The “Gambling Concern Group (GCG)” was set up in 2012 and is led by a group of passionate Chinatown community leaders and an alliance of community organisations which include the Chinese Information and Advice Centre (CIAC), Christian Centre for Gambling Rehabilitation (CCGR), Chinese Church in London (CCIL), Oasis in Chinatown, BC Project and Nikki Lee.

The Gambling Concern Group’s mission is to take the lead and campaign against the growing numbers of betting shops and casinos, which has a huge detrimental impact on the vulnerable people in Chinatown, and to raise concerns for tighter planning and licensing regulation.

The forum was held last Friday, 13th September, at 1 Leicester Street, WC2H 7BL (Chinatown) to address what impact gambling has on the community.

This event was joined by local Councillor Cllr Tim Mitchell (St James’s Ward), the Chief Executive of GamCare Mr Dirk Hansen, the Trustee of Grasp Mr Eugene Farrar, the CEO and Chairman of the Hippodrome Casino Mr Simon Thomas, and Mr Andrew Boff from the GLA.

They represented different stakeholders in the community expressing concerns on how gambling would affect the Chinese community after the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005.

The forum had an interactive Q&A session with representatives from the Chinese community organisations.

CIAC Women’s Support Project shows that every 1 in 4 families is affected by addictive gambling causing direct impacts such as financial crisis, substance misuse and domestic violence.

社區論壇 – “賭博法2005通過後賭博對社區的影響”

“賭博關注組（GCG）”是由一群充滿熱誠的倫敦華埠社區領袖以及社區組織，其中包括華人資料及諮詢中心（CIAC）、基督教戒賭中心（CCGR） 、倫敦華人基督教會（CCIL）、華埠綠洲、華人參政計劃和李彥霖女士於2012年成立。

賭博關注組的任務是帶頭反對數量日漸增長的賭場和投注站對倫敦華埠弱勢人群造成的影響，並呼籲收緊規劃和發牌監管。

論壇於上周五9月13日在 1 Leicester Street, WC2H 7BL下午2時至下午3時完滿舉行。

來自西敏寺市政府的Tim Mitchell議員（聖詹姆斯區），GamCare的行政總裁Dirk Hansen先生，GRASP的執委Eugene Farrar先生、Hippodrome Casino 的行政總裁及主席 Simon Thomas先生及倫敦市政府的 Andrew Boff 先生出席了是次論壇發表演說及參與了之後與各華社代表互動的問答環節。他們都代表著社會上不同領域就賭博對華社的影響表示關注。

如需進一步資料和未來活動消息，請瀏覽CIAC網站www.ciac.co.uk或發電郵至[email protected]

CIAC婦女的支援項目顯示，每4個家庭有一個是直接受病態賭博造成直接影響，如經濟損失、欠責、嗜酒、濫藥及家庭暴力。