Gambling is quite well developed in Georgia and is an important contributor to the country's economy. In addition, gambling business fee revenue is a significant part of the revenue of many cities and municipalities. There are no statistics on the number of gamblers in Georgia, therefore, it is impossible to assess whether this figure is high or low in Georgia. It is also difficult to say whether there are in fact serious negative external effects of gambling in Georgia.

Gambling is very popular in the world, which is clearly confirmed by the statistics related to this business. According to one study, 51% of the world's population participates in these types of games at least once a year. The main feature of the gambling business is that it gives people the opportunity to make money and this opportunity is built on the principle of randomness. It is an important sector for the economy of many countries, including Georgia, it is an area that is accompanied by a certain negative attitude from the public, which is dictated by less awareness and stereotypical perceptions. Therefore, in the developed countries of the world, including Georgia, great resources are spent to properly inform the public and to create or further refine the principles of responsible play. Gambling - This is a game that is played for money and in which winning or losing is subject to the principle of chance. It is possible for a person to gamble and not be addicted to them.

We talked to Revaz Jorbenadze, a psychologist and professor at Tbilisi State University, about these issues - what is gambling addiction, whether all players are necessarily addicted to gambling, what are the social factors of addiction and whether banning is the solution. From his professional point of view if a person is playing for fun, it can be considered that it is not problematic. "Certain needs are met by a person who replaces the needs he had as a child with regard to play. He continues these requirements in adulthood. This is not a dangerous situation. A person develops a fixed view and mood that playing for fun is a normal story. Maybe he was an athlete, successful in a certain game. A light attitude is not a danger to a person when certain competition or calculations were an integral part of his childhood.

It is quite difficult to understand whether a person is addicted to the game or not, some people have turned the game into a profession, it is very difficult to understand whether a person is addicted or not, he may refrain from playing for some reason, but he wants to.

Often people invent their own systems, do calculations, and play with specific mathematical formulas. Also, maybe people did not even play but still went into the tote to understand the internal situation and specific moods. The game becomes problematic when people think fortune is on their side and sooner or later they will still win money. Here there is a danger that this game will turn into obsessions. Superstitions take root in the human consciousness and every environmental factor is already considered a magical sign and thinks that this day will surely win. Similar cases may recur five times a day.

In most countries around the world, gambling is a legal business and it does not matter what the economic background of the country is, for example, lotteries and gambling have too many users across America and Europe. The middle and lower classes are playing for those who want to get rich together. It’s like some childish game, what would you do to have a million dollars. People have a need to have such a question in their fantasies and also hypothetically find a solution. When he sees that he can not achieve this by being so naturally and with his family, maybe he will try his luck in the gambling business. Behind all this is the human desire - how to get rich quick. We can not say that such people do not have the will, they believe that the game is also an expression of their will, all this has impulsive origins. Those who are more impulsive from childhood are more interested in games. Impulsive behavior is involuntary behavior when a person has a attention deficit and acts impulsively without understanding.

Families and family traumas also play an important role, as do people from both poor and affluent families play an equal role. A person might have an idea to save and add more to a family, though we can not say exactly which trauma caused the ride. Trauma Every person gets in life, one question is how much the trauma goes away. Often an insurmountable and unbearable trauma remains in a person and then he tries in every way to replace his own pain. You may become addicted to alcohol. Injury manifests itself in crisis situations, although less play occurs with the transfer of trauma, with alcohol and drugs being replaced more frequently.

Here is another interesting point, people who quit the game, replaced it with other activities where they became successful. There are also people who are born to be players. This is not considered a pathology because they are fun, they do not make big bets, however they like games that require straining the mind and investing more mental resources.

It is often the case that a family learns that their child is being played by a spouse or cousin and blames another person or gambling business, focusing on the fact that if it were not for him, he would not have started gambling, but such an approach is strongly wrong, because if it were not for gambling, There would definitely be other things by which man would replace them. At such times, along with a person’s desire to change their own, family intervention is also necessary. The family has a very big role and responsibility in both minors and adults. For example, there are many cases when minors, with the support of an adult, are involved in gambling and adults pay them money to gamble. It is very common for a family member to say - do not become ill with my child - and transfer money to play. At such times it is better to annoy your child or grandchild and not encourage him to play. As for adults, there should be a lot of counseling and therapy with the family, which will then give them a complete picture of how to help a loved one change their behavior.

 Awakening a sense of shame will not do anything when loved ones know that a person playing will be a stigma in a narrow social environment, that this person is a threat to the family and their killer, which must be changed categorically, this is a wrong approach, thus we can not help people.

In general, compared to other addictions, it is considered that the addiction to the game is lighter. In addition to the obsessive action involved in betting, we can consider the game less dangerous. When a person plays for fun, we can not discuss it with other diseases.

Also, simple calls to ban the casino or not log in and not play are in vain because if we ban gambling, people will still find another way to gamble or it will be replaced by other addictive behavior.

Therefore, it is important to heed the advice of professionals, including refraining from superficial and populist statements, so as not to add more problems to people who suffer from this disorder. It is better to refrain from stigmatizing terms such as "ludomania", which contains "mania" and shows the public a negative attitude towards people. It is also very important to understand that it is possible for a person to gamble and not be addicted to them.