1. Casino gambling in Albania.
Economic growth,
social costs and
its relationship to crime.
Dr.proc. Menada Petro
University “A. Moisiu”
Durrës, Albania

2. Mirdite
Durres Tirana
The theme of my study is "Psychosocial Effects
of gambling in Albania and the need for
services."
The study is focused on three areas of Albania,
Tirana Durres Mirdite

3. The main questions the study addresses are:
Age at
which
gambling
start &
cohort
effects
Kind of games
&
type of players
Methods used are:
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Official information
- Case studies
- Study of literature

4. The focus of this presentation is the economic
effects of casino gambling, the social costs that
may accompany legalized casino gambling and
the relationship with crime.

5. There is no question that:
1.Legalized gambling has brought economic
benefits to some communities,
2.Problem gambling has imposed economic and
social costs.
The important question is:
Which is larger and by how much?
To address this and related policy issues, individual,
social and economic costs of pathological gambling need
to be considered in the context of the overall impact
that gambling has on society.

6. According to official information there are:
 1500 centers of sports betting in Albania, while
the number of companies decreased from 15 to 8.
This happens not because of reduced demand, but to reduce the tax that
business have to pay.
 190 electronic casinos in whole Albania.
9 national bingo`s companies and 2 television
bingos.
If we refer to the unofficial sources we can find
out that the gambling game number is doubled.

7. According to the surveillance unit, in 2011 were
collected 1 billion and 5 million euro more than in
2010.
As provided by companies of bet, there are about
3 million tickets that just cut in a match on the
weekend and the average amount is 10 euro
a ticket.
According to official information this industry
has had the profit peak between 1999-2000, but
then the owners of these companies were foreign
people.
Meanwhile, today this business is mainly in the
hands of Albanian people.
We all accept the fact that gambling is a lucrative business, but
to interfere in it is very difficult, almost
impossible.

8. Direct and indirect effects
The direct effect represents a net addition to the community`s
resources.
The direct effect of a casino is the income and employment (the
wages of employees)
Indirect effects refer to the secondary effects that casinos have on
the community.
Indirect effects are the expense of casino employees to other
businesses (grocery stores, clothing stores, etc)
Both these, direct & indirect effects are consider
benefits.

9. Direct & indirect effects are tangible because they
result in measurably more jobs and additional income
being generated in the local economy.
Intangible benefits and costs are identifiable effects that
are difficult or impossible to measure or to quantify in
euro terms (psychosocial cost & benefit, mood,
motivation, emotions, loss of control, concerns, effects or
problems on children and family, etc).
Intangible benefits and costs are
usually omitted from consideration
in gambling related economic
analysis studies - a clear
shortcoming.

10. t
Benefi
Transfer
Cost

11. Another cost to the gambler is loss of employment. 1 in
8 of gamblers reports the loss of his job. 60% of 500
respondents report that they spend an average of 12
hours of work per month.
Bankruptcy presents another adverse consequence of
excessive gambling. 20% of 500 respondents report
their business bankruptcy due to gambling.
The research suggests that the magnitude and extent of
personal consequences on gamblers and their families
may be severe.

12. SOCIAL COSTS
Alleged social costs:
» Income lost from missed work
» Decreased productivity on the job
Depression and physical illness related to stress
Increased suicide attempts
Increased number of thefts
Increased number of murders
Bailout costs
Unrecovered loans to pathological gamblers
Unpaid debts and bankruptcies
Higher insurance premiums resulting from
pathological gambler-caused fraud:

13. Corruption of public officials
Strain on public services
Industry cannibalization
Divorces caused by gambling
These are related also to those with whom the gambler has
most frequent interactions, including family, friends and close
associates. Many families of gamblers suffer from a variety of
financial, physical and emotional problems.
There is no study in Albania
about these, but if we refer to the
literature we find that:

14. Most of the
Spouses Children
of gamblers
 had serious emotional  are physically and verbally
problems abused
 had resorted to drinking, 
are more likely to smoke,
smoking, overeating and drink and use drugs
impulse spending
 suffered from chronic or  are more likely to describe
severe headaches, stomach their childhood as unhappy
problem of anger,  express feelings of anger,
depression and isolation sadness and depression
 are physically and
verbally abused Gamblers distance
 are more likely to be themselves from family and
separated or divorced friends.

15. Financial Problems and Crime
Financial losses pose the most immediate and compelling
cost to the gambler in the throes of his disorder. As
access to money becomes more limited, gamblers often
resort to crime in order to pay debts, appease bookies,
maintain appearances and garner more money to
gamble.
Criminal behaviors among adolescent gamblers are
more prevalent than among adult gamblers, in part
because youths have few options for obtaining funds and
greater susceptibility to social pressure among gambling
peers.

16. • Time after time, attraction to gambling has prompted
men and boys to suicide.
• Loss of large amounts of money at various casinos, is
leading to increasing number of widows and
children with one parent.
• As a result of gambling, during
2008-2012, there are:
 7 suicide
 9 murders
 7 bank robberies
 120 burglary dwellings

17. The casino industry maintains
that its product is simply a
form of entertainment like
going to movies and football
games, and consumers are
willing to pay a price for
entertainment.
But many researchers argue
that gambling is
fundamentally different from
other forms of entertainment
either because gambling,
unlike movies and football
games, can lead to addiction,
or to the crime.

18. These are some of the
findings of the study
During this work I have
encountered some
difficulties and some of
them can be considered as
recommendations for other
studies.
These difficulties are:
- Lack of literature on gambling in Albania
- Lack of social and economic studies
- Lack of official data on the number of gambling
businesses, costs, benefits, betting
- Lack of regular data on the crime numbers

19. RECOMANDATIONS
• Creation and operation of assistance and advice lines
•Interference from voluntary therapies to compulsory
counseling and rehabilitation
• Granting of license for the casinos opening in
suburban areas and as far as city centers
• Higher taxes, setting different rules and control their
implementation
• Setting higher penalties for non compliance with these
rules

20. This study has not been completed yet
What was presented here is only a part of the work
performed.
I am still working on it and I have more work to do in
order to achieve a complete scientific study.
Thank you for your attention!
menada_petro@yahoo.com