Before the May holidays, we had time to distract ourselves from the news about how a Moscow police officer committed suicide after losing his apartment on allegations – there was already a new corpse in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police again. But I lost money on slot machines and online casinos. Also suicide. I personally was already mentally prepared when very strange news broke about the alleged disappearance of General Popov, who was arrested on charges of selling metal structures, in a casino. Even though I don’t want to believe it.
I don’t even want to believe that this general is a scoundrel – his face is too honest. Somehow it doesn’t fit the sale to the left of the fence. But although it is hard for me to believe that the fence was stolen, I can unfortunately imagine that the general could lose in an online casino. Because lately a terrible truth has been revealed to me: everyone is playing.
Online casinos are prohibited here, but players bypass the blocking in browsers and applications are downloaded to their phones for free. And today they can get into absolutely anyone’s phone. I’m sure school children, homeless people and authorities have them. As we know, the police have them. Why shouldn’t the General play them too?
It seems we are on the verge of a new national disaster. Which ones did we have? There were slot machines. There was desomorphine-crocodile. Microcredits. Salt drugs are still a problem. Now – an online casino. Perhaps this is the worst problem of all.
I still remember when we had casinos open. And I remember the period of fighting with them. As a journalist, he wrote about the gambling business and even faced threats. I remember clubs like Vulcan. I even vaguely remember the actual casinos.
At first they were legal, then they ignored them. And after the ban, slot machines were called lottery machines. They even sold lottery tickets in gambling halls. Later, clubs began to look like computer lounges, and the machines were ordinary computers with gaming software.
But you know what? Yes, there were lots of clubs, slot machines and underground casinos. Machines can usually be found in any store. They came to the supermarket to buy milk and played games on the way out. Nightclubs had casino halls. But the gambling addiction epidemic (gambling addiction. – socialbites.ca) There was no such thing back then, because many were stopped by the fact that the public had fallen out of favor, so to speak. If you played, people would look at you; passers-by, vendors… even the same gambling hall employees and co-workers. Stoped.
It was also necessary to go to clubs and vending machines. Get off the couch, get dressed. Look for cash again. They played on their own. The process of finding money was difficult. Of course, they managed to arrange special loans for gambling addicts and lost housing, but for a person who plays a lot, all these actions are complicated by many labor-intensive steps.
In the 2000s, I knew families with gambling addictions at home. These are not rich people who spend their time on roulette, but ordinary guys who waste money on slot machines, earning modest incomes. I will say this: there was some kind of control over them. It was easy to lock the husband of such a house. You could have taken his money or his debit card. There’s even a savings book because 20 years ago not everyone still had a card.
If the woman knew that her husband was addicted to gambling, she would only leave him money for food and take away his savings book and bank cards when he went on vacation. I can get the documents of the flat. This much.
And even the gambler himself, if he had decided to tear his apartment to shreds, would most likely have had time to come to his senses during the mortgage process – after all, the process was complicated.
Gambling addiction was not a national problem. And now he has become one of them. Because now you can install multiple applications on any phone at the same time, each of which is offered by almost a hundred casino operators. Naturally, when you open it, you are presented with a hundred different games to choose from from different providers. And there are more than one or two such applications. You can play at any time of the day. If you do not have enough money, you can take out a loan online. No time to calm down, no time to heal.
Gambling addiction has already become a national tragedy, the extent of which we have not yet grasped. For a long time we did not see the extent of addiction to cheap “salt” drugs: until loan sharks took to the streets, people did not understand the tragedy, because families normally hid drug addicts. If someone dies suddenly, parents say the child died of a heart attack. If he was convicted of drug distribution, they said he was framed.
The situation is the same with gambling addiction. But due to the increasing accessibility of the Internet and social networks, we began to learn this faster. A little more and we will understand that we are faced with a new misfortune. And much more terrible than others, because of all these misfortunes that befell an ordinary person in our country, only online casinos are available to him here and now: at home, in his pocket, in the subway. There is no need to go anywhere to look for “bookmarks”. No need to cook crocodile. No need to go to microfinance offices: install the app and play. Are you out of money? They will give you a loan immediately. You can even mortgage an apartment online if you can manage it.
Don’t believe this happens everywhere? Here are the latest news on gambling statistics: At the end of 2022, 10 million people played in online casinos in Russia. I think the current increase is at least a quarter. And this, as I understand it, does not take into account the players in the bets. By comparison, in 2009 6% of our population liked gambling; these were mostly offline cards and slot machines.
Even if there are 12 million people playing in online casinos today, this is at least thirty, or even forty million victims with their families; Those whose homes and budgets were confiscated, their belongings pledged, their flats sold. At least half of the 12 million players have a spouse; This means another 6 million co-borrowers who will be responsible for the debts.
Think about it: We are in a world where players have no restrictions.
Recently I encountered a terrible situation: an acquaintance came to visit me. We started talking about Dostoyevsky’s life, and my guest began to tell with surprise how difficult it was for the writer’s wife to live with gambling debts. I even got access to Anna Snitkina’s memoirs. While I was setting the table, my guest was going through the tables. I read how his wife pawned her clothes to creditors, how she secretly donated candlesticks and a fur coat to creditors, just so that the writer would not be tormented by the creditors.
“So how can you live like this?!” – the friend was surprised. He then pulled out his phone and showed that it had various apps installed for online casinos, each containing dozens of different gambling games!
By the way, Dostoyevsky relatively had to go to Wiesbaden to lose. In order to pawn his wife’s lace shawl, he had to take his wife to the same Baden, take the shawl off her and carry her to the pawnshop with his feet. A photographer friend of mine says that all you have to do is turn on your phone to lose the money you bought for a photo shoot.
Now, by installing an application on his phone, a person can play everything his family owns without leaving his room. When the bailiffs come to her, the woman will learn that the family is left without money, housing and in debt. I can’t even imagine the stress experienced by families of known roulette addicts. You literally can’t relax because you remember that your husband could install the app at any moment, lose his apartment, and end up millions of dollars in debt. Any! Even while you sleep.
This has never happened before. Probably the most dangerous vice that can defeat a person. Because it drags families and sometimes entire generations into poverty. If a father loses his savings, gets $ 5 million in debt and sells his apartment to the casino, under current conditions only his adult children will be able to pay for everything, pay off their debts and win the apartment again.
It was like this before. We’ve lost fortunes before: at roulette, at cards. But never before could this be done without leaving home and going beyond your own pocket.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Dolores Johnson is a voice of reason at “Social Bites”. As an opinion writer, she provides her readers with insightful commentary on the most pressing issues of the day. With her well-informed perspectives and clear writing style, Dolores helps readers navigate the complex world of news and politics, providing a balanced and thoughtful view on the most important topics of the moment.