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The Compass: Gambling: A Sure Bet? : Gambling: A Sure Bet? Albania

Factual

Gambling: A Sure Bet? Albania

28/04/2021 GMT

Gambling: A Sure Bet?

BBC World Service - The Compass, Gambling: A Sure Bet?, Gambling: A Sure Bet? Albania

Is banning gambling the best way to tackle the problems it causes in Albania?

Is banning gambling the best way to tackle the problems it causes in Albania, or does it just send the industry underground?

Albania was plagued by problems caused by gambling; high levels of debt, divorce and suicide triggered the government to ban it. But it did not have the desired effect. Instead the ban sent the industry underground and into the hands of organised criminal gangs. Dr Heather Wardle sets Fatjona Mejdini, a journalist who writes about Albania’s development, the task of investigating the state of gambling in her country and asks whether banning betting can solve the problems caused by it.

The Compass: Gambling: A Sure Bet? 

Gambling: A Sure Bet? 

As online gambling’s popularity grows, we investigate who wins, and who loses.

In this new three part series for “The Compass” gambling behavior expert Dr Heather Wardle looks at three countries: Kenya, Albania and the USA and inves-tigates how the growing popularity of online gambling is affecting gamblers.

Dr Wardle believes gambling should be strictly regulated and online gambling is having a particularly troubling effect on young people. Modern technology means gamblers can access betting apps on their smartphones and Dr Wardle worries this is normalising gambling as an everyday activity, instead of it just being an “entertainment.”

But gambling is having a much more complicated effect on people than she first thought. In each programme Dr Wardle asks someone from that country to demonstrate why gambling is so important to them. Ultimately, Dr Wardle wants to find out what the safest way is to protect gamblers from health problems caused by betting, but still allow the communities that benefit from the industry to continue to operate.

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Gambling: A Sure Bet?

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