Modena: the “gambling trap” project at the Monzani Forum.

Modena: the “gambling trap” project at the Monzani Forum.

In Italy, 3 percent of the adult population, over one and a half million citizens, fall into the profile of problem gamblers, that is, they struggle to keep the time and money they dedicate to gambling under control.
The project starts from this fact "The gambling trap" that Wednesday 25 October also arrives in Modena, the final stage of a journey of knowledge and awareness about gambling, conceived and created by Notice Pubblico and Bper Banca, which has already touched the cities of Rome, Turin, Genoa, Naples and Palermo.

In Modena, with the patronage of the Municipality, the the day of October 25th is divided into two events, both at the Monzani Forum: in the morning, a meeting reserved for high school to which 958 students are already enrolled (712 in attendance and 246 connected in streaming) and 65 teachers from ten Modena institutes: Wiligelmo, Cattaneo-Deledda, Fermi, Sigonio, Sacro Cuore, Selmi and Ferrari in Maranello. In the afternoon the initiative opens to the city with the meeting "Gambling: Losing is mathematical“, an opportunity to delve deeper into some aspects of pathological addiction of gambling and the relationship between gambling and criminal organisations.

The day dedicated to "The Gambling Trap" was presented this morning, Tuesday 17 October, at Palazzo Comunale, with a press conference attended by the mayor of the Municipality of Modena Gian Carlo Muzzarelli and the councilor for employment policies and legality Andrea Bosi; Flavia Mazzarella, president of Bper Banca; Pierpaolo Romani, national coordinator of Public Notice e Claudia Capitani representing the diocesan Caritas of Modena and the diocesan council for charitable works.

The Bper and Public Notice project was born, in fact, from the observation of ever-growing dimension of the gambling phenomenon and from the consequent reflection on the risk for many people, especially the younger ones, of developing a real behavioral addiction (gambling disorder), which also leads to negative consequences on family, work and financial balance, with the danger of falling into debt and ending up in the hands of loan sharks and organized crime. The objective of the path is, therefore, to propose an action of information and awareness by providing, especially to younger people, tools to prevent as much as possible the pathological conditions that cause problems for society.

The Mayor Muzzarelli, thanking Bper Banca and Notice Pubblico for "their commitment to fighting the scourge of pathological gambling", placed the emphasis on online games which "involve and make prisoners of many very young people. I don't think that prohibition is the solution, what matters is education on legality. I am happy - therefore - he concluded that this initiative, whose reasons we share and which we fully support, involves so many of our young people".
As the president of Bper Banca explained Flavia Mazzarella, "with this project Bper wanted to play an active social role to stem a phenomenon that has increasingly evident repercussions on families and communities". Highlighting the initiative for students, he underlined that "at the Monzani Forum the kids, increasingly exposed to the phenomenon, will be able to make their own useful advice and information to avoid falling into what is a real trap. We have a moral duty to raise awareness and create useful moments for correct and necessary information."

“The project conceived with Bper – he stated Pierpaolo Romani – further testifies to the commitment that Noticeo Pubblico has been carrying out for years to prevent the growth of gambling which increasingly affects the new generations: Italy is in fact among the very first positions in the world ranking for the spread of gambling online, the method most used by girls and boys. Gambling is also a major interest for criminal organizations. Projects like this are fundamental to making young people and society more aware of the risks and dangers of this insidious, ever-expanding and evolving addiction."
The morning program with the students will reveal in a captivating way, the tricks, the little secrets, the dangers and the big truths behind gambling, using mathematics as a kind of logical antidote that makes people more aware of the risks and socio-economic implications of the phenomenon.

They intervene in the afternoon meeting Diego Rizzuto, science communicator of Taxi1729, Clare Gabrielli, director of the Pathological Addictions Program of the Modena Local Health Authority, Mauro Croce, professor of Psychology of deviance and crime at the University of Valle d'Aosta. The councilor's intervention bosi, which concludes the meeting, will be dedicated to the role of civil society in combating pathological gambling, to the possible strategies to combat it by the banking world and by local administrators, with particular reference also to the various prevention projects activated in the area by the Municipality and the actions that have made it possible to reduce the number of slot halls in the Municipality of Modena from 29 to eight.