Daily Gleaner | News - As published on page A1 on October 9, 2006
She's not giving up 'hope'
VLT GAMBLING
By EVERTON MCLEAN
For The Daily Gleaner
Quick look
Hope Young is on a mission to help New Brunswick families get rid of video lottery gambling addiction, and she's bringing her message to the most powerful people in the province and country.
Young, who has a family member she says is addicted to VLTs, has started a petition with the intent of abolishing the machines in New Brunswick.
She and a friend have gathered 380 signatures in the past month and are more than a third of the way to their goal of 1,000.
For Young, getting rid of VLTs is as much about saving the families of people addicted to gambling as it is about the individual.
"When you look at one individual and he's playing a machine, that man has a family," she said. "He's losing all his self-esteem, his stamina as a community member. It's a deadly game."
She has recently been touched by VLT addiction in her own family.
"It's something that I don't feel needs to be there. I feel it's a demon that gets inside people, and if I can do something about it, I'm not just going to sit there around and watch a family member of mine go down to a machine."
She said too many people have lost too much to video gambling.
"Ever since VLTs came in we've had suicides, people have lost incomes, their homes and personal belongings are just gone. I think it's terrible that New Brunswickers have to put up with such a thing. When it comes to a family member, it's heart-breaking."
Young hopes the message she's sending will be heard and changes will be made to laws governing the machines.
She has already written a letter to Premier Shawn Graham and Prime Minister Stephen Harper lamenting the machines and will send both a copy of the petition when it is complete.
She said she's particularly interested to see what Graham does, considering his new role as premier.
"I'd like to reach out to Shawn Graham. I think he's a family (man), he's very family oriented, so I hear. I want to reach out to him to see if he has the capacity and capability to get rid of these things."
While she realizes it's difficult to convince government to abolish machines that can generate a lot of money, Young said there are other things the province can do to bring in funds that would be better for the people of New Brunswick.
"They need something better to bring money in than a machine. Find something useful, find something that's productive for New Brunswickers. But people can't be productive if they're sitting there pushing buttons."
She says lowering the unemployment rate and raising income would help families in general, but if a person addicted to gambling has more money, she fears that person would end up spending more at the VLTs.
"I can't see any way besides getting rid of the machines."
VLTs were first introduced in New Brunswick in 1990
VLTs brought in $147 million in sales for the province in 2004-2005
There were 2,800 VLTs in New Brunswick as of 2000
