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NSGC Reminds Parents Not to Buy Lottery for Children this Holiday Season
Wednesday, December 5, 2007NSGC Reminds Parents Not to Buy Lottery for Children this
December 4, 2007 – Halifax: For the second consecutive year, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation (NSGC) and its ticket lottery operator, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), are working with the McGill University International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors to dissuade parents and other adults from purchasing lottery tickets for their children or other minors.
With the holiday season right around the corner, many parents and family members are searching to find fun and exciting gift ideas to finish up their last minute shopping, but while lottery products such as Scratch’nWin tickets make great stocking stuffers for adults, they are not appropriate for children.
“As a world leader in prevention programming, it is important that we send a strong message out to parents: minors should not be participating in any gambling activity, no matter what the season.” says Marie Mullally, NSGC’s President and CEO.
Research conducted by DECODE in 2006 concluded that 13% of 15 to 17-year-olds in Nova Scotia participate in gambling through lottery tickets. The majority of these children said they got these tickets from their parents.
Dr. Jefferey Derevensky, co-director of the McGill University International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors agrees. “We know that playing the lottery at a young age can increase the potential for problem gambling later in life. This holiday, we are once again urging that children and teens should not be given lottery products as gifts.”
Dr. Derevensky’s team is involved in a variety of initiatives aimed directly at addressing youth gambling problems. A number of their prevention tools have received awards including the DVD docudrama Clean Break and the multimedia games The Amazing Chateau and
NSGC and ALC are also working to ensure the awareness message is heard through inclusion on digital signage at ticket retail locations, a written message on all lottery tickets, and prevention messages on both the NSGC and ALC websites. The sale of lottery tickets to minors is prohibited.
Parents and caregivers play an influential role in their children’s lives. Preventing them from gambling before they reach the age of majority is the gift to give them this holiday season.
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For more information contact:
Michaela Becker
Acting Vice-President
Prevention Programming & Public Affairs
Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation
Office 902-424-6853
Cell: 902-401-5949
Alissa Sklar
Director of Program Development and Communications
International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors
514-398-2470
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