The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

TWO weeks after being granted a conditional gaming license, Jarol Investments Ltd/Chances Games hosted its first responsible gambling seminar in Freeport with the expertise of renowned psychiatrist Dr David Allen.

Raymond Culmer, CEO and president of Jarol Investments Ltd, was the first to reach out to Dr Allen, who is director of the Renascence Institute, which has established a compulsive gambling treatment programme.

“I thought it was very important to offer some kind of help to those who are in distress,” said Mr Culmer, who currently operates 46 web shops.

His company has 13 locations in Grand Bahama, 13 in Nassau, 11 in Abaco, and web shops in Eleuthera, Bimini, and Cat Island. He plans to open new locations in Long Island, San Salvador, and Andros.

“We want to promote responsible gaming which is mandated by the Gaming Board and is one of the key components in our conditions for license, and we have partnered with Dr Allen to sensitise us on how to identify at risk gamblers and to treat them when we do identify them,” he said.

About 20 key staff members of Chances Games attended the seminar held at D’Shack Restaurant in the Ruth Haven Plaza, the headquarters of Jarol Investments Ltd.

Dr Allen and Andre Chappell, a patient and recovered addict who now works with Dr Allen, shared with staff the signs of addiction and how to identify and interact with addicts when they become hostile.

Dr Allen stressed that it is important when staff encounter somebody who has a problem to refer them for help. Persons identified by staff will be referred to call the hotline at 242-327-8719 or 242-557-4080 at the Renascence Institute.

“A person may choose not to come, but they would have done their part by referring the person to get help (for their addiction),” Dr Allen said.

Mr Chappell shared his story of drug and alcohol addiction. He said he had gone from living inside the gates of Lyford Cay to sleeping on the streets of Nassau as an addict. He was able to regain his life after getting help from Dr Allen and has been a recovered addict for several years.

Dr Allen said a person has a serious problem when he continues to gamble, despite devastating circumstances.

“Even though the bank is calling everyday, the house is being repossessed, the kids can’t get food to eat, and the wife has left, they can’t stop. A non-addict will say ‘I got to slow down.‘

“Gambling is a compulsive disorder; gambling addiction destroys families,” Dr Allen said.

He commended Mr Culmer for being the first web shop operator to contact him about a seminar for his staff and for providing help to at-risk persons.

“He wants to do his part (to help). Hopefully, this will be a new development in our country to recognise addiction,” he said.

“I think that the more we create an awareness it opens possibilities for people who don’t know they have this addiction so that it will not drown them, and they can get the help they need,” he said.

Mr Culmer told employees that while they are in the business to provide entertainment to their customers, when it goes beyond entertainment to obsessive behaviour it is a problem.

“We do not want to associate ourselves with that type of activity and we would like to find help for those persons as soon as possible,” he said.

He urged his employees to be vigilant and watch for signs of addiction and not to get into argument with customers.

“We want to be able to identify those at-risk and point them in the right direction,” he said.