Editor's Note: This is a companion piece to 鈥淗igh Stakes: Gambling Addiction, Beyond Borders鈥� a three-part series looking at the public health movement to address gambling in Massachusetts and the United States, and what can be learned from two countries with very different models of gambling regulation: Norway and the United Kingdom.
While the majority of gamblers in Norway play online casino games or bet on sports, almost 10% still take part in one of the traditional forms of betting: horse racing.
On one spring evening at the country鈥檚 main racetrack in Oslo, the stands were empty, as most people use phone apps to bet on the horses. A few people stood on the sidelines as horses pulled jockeys on carts around the track in short spurts. Above the stands, a few dozen people were gambling quietly in a cafeteria, where monitors were broadcasting the races.
Among the spectators was Hedda Skappel, who runs the problem gambling division of Norsk Rikstoto, the state-run company that controls horse racing in Norway. Her job is to put into practice one of the government鈥檚 addiction-prevention measures: reaching out to people at high risk of a gambling disorder.
鈥淧eople usually have a hard time admitting to maybe both themselves and others that they have a problem, which makes our job a lot more difficult,鈥� she said.
Skappel, a nurse by training, said horse racing is a less addictive type of gambling than online sports betting or casino games because the pace is much slower. Instead of one spin every few seconds, gamblers may wait 10 minutes for the race to finish.
Nevertheless, out of the 170,000 people who bet on the horses in Norway, she said 300 to 400 are considered at high risk of addiction.
When Skappel鈥檚 staff notices a customer鈥檚 spending or time gambling go up dramatically, they may call 鈥渏ust to get a kind of reality check, how aware they are of their own behavior,鈥� she said.
She said the youngest customers 鈥� 18 to 30 鈥� are most receptive to her staff鈥檚 concerns. It鈥檚 mostly the older crowd that gets annoyed.
Skappel said she once reached out to a 94-year-old horse better after his grandson called her office 鈥渁nd kind of insinuated that he was playing his inheritance away,鈥� she said. When Skappel called the grandfather, 鈥渉e said to me, 鈥業've been playing or betting on a horse for 75 years. And I definitely don't need your help.鈥� So I was like, 鈥極K, I respect that. Thank you.鈥欌��
When gamblers decide they are in trouble, Skappel leads them through several options. They can install software on their phones that disables online gambling. They can pause gambling for specific periods 鈥� perhaps a week after payday 鈥� or restrict themselves to only playing on Saturdays. They can also put themselves on a national self-exclusion list.
鈥淪ome people may say that the Norwegian regulation is quite extreme,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I think that's why it works so well.鈥�
