Convened by the Platform against the Betting Houses of the Region of Pamplona, last Saturday about two thousand people demonstrated in the capital of Navarra against these types of companies. While the Foral Government “analyzes a legislative change that can solve the social concern stemming from the expansion of the business”, it approved a moratorium that has paralyzed the opening of the chambers for six months.

Rakel Pardo del Burgo, member of Aralar, an organization that prevents pathological gambling in Navarra, explained that an interdepartmental group studies foreign competences and how to address the problem according to the legislation, “because the regulations have remained in the law of 2008 and must be updated to the digital age and betting houses after 2012”. In fact, in 2011 the betting houses in Navarra were less than 30 and, nine years later, there were 61.

“The owners of the betting houses argue that if the in-person game is eliminated it will rise online, then what we propose is to limit it,” said Pardo. “In many other countries this is regulated by law, but the Spanish State is lagging behind and in Navarre we have to seek solutions,” he said.

As stated by Alejandro Landaluce, president of the betting company Cejuego, in an interview given to the digital media ElDiario.es in November, companies do not limit themselves to: “We are entrepreneurs and not daughters of charity,” he said. Seen thus, “of course, how are you going to play well?” asks Pardo.

Support to 75 organisations

Last November, several residents of the neighborhoods of Pamplona who considered this behaviour harmful or the very nature of these companies set up a common platform. In order to make a qualitative leap into the movement, they decided to organize for the first time a demonstration and, at the end, they went to the street. “We campaigned with a large number of social agents that could be involved and with the aim of adding as many social groups as possible to our mobilization,” Aranguren said. The result of this will was 75 united organizations, from unions, parties, students, education, etc.

According to Hodei, this made it clear that “society is becoming more and more aware of this issue”, but he also mentioned that “it is not noticeable in daily life” and that “we were already late”. “But we have to be on the front line to solve the problem,” said the Platform member.

In this work, the Aralar association has found a new partner, the Platform Against the Betting Houses of the County of Pamplona. Aralar is a nonprofit organization created in 1996 by relatives of people affected by the pathology of the game. In Navarra it is the only association of this kind, and Pardo says that after 24 years it maintains its functions: “Prevention, support, consulting and research”.

You can become a library for half a year

The context, however, has changed a lot. “Before, for example, in some ball game you could make an intermittent wager; but today there are many means to wager anywhere and in any situation,” Aranguren said. Research has found a disturbing difference between the usual bets and the rooms today, and that is that the time to become dependent is usually between five and ten times lower. That is, while a person who plays coins or wagers on the fronton takes an average of 5 years to do so, a person who plays in gambling halls or online games only needs a time of between six months and a year.

Why? Aralar’s studies conclude that the new wagering types “offer more opportunities and therefore immediate results.” In fact, current wagers are not limited to the scoreboard of a football match, but they also receive leavers, cards, etc. In addition, they encourage the client to guess what will happen during the match through interim questions and predictions, “breaking the addiction,” Rakel said. To this must be added a lot of publicity, although in Aralar they are sure that it will be prevented "sooner than fast". The result of all these agents has been, in Rakel’s words: “We have been warning about what has happened for years and many politicians called us “alarmists”. Now, this alarm has been extended, but that has served to ensure that the response of society occurs in the last year and, at the same time, a warning is given to the institutions.”

Profile of patients aged 18-25 years

Of course, the emergence of new diseases brings new patients. Aralar currently serves 200 Navarros, of which about 115 are affected by being family members or friends in therapy. This is how Rakel Pardo describes the new profile of most of the remaining 85: From 18 to 25 years old, with serious economic problems and without unstructured families. On many occasions, he says, “they are men and sportsmen, so it is possible to think that they have more capacity to guess the sports results, as these are the most common games today along with the online ones.” The representative of Aralar analysed that these types of players “if they win at first, they can suffer a serious long-term problem”. “In that illusion of the winner is the problem,” explains Hodei Aranguren, “even though companies make profits by promoting pathological gambling.” However, it has to be said that “there are people who play games like stock exchange or bingo, as always,” Pardo said.

Aralar uses the welcoming process with the patients she attends, where the degree of addiction of each is analyzed, interviews with the psychologist and weekly community therapy with the other patients, “the most effective way to cure”, as pointed out by Pardo. According to the type of player, there are four levels: the social, the one who has fun and can control himself; the professional, who has the game as a profession; the problem, who begins to devote too much time and money to the game; and the pathological, who suffers from a pathological disease recognized by the World Health Organization, that is, who devotes almost all the time and money to the game. The latter is not able to make decisions on his own and may be forced to ask for loans or to steal money in order to continue playing.

Abolition or delimitation

To avoid this, the Pamplona County Platform requires a radical solution, as “as long as betting houses are legal there will still be problems”, according to Aranguren. However, know the direction to achieve this: “It’s clear that the laws to limit betting houses are positive, but we’re going to close the halls; we’re not in favor of these businesses and they will be in front of us,” he said.