{"id":11838,"date":"2025-11-18T09:19:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T07:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/lifestyle-ent\/psychiatrists-warn-of-severe-mental-health-risks-linked-to-gambling\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:23:04","slug":"psychiatrists-warn-of-severe-mental-health-risks-linked-to-gambling","status":"publish","type":"lifestyle-ent","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/lifestyle-ent\/psychiatrists-warn-of-severe-mental-health-risks-linked-to-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychiatrists warn of severe mental health risks linked to gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) has warned of the negative impact of gambling on mental health.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>November marks responsible gambling month; however, statistics paint a grim picture of the impact of excessive gambling on SA.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The National Responsible Gambling Programme reported a 623% increase from 140 000 to over one million in calls to its toll-free helpline year on year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SASOP\u2019s Doctor Mahlatse Thosago\u00a0says, \u201cSo there has been a significant impact on SA citizens mental health with regard to sports betting, where a SA study found that more than 40% of callers to the National Responsible Gambling Program\u2019s toll-free helpline said they felt unable to stop gambling without professional help.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>About 32% were experiencing financial problems due to gambling, and 13% reported legal issues. At the same time, 14% were receiving help for other mental conditions.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>About 11% reported alcohol abuse, and 6% were using illicit drugs.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11839,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"featured-post":[191,192],"class_list":["post-11838","lifestyle-ent","type-lifestyle-ent","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","featured-post-feature","featured-post-lifestyle-ent","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lifestyle-ent\/11838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lifestyle-ent"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lifestyle-ent"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"featured-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-post?post=11838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}