The event featured the presence of journalist Nicolás "Cayetano" Cajg, who warned about the risks of compulsive gambling.
Argentina.- Journalist Nicolás "Cayetano" Cajg shared his experience with gambling addiction in front of more than 800 high school students from La Plata. The meeting was organized by the Ombudsman of Buenos Aires with support from the Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos (IPLyC) of Buenos Aires, the General Directorate of Culture and Education, and the Municipality of La Plata.
The name of the event was "There will be signs. Do not miss it" where journalist and host Nicolás Cajg shared his experience as a compulsive gambler. "I am here because I am a gambler, or I was, I don't know, because you are never fully recovered. I haven't gambled for years but I am not cured, it's a problem that will accompany me day by day, for the rest of my life," Cayetano began his talk.
In that sense, he explained that "gambling addiction is something that grows over time. When you gamble your mind is not where it should be, so when you are a gambler the least you lose is money."
"I wish I had attended a talk like this at the time, to be able to anticipate the problems I was going to have. Today luckily I learned to enjoy other things, to distribute the adrenaline that gambling provoked in me," he said.
The event was attended by the mayor of La Plata, Julio Alak; the president of the Institute, Gonzalo Atanasof; the Chief of Staff of the General Directorate of Culture and Education of the province, Gustavo Alcaraz and the Ombudsman, Guido Lorenzino.
"Compulsive gambling is a complex issue, something that happens silently and can cause a lot of distress in families. To break this silence, it is very important to organize these talks because the way out is collective," Atanasof affirmed and added: "These meetings help us to learn more about the signs that a compulsive gambler gives us, to try to help."
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For his part, Lorenzino expressed that "it is very important to make this problem visible that affects thousands of girls and boys. That's why from the Ombudsman's office we promote these activities to alert the youth. We will continue with this type of talks in different localities of the Province."
The mayor Julio Alak, stated that "gambling addiction is a big problem, where gambling has merged with the cellphone, an element that we have on us a lot of time, and this is generating addictions that concern us. This meeting is an excellent initiative to raise awareness, prevent and sensitize."
