Estonian problem gambling

Estonia, the small Baltic republic and recent addition to the European Union, apparently has had some problems with problem gamblers.

From EU Business:

Estonia has a huge problem with gambling addiction.
“Gambling addiction is a devil that can ruin your life,” said 56-year-old Anton whose 30-year-old son Rein committed suicide in February after losing all his earnings at a casino in the capital Tallinn.
“States which have such a liberal casino policy simply don’t care about their people,” Anton said.
According to a recent survey by Estonian market research company Faktum, tiny Estonia with a population of about 1.4 million, a million of them adults, has around 25,000 gambling addicts.
About the same number are regarded as being at risk.
In addition to a booming private casino business, there is the state-owned “Estonian Lotto” which has been very successful in recent years and whose various gambling products can be accessed on the Internet.
“I think the names of all those people who have lost their lives due to casino addiction should be written on the wall of our new national art museum, built with the money collected from the gambling tax,” Anton said.
“My son was just one of many who found no way out of that hellish spiral in spite of everything we tried to do to help him.”
According to the Estonian finance ministry, state revenues from the gambling tax have increased sixfold in the last 10 years.
Half of the proceeds of the tax is used for cultural projects, including the building of the new national art museum in Tallinn due to open next year.
While Estonia’s casino policy may not differ greatly from that of some other east European countries, it is noticeable that compared with the nearby Finnish capital Helsinki, located 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Tallinn, casinos have mushroomed in the Estonian capital.
According to Tonis Ruutel, chairman of the Estonian Association of Gambling Operators, there are 126 casinos in Estonia and last year their profits totalled nearly seven million euros (9 million dollars). Half the casinos are located in Tallinn.

EUbusiness - Gambling addiction snares thousands in tiny Estonia

Click through the read the whole article–it provides a rather one-sided view of the problems “caused by” Estonian casinos.

Articles like this make you realize how far the American industry has come in presenting itself as a legitimate business and a good corporate citizen.