subject: Addiction calls regarding casino and gambling [print this page] Under the project of the opening of gambling online, especially the online poker, INPES was commissioned by the Office of the Ministry of Health to support actions for designing health messages and setting upa telephone device to assist poker and casino players in trouble, as provided in Article 29 of the Act of May 12, 2010.Anonymous, confidential and free, this device "Listen to player info service" is available on the 09 74 75 13 13 (7 / 7, from 8am to 2am), and the service includes the information, support, guidance preventionand advice.Thus, since it has opened on the 7th of 2010, "Listen to player info service " has treated more than 6,500 calls from online gamers.
What are the types of calls?Who calls and why?
During the first days of the opening of the line, the listeners of the line "Listen to player info service" have to face a considerable number of requests from players.These calls were mainly related to a malfunction on a site of a gaming operator, and by a confusion generated by the publishing number on this site.Indeed, the number display on the website of this game operator might suggest that this number was the "assistance" of the operator and the majority of calls came from disappointed players terrified by losing their deposit without playing.
Beyond this specific malfunction, calls directly related to a situation of addiction or need assistance in relation to the gambling could be divided like underneath:
83% were from the players themselves- 12% came from the entourage of players (family, friends, neighbour...) -2.5% of the general public -2.5% of health professionals. Among online casino and poker players, 82% are male and 12% are female.Among the entourage, 31% are male and 69% are women.
Main reasons of calls user:
Requests for information: information about the service provided by the hotline, dependency information, information about the help and how the association can financially help...
Requests for help and advice (advice about the consummation, instant advice
Applications Orientation: orientation toward the specialised structures of care, referrals to social assistance and legal assistant.
The line also receives calls for help applications (emotional support, support for preventing relapse, support when people feel like it is difficult to live with gambling ...)
Main reason of entourage calls:
Calls of the entourage are mostly requests for advice and assistance: aid to dialogue with others, consulting to provide assistance to the user, help couple on instant help...)
The entourage also called but most minority. Requests for information are more about information about how the person can be treated and by which way.
The market on gambling is just open and people are already quite concern about the addiction problem and try to have information to protect themselves and their entourage. It is a great thing to know and hope it will help some families.
