News
Reinventing a future for compulsive gamblers in Estonia
February 2008
Problem gambling is a relatively new issue in Estonian society,
surrounded quite often with the aura of judgment. The EQUAL development
partnership "Reintegration of Compulsive Gamblers into the Labour Market and
Prevention of Social Exclusion" was the first in Estonia to start helping
people who have problems with gambling. Their field work and mainstreaming
has proved to be so successful that by now an official working group in the
Ministry of Social Affairs has been established to work out the national
strategy for problem gambling and changes are being made in the Gambling Tax
Act by the Ministry of Finance so that the national strategy will be
directly financed from the budget of gambling tax.
Why were these changes needed?
Casinos started to spread in Estonia in early 1990s when people were still
not aware of the (quite often) devastating consequences of gambling. A decade
later the public started to hear stories about people who had serious problems
with gambling – broken families, lost jobs, criminal records for stealing money,
etc. But still, the attitude towards casinos in Estonia is quite liberal.
Indeed, when walking around in Tallinn one can see casinos everywhere. The most
noticeable outdoor displays always belong to major casino chains. For
approximately 1.4 million people who live in Estonia there are 169 casinos,
which is a relatively high number if compared to other member states.
The research has shown that there is direct correlation between the number of
casinos and problematic gamblers, which number in Estonia is estimated at 20 000
– 25 000 people. Considering the fact that one problematic gambler affects on
average 3 other people (family members, friends, employers, etc) the number of
people that are directly affected by problematic gambling arrives to 75 000
people, this is about 5.3% of the whole population in Estonia.
Before the EQUAL project "Reintegration of Compulsive Gamblers into the
Labour Market and Prevention of Social Exclusion" there was no attention paid in
Estonia to the problematic of compulsive gambling.
From despair to normal life
Kristjan, a 31 year old construction worker from Tallinn had been gambling
for 15 years before getting help from the rehabilitation centre HUVI that was
established by the DP. During the period he had marriages that broke, he lost
more than 2 million Estonian kroons (approximately 130 000 euros) in casinos and
lost hope for a happy future.
"15 years ago, when the casinos started to spread in Estonia I started
gambling," says Kristjan. "Whenever I had a few kroons I felt the need to go to
a casino. At the beginning it was like a form of entertainment for me, but then
suddenly I was in debt and tried to solve the problem by gambling more, hoping
that I'd win. Of course this did not happen, instead I had severe depression and
hoped to get help again from the casinos."
Pille-Riin Kaare, the DP project manager
Inevitably problems with gambling brought problems in professional life as
well. During the period of problem gambling Kristjan did not manage to keep his
job, had occasional jobs and got paid under the table.
"During the gambling period I did mostly short time jobs, but there were
periods when I was completely without work. These were difficult times. I hit
the low, was disdained by my friends, slept in the shelters for homeless,"
explains Kristjan.
Now, after the therapy sessions at HUVI, he has managed to keep his official
job, he is back together with his last partner and things seem to move
positively. "Now, I dare to think about the future, to look two years ahead. Before I did
not even want to think about tomorrow," is Kristjan optimistic.
Kristjan says that a centre like this is utmost necessary for it provides
free individual therapy for casino addicts. "Problem gamblers do not ever have
enough money for psychologists. Even if they do, they would rather go with that
money to the casino. I got help from HUVI centre, I have my normal life back now
and I know that I am not the only one."
Way to decision-makers
"When we started we hoped that the activities of our DP would continue also
after the funding received by the EQUAL programme, though we were not sure how
that would be possible," says Pille-Riin Kaare, the project manager.
In co-operation with the EQUAL Managing Authority, the project set up a very
successful mainstreaming plan. The overall aim was to change in the Gambling Tax
Act so that a rehabilitation centre would be financed directly from the budget
of gambling tax.
"At first we identified key persons for such change and introduced the
results and problematic of the project. Then, the managing authority organised
an appointment with our Minister of Social Affairs, Mrs Maripuu," explains
Pille-Riin Kaare "so that we could present to the minister the reason why it is
necessary to continue the work with problem gamblers."
The appointment was an even bigger success than the project manager had
hoped. With the decree of the minister of social affairs, a working group was
established in the beginning of 2008. The working group is composed of
representatives of different ministries, NGOs that deal with the issues,
psychologists, psychiatrist and an ex-compulsive gambler. The objective of the
working group is to compose a strategy for tackling compulsive gambling. The
strategy will be composed of different parts: treatment, prevention and
rehabilitation of compulsive gamblers. Financing the strategy will now come
directly from the Gambling Tax. The changes in the legislation are in process
and are foreseen to come into force in the beginning of 2009.
"To include the specialists and key public officials is crucial in making
such a big change," concludes Mrs Kaare.
The success in mainstreaming the results of a DP so that the current relevant
legislation is changed proves the possibility and necessity of mainstreaming.
Estonian EQUAL Managing Authority is also planning to promote the mainstreaming
principle to include it to the open calls of the new ESF programming period.
- For further information on the mainstreaming process of the DP or other
mainstreaming success stories in Estonia, contact the Estonian EQUAL Managing
Authority via e-mail christian.veske@sm.ee.
- For further information about the project check the web site
www.huvi.ee.
- The web site of Estonian
EQUAL is www.tta.ee/equal.
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