What's the craic... with 'Cardboard Crack'?

Tuesday 19 February 2019

Scratch cards are still a big problem on Guernsey, according to the island's gambling support group, with the addiction only recently starting to get recognition alongside smoking, drugs and drinking.

But now, Health and Social Care could be putting gambling under the microscope to look at how the island can better tackle 'cardboard crack' - with the Director of Public Health reportedly saying scratch cards and the generated income "warrant investigation".

Toward the end of last year, the States released figures which showed it made just shy of £10m., £1m. higher than in 2017 through the sale of some 2.3m. scratch cards. While there is a £15,000 grant to help gambling addicts, that is only a very small slice of the pie. The problem is accentuated in Guernsey, as those same statistics show Guernsey sells more cards than Jersey during the Channel Island Christmas Lottery, despite the population difference.

This has been discussed at HSC with Director of Public Health since disclosure of level of household spend on scratch cards. She believes it warrants investigation and will be leading a review on gambling addiction.

— Heidi Soulsby (@HeidiSoulsby) 16 February 2019

According to Deputy Heidi Soulsby, President of Health & Social Care, the Director of Pubic Health has been spurred into action by these statistics, as she now plans on leading a review into gambling as a whole, which will entail an investigation into scratch cards.

Last week in court, a man narrowly escaped being sent to prison after he was caught stealing scratch cards from his employer - the court gave him the benefit of the doubt, and sentenced him with community service, but Helen Cartwright from the Guernsey Gambling Support Group said this man was not the first to go to court because he needed to fuel his addiction.

Scratch cards are sold all year round across Guernsey, but there is a particular emphasis on the annual Channel Islands Christmas Lottery - the majority of the proceeds of which go to charity. 

"People spend every penny they can get their hands on 'looking for a fix'. They win £200 and go straight to buy more cards, and while they will say they didn't lose any money, they really did," she said.

"I have met quite a few people now who have scratch card addictions and more than one of them have ended up in court because of it. [They're] just everywhere you go, when the Christmas Lottery is on you go into shops and are asked if you want them. You dont just ask people if they want a bottle of wine, because what if they were an alcoholic." 

The Guernsey Gambling Support Group was set up using £5,000 of the States grant assigned to tackling gambling addiction - it was set up some years ago now  already having helped many islanders with problems. Ms Cartwright acknowledged that many people want to enjoy buying the occasional scratch card and don't have a problem with it - that is fine, she said - she just wanted to encourage more to be done to help those who can't control themselves and suffer with addictions. 

Cardboard crack is alive and well in Guernsey. Nothing to see here, focus on substance abuse @HeidiSoulsby @mkleclerc @DeputyMaryLowe https://t.co/nsfuWMX2zJ

— tothevale (@tothevale) 16 February 2019

A debate among politicians started on social media because of this latest court appearance in which Deputy Soulsby announced her intentions to review. 

Ms Cartwright said it was good to see politicians speaking about the danger scratch cards presented for vulnerable people. At the Gambling Support Group, they now refer many of the people that come forward to Drug Concern, who have trained professionals to help with overcoming addiction. But the group also offers talk sessions, one to one phone calls and other options for people. To speak to them, you can call 07839 719000.