The Pennsylvania State Lottery, in concert with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania (CCGP), has announced its participation in a gift responsibility program ahead of the holiday season.
The program will discourage the giving of gambling related products – such as lottery tickets, the commonest culprit – to children. The guiding logic in this measure is that children exposed to gambling are likelier to develop gambling problems later in life. This is an outcome that both gambling companies and anti-problem gambling entities would like to avoid.
The American Psychiatric Association has found that 10-15% of younger people have gambling problems.
The CCGP Executive Director, Josh Ercole, reiterated the risks of gambling as well as the goals of the measure: “This holiday season, and throughout the year, remember that there is an age requirement to participate in lottery games, and in Pennsylvania, that age is 18. While it may seem harmless, gifting lottery tickets to young people can establish a norm that may lead to other risky behaviors.”
This program was originally an initiative launched by the Washington DC-based National Council on Problem Gambling (to which the CCGP is affiliated) and the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
The program – known as the Gift Responsibly Campaign – has been adopted by state lotteries all over the country. In addition to the recently announced Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan and Virginia, among others, have all declared their participation.
