I was under the impression that PGs were into soccer gambling, while OCGs were horse mad, but have been assured by a venerated PG that he will bet on anything that moves. So all PGs are most welcome to the betting frenzy on the 17th.
===from today's ULSCMP===
http://hongkong.scmp.com/hknews/ZZZYHZ9RHJD.html
Help centres for gamblers set to open next month
ELAINE WU
Two counselling centres for pathological gamblers are set to open next month - just two months after soccer betting was legalised.
The pilot programme is part of a deal between the government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club to help curb gambling addiction.
The Caritas Addictive Gamblers Counselling Centre, in Tsuen Wan, will serve the New Territories, and the Tung Wah Group's centre in Wan Chai will serve Kowloon and Hong Kong island residents.
The Caritas Family Service and the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals won a tender to run the centres. They will each get $3.5 million a year from the government for three years.
The Jockey Club has agreed to contribute annually to the Ping Wo Fund, which was set up to support the two centres and cover research on pathological gambling.
The club will give $24 million to the fund in the first two years, and between $12 million and $15 million for each of the following three years.
The Caritas centre's 10 staff will include social workers, clinical psychologists and counsellors. It will be open six days a week and will provide counselling, small treatment groups and relapse-prevention groups.
Those with psychiatric symptoms, such as hallucinations, will be referred to Kwai Chung Hospital's substance-abuse unit.
The Home Affairs Department is setting up a centralised hotline for the two centres. Caritas expects to receive 5,000 calls and 700 clients during the first year of operation. The Tung Wah centre expects to handle 5,000 calls and more than 500 cases a year.
Meanwhile, the Education and Manpower Bureau's Hong Kong Education City will soon launch a two-year drive to inform students, teachers and parents on gambling-related issues.
Anyone with queries on the two centres can call Caritas on 2402 4669 from October 1, or the Tung Wah Cares hotline on 2548 0010.
elaine.wu@scmp.com
