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Gambling-related suicides soar

Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 9:57 a.m.

OTTAWA -- A problem gambler commits suicide every two weeks in Quebec on average -- almost a fivefold jump from numbers recorded five years ago, says the provincial coroner's office.

Fresh statistics indicate 126 gambling addicts have killed themselves since 1999, an alarming increase from 27 such suicides recorded in the five years before that.

Experts cite an explosion of video lottery terminals in bars since the electronic slot machines were legalized in 1994.

"These machines are in every region of Quebec," said Francois Houle, a spokesman for the Quebec coroner's office.

"In the great majority of these cases, they were addicted to VLTs."

Houle's office logs suicides as gambling related if betting debts or other problems are mentioned in a note or by loved ones. But he stressed that suicide is never about just one issue.

"When you have gambling problems, you may have a problem with your boss, with your wife, with your kids."

About 14,000 VLTs in more than 3,000 licensed venues around the province earned profits totaling $692 million (Canadian) in 2002.

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