“The big fear is that income that should be allocated to groceries is being spent on buying lottery tickets, betting on informal gambling dice and card games, as well as on the Limited Payout Machines (LPMs) at local pubs and clubs,” says Professor Peter Collins, executive director of the NRGP.

This is why a team of trained facilitators from the National Responsible Gambling Programme has been visiting government pension and grant payout points, handing out leaflets to beneficiaries – since November 2006 in Gauteng and since 2004 in the Western Cape.

This forms part of a community outreach project funded by the Gauteng Gambling Board and the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Department of Economic Development as well as the Western Cape Government’s Department of Social Services in collaboration with the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) – and with the full co-operation of AllPay, the service provider responsible for payouts in both provinces.

The leaflet – available in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa – spells out the myths and the facts relating to various gambling scenarios, and dispels the mystique surrounding certain rituals and superstitions that are supposed to bring good luck.

“There is no evidence to prove that the prevalence of problem gambling behaviour is any higher among the less-privileged. However, gambling can become a problem when people have false beliefs about how it works,” says Professor Collins.

“They don’t understand the laws of probability or how random numbers are generated in a slot machine or on a roulette table. They do not realise that systems and formulas can never guarantee success – but only create an illusion of control. They place their hopes on Lady Luck who doesn’t even exist!”

It is estimated that since inception during 1 695 paypoint visits in both provinces more than 311 000 adults have heard and, it is hoped, heeded the message to ‘Wise up to responsible gambling’ – contained in a leaflet that explains the myths and facts relating to problem gambling.

During the last financial year alone the NRGP team reached about 143 000 recipients of social grants and old age pensions at 473 paypoints, especially in the vicinity of local casinos or gambling venues such as pubs and clubs with Limited Payout machines (LPMs) on slot machine routes.

The NRGP is a private/public partnership of government regulators and industry, focusing on public education and prevention, treatment including the 0800 006 008 problem gambling counselling line, training the industry, regulators and NGOs, as well as doing research.

Currently these are the only two provinces to contribute additional funding for this community awareness and outreach project among this vulnerable and indigent sector of the community.