Il gioco d'azzardo e la sua dipendenza: evoluzione del fenomeno ed impatti economici

[Machine translation] The volume intends to deepen the topic of gambling and its addiction, a topic that is increasingly being heard today also by public opinion, since there are countless side effects and both direct and indirect consequences that affect people affected by this addiction. Not secondly, this phenomenon is capable of generating very significant economic flows. Consider, for example, that in the year 2019 the volume of games was 110.5 billion euros with a revenue for the Treasury of about 11 billion euros., Furthermore, a very varied market consisting of about half of entertainment equipment (Slot and VLT) followed at a great distance by instant lotteries, and (constantly growing), by sports betting. In 2019, the so-called 'remote' (online) gaming sector was worth almost a third of the total (more than 34 billion). Pathological gambling, a constantly growing addiction, affects more than 1.5 million, of problem subjects, of whom only twelve thousand would be treated by Italian Public Services. Another strong critical issue concerns the sections of the population affected by this phenomenon; gambling addiction affects the weakest strata of society such as the elderly, people with low income capacity who try their luck in order to improve their economic situation. The additional, An alarming fact concerns a new type of subjects affected by the phenomenon, namely, according to the latest studies, the youth groups of the underage school-age population (14-17 years old)., In addition to immediate and direct economic damage, there are numerous indirect consequences of addiction; think, for example, of mental distress, suicide attempts, ruptures of family relationships (separations and divorces), loss of work with associated indebtedness and potential subjection to usury and petty crime.