GRINS gets GANS Community Grant
We are pleased to announce that we have received a grant from Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia (GANS) to continue our development of a creative and fun interactive workshop that engages participants in simulating the impacts of VLTs on a community. This helps people see beyond the individual harms to the ripple effects that impact those who are not even involved in gambling. Watch our web site and Facebook page as we roll this out in 2021.
We are,however, concerned that the provincial government has decided to dissolve GANS and divert some funds away from gambling issues.
The provincial gov’t is dissolving Gambling Awareness Nova Scotia (GANS). GANS has been instrumental over the years in supporting community projects around gambling that aim to create safer communities. The provincial gov’t let us know they are potentially diverting a chunk of the GANS resource (which comes from gambling revenues) to more general mental health issues. We would like to see the resources go to community health promotion efforts focused on reducing gambling harms instead.
Details are in the letter to the minister.
GRINS has been working on these issues for ten years (see timeline). We are not an anti-gambling organization – we seek to create a community cultural shift towards informed and caring gambling practices, and a shift away from blaming the victims (labelled “problem gamblers”) to identifying “gambling problems” caused by unsafe technologies and ineffective regulation. (The province is in conflict of interest as both regulator and beneficiary of the income.)
If you are also concerned about this issue, please contact your MLA and let them know.
