Fr. Munir Bracco, Vicar of Social Pastoral of the Archdiocese of Córdoba (Argentina) presented in the Senate of the Nation about the flagelo of the ludopathy and its impact on young people.
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There, in the name of the Episcopal Commission of Social Pastoral, he urged legislators to reflect on “if there is political will to limit this plague that is wreaking havoc in all corners of our homeland, and that threatens to leave us a generation of ludopaths”.
The exhibition took place on Wednesday, October 1, before the Plenary of the Health, General and Justice Legislation and Criminal Affairs of the Senate, where several bills are being treated to regulate online bets.
Within that framework, the priest urged to “stop this silent pandemic that is destroying lives”, and that hits children, adolescents and young people.
“The reality is clear,” said Father Bracco: “Children who steal their parents to bet. Retirees who leave their entire salary to bet. Teenagers who commit crimes to obtain money to approve, to be able to continue. And many families vulnerable to those who are told that they will be able to save the month if they bet, and end there,” he listed.
In Argentina, bets are “on the same path” of drugs, said the priest, calling to do something thinking about the common good among the different social actors.
“That’s why we insist, betting is not playing, we don’t talk about play. Playing is something else. This already happened with drugs, as I said just, and look where we are today,” he warned, yearning that “pain and experience make us learn.”
“Ludopathy is a public health problem, as said, like any addiction; it is a social problem due to its economic and community impact; a family drama that deeply hurts coexistence and the future. And when this addiction hits young people, we mortgage the future of the nation, of our homeland,” he summarized.
Referring to the case of the province of Córdoba where, despite the warnings of the Church, “the officially approved ruling this law,” Father Bracco warned that the legalization of online bets, far from regular, aggravated the impact of addiction. “We have put the boys a casino on each cell phone,” he warned.
In that sense, he regretted that “the boys no longer enjoy football: they live it pending whether there will be a goal, a card or a penalty to win or lose a bet”, and considered that it is “a nonsense” to associate the sport, symbol of health, effort and teamwork; With something sick.
The priest presented the Church’s proposal, based on three interconnected axes: “attend to the victims of the grocery store; prevent others from falling; preventing the State from, through erroneous policies, indirectly, to favor this addiction.”
Among those present were senators of various blocks, representatives of betting companies and referents of the Argentine Soccer Association (AFA), among others.
The Senate, concluded Fr. Bracco, “will now have the responsibility of discussing whether or not to give this bill to this bill.”
“The legislators who vote in favor, I think they can say with peace and awareness that they did what was within reach, whatever happens. Otherwise, there is a pandemic that progresses, a problem that is not solved, and can touch us all,” he said.
“We are on time. In short, the dilemma is, from our point of view, money and destruction or greatness and damage control. The legislators have to choose,” he concluded.
Bets in Argentina
The report Betting is not a gamepublished in September 2024, it relieved data in 360 locations in the 24 Argentine provinces, interviewing more than 9,000 people, men and women, from 15 to 29 years old. The investigation revealed that almost the total of adolescents and young people heard about online bets.
According to the study, 4 out of 10 teenagers currently bet or bet recently; and 3 out of 4 trainers dedicate up to two hours a day to the game.
The report revealed that 30% of the traigators have experienced anxiety or stress for the fact of not having been able to make a bet, and most of the traigators (60%) consider that they win by the effect of chance, especially those who bet on casinos. However, 1 out of 5 believes that the result depends on their knowledge about sport or discipline in which they bet.
Teenagers and young people bet on the equivalent of 2 out of every 3 pesos they receive from their parents for their daily expenses; and 3 out of 4 interviewees know friends, friends or relatives who perform online bets.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.