Albania was scheduled to end gambling, except in a few casinos located in 5-star hotels that cater almost exclusively to tourists, on New Year’s Day. On that day, 8,000 were put out of work.
The goal was to end what many consider to be a harmful habit among a large percentage of the 2.8 million residents. And to shut down the 4,300 betting locations that have been more ubiquitous than Starbucks or 7-Elevens in the U.S. That’s one “casino” per 670 residents, which is considered a very high ratio.
Official figures say that the country $170 million on gaming each year, and if you throw in illegal gaming, as much as $798 million.
Albanians are fiercely devoted to gaming, and this has, according to critics, kept it one of the poorest nations in Europe.
Also banned are all forms of online gaming. Sports betting is considered a particularly virulent form of gambling by many in the country. A study by the University of Tirana concluded that one of four gamblers tries to commit suicide. The study also found links to domestic violence.
The Straits Times quoted a Tirana doctor who said a patient begged him for help, saying “The game was good at first, but now it’s a cancer. I lost my life, my wife, my daughter, I’m a living dead.”
An attorney told the Times that 70 percent of divorce cases brought in the nation’s capital were related to gambling.
Now that the country has snipped one strand in the skein, it will go after others by opened rehab centers to help players who can’t satisfy their habit. Albanian authorities full expect to have to combat organized crime, which they calculate uses legal gaming venues to launder money.
The government also expects to battle gaming companies that will now offer it illegally from locations in neighboring Balkan states such as Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo.
