The different gambling activities and predicaments associated with gambling |23 February 2022
One of the responsibilities of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to regulate some of the gambling activities that currently take place in Seychelles as specified by the Seychelles Gambling Act, 2014. At present, the FSA only regulates three activities, and issues the following licences;
- Casino licence;
- Slot machine licence; and
- Interactive gambling licence.
What activities can a holder of the different licences offer to the public?
A person or company who holds a slot machine licence is allowed to offer only slot machine games to players, one of the biggest and better known forms of gambling in Seychelles.
On the other hand, Casino licence offers a bit more than slot machine licence, it allows the holder to offer both slot machines and casino table games such as poker, black jack, and roulette.
The third and the least known licence is interactive gambling. Interactive gambling refers to gambling that takes place through the means of a computer or telecommunication devices. Activities that are covered under this licence is much wider than the two licences which have been mentioned above and can also include the activities of slot machines and casino licence as long as it is done through telecommunication devices. However, interactive gambling regulated by the FSA does NOT include sports betting.
Unlike the above two, there are presently no active interactive gambling licence under the Seychelles Gambling Act and any form of gambling available to Seychellois through the internet or other telecommunication devices is NOT regulated or licenced by the FSA.
Complaints
Any person who is dissatisfied with the services they receive from one of the above licence holders can file a complaint to the FSA by following the guidelines on the FSA website, www.fsaseychelles.sc.
Why do people gamble?
The reason why people gamble will vary from person to person. Some of the reasons include, entertainment, to socialise, to win money, or to escape worries and problems. It is a common opinion that there are limited entertainment in Seychelles. As such more and more people with idle time on their hands will consider partaking in one that is available such as gambling. Another reason that is often spoken of is to gamble as a means to make ends meet. For many people with low income and increased debts, gambling is a way to make money in order to sustain a living and provide for the family.
Predicaments with gambling
Gambling, if done correctly, is not a problem. However, if one does not take care in their habits, they can develop many problems, some of which can be serious. As highlighted above, some people will gamble due to other problems in their lives that they want to escape from, but this is not only true for people with problems; perfectly happy people can also get addicted to gambling as winning can feel very pleasant.
Some of the problems associated with gambling are;
- Gambling addiction;
- Increase in debts;
- Loss of money;
- Not being able to provide for themselves and their family;
- Distancing from family and friends;
- Inability to enjoy other activities; and
- Other social issues.
These will in turn cause other problems such as stress, depression, problem with money lenders, problem with authorities, and in extreme cases; suicide.
For this reason, when a person gambles, they need to;
- Gamble what they can afford to lose;
- Gamble only what they own;
- Have a fixed amount of money they are willing to gamble;
- Prepare to lose;
- Know when to quit; and
- To NOT chase losses.
Although most people will argue that they do not and will not have gambling problems and that they are gambling responsibly, please know that gambling problem does not discriminate against people and can affect anyone. In many cases, a person will not even be aware that they have a problem. It can happen to YOU!
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