Gambling advertising: Amendola is wrong to portray an industry that is making Italians sick.

As the actor performs his commercial, 800 citizens are victims of gambling addiction. The majority are poor and young people under 19. We gamble more than Las Vegas: €1 billion a month. These commercials should be banned, like smoking.

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gambling advertising

GAMBLING ADVERTISING

Claudio Amendola is a talented actor who has enjoyed considerable and deserved success in film and has become very popular thanks to the television drama I Cesaroni . And by virtue of this popularity, and his empathetic relationship, especially with young people, Amendola was chosen by a major gambling company as its spokesperson . Let's be clear: there is no crime or guilt involved, and everyone is free to do what they want with their own popularity. Like an actor, and any star in the entertainment world in general, he is free to accept commissions for the commercials he chooses. To the extent permitted by law, of course.

That said, Amendola is wrong , and quite wrong, to accept such a slippery proposal. A well-known actor like him, who has also been involved in public life in the past, cannot ignore the dramatic statistics on gambling addiction in Italy , numbers that represent the basis of the revenue generated by companies like the one for which Amendola filmed his commercial.

ALSO READ: Gambling, a sad Italian record. We have one slot machine for every 143 residents.

DATA ON GAMBLING ADDICTION IN ITALY

Italians now gamble €1 billion a month , €420 per capita per day among the working population, and to these figures we must then add the revenues from illegal and clandestine gambling. We have more slot machines in the world, even beating Las Vegas. We are a country of gamblers , where powerful private individuals, the companies that fuel gambling and profit from this mass vice, and the state, which collects taxes on the damage caused to its citizens, are equally divided. A terrible business.

Chronic gambling addiction affects 800 Italians , and note that among the gambling population, those enticed by Amendola's TV commercial, 47 percent are poor . Poverty, deprivation, depression, and gambling go hand in hand. And over 40 percent of gamblers are between the ages of 15 and 19. Amendola has a son who is not yet twenty; does he realize the risks his boyfriend's peers face because of slot machines? Is he aware of the depth of the problem?

TO KNOW MORE: We have more slot machines than Las Vegas. Why? Read the truth in this book.

GAMBLING ADVERTISEMENT

Amendola should position his face and his popularity on the exact opposite side from the one he has chosen. He should stand with the anti-slot machine movement , which brings together many local administrators in Italy, including mayors, courageous bar and public venue owners who reject gambling machines, and, above all, the Catholic Church, a very active advocate against this scourge. In Rome , the city where Amendola was born and lives, Mayor Virginia Raggi has cracked down on gambling, allowing it only during two time slots : from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. It's a matter of deciding who to side with: those who engage in legitimate gambling business, or those who are working to contain it.

With his voice, his face, his fame, Amendola is unfortunately, unintentionally, giving a gift to anyone who manipulates gambling. And since advertising to promote this industry, which we at Non Squalare consider rather shady, is still legal, we should fight to ban it. Just like smoking , because of the damage it causes to health, especially among young people. Then everyone should be free to do what they want, even ruining themselves by gambling away what they don't have on slot machines.

( Credit: GIO_LE / Shutterstock.com )

WHO REALLY FIGHTS AGAINST GAMBLING:

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