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Scratching the surface of a neglected threat: huge growth of Instant Lottery in Portugal

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 7; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30039-0

2215-0374

Daniela Vilaverde e Silva, Pedro Morgado,

Doping in Sports

Scratchcards have the potential to encourage excessive gambling because they are associated with reward experiences and have rapid event frequency and short payout intervals.1DeFuentes-Merillas L Koeter MWJ Bethlehem J Schippers GM van den Brink W Are scratchcards addictive? The prevalence of pathological scratchcard gambling among adult scratchcard buyers in the Netherlands.Addiction. 2003; 98: 725-731Crossref Scopus (24) Google Scholar Also, scratchcards require no expertise in playing, are not expensive, and are highly accessible.1DeFuentes-Merillas L Koeter MWJ Bethlehem J Schippers GM van den Brink W Are scratchcards addictive? The prevalence of pathological scratchcard gambling among adult scratchcard buyers in the Netherlands.Addiction. 2003; 98: 725-731Crossref Scopus (24) Google Scholar The Instant Lottery has been available in Portugal since 1995, and was renamed Scratch Card in 2010. The game consists of a cardboard ticket and the goal is to find a different number of matching symbols to win the prize. In Portugal, sales of scratchcards have been steadily increasing since 2010 (figure).2Santa Casa da Misericórdia de LisboaRelatório e Contas 2018. Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, Lisbon2019http://www.scml.pt/pt-PT/santa_casa/relatorio_e_contas/Date accessed: January 23, 2020Google Scholar In 2018, sales figures reached €1594 million for scratchcards, which is approximately €160 spent per person in Portugal.2Santa Casa da Misericórdia de LisboaRelatório e Contas 2018. Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, Lisbon2019http://www.scml.pt/pt-PT/santa_casa/relatorio_e_contas/Date accessed: January 23, 2020Google Scholar Importantly, this figure is much higher than neighboring countries, for instance, in Spain, the amount spent in scratchcards in 2018 was €627·1 million (approximately €14 per person).3Dirección General de Ordenación del JuegoDatos del Mercado España de Juegos. Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, Madrid2019https://www.ordenacionjuego.es/es/datos-mercado-espanol-juegoDate accessed: January 22, 2020Google Scholar Although the addictive aspects of scratchcards are described in the scientific literature, no epidemiological studies have been done in Portugal to date. However, a perception exists of an increasing number of patients seeking medical treatment for gambling problems associated with this lottery in Portugal.4Raposo-Lima C Castro L Sousa N Morgado P SCRATCH THAT!—Two case reports of scratch-card gambling disorder.Addict Behav. 2015; 45: 30-33Crossref Scopus (11) Google Scholar Unregulated gambling produces several negative effects in society. The economics of the gambling industry (including the taxes collected by governments) might result in a lack of effective policies to regulate specific types of games. Since sales in scratchcards are increasing in the country and case reports of gambling problems associated with scratchcards are being described, further studies that address this relationship are needed to plan strategies to tackle this problem—namely, the effective regulation of sales of scratchcards. Addressing this scratch-card epidemic in Portugal is urgent and necessary. Additionally, such regulation might serve as a learning experience in mental health following the resounding success of drug policies implemented in the country since 2001. We declare no competing interests.