to keep young people from starting to gamble at such a young age. Macau casinos do not allow people that are under the age of 21 years old to enter the premises and though Singapore has a minimum age requirement of 21 years old to enter a casino, the casinos also charge the gamblers a cover charge just to enter a casino. Some of these efforts if taken into consideration could help to minimize the number of people that fight addiction to gambling.