Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) and International Foundation for Technological, Economic and Social Research (UTESAV) held the meeting 'Gambling and its derivatives report press presentation' at MUSIAD Headquarters.
UTESAV Board of Trustees Chairman Mehmet Develioğlu and Board of Trustees Yusuf Cevahir and Dogan Alperen, Istanbul Mufti's Office for Religious Services Ahmet Turan and Green Crescent President Mucahit Ozturk attended the meeting. Methods of fighting against gambling and its derivatives, which are rapidly spreading to the social base and have an active addiction, concrete findings and recommendations were discussed.
Abdurrahman Kaan, in his speech at the meeting, pointed out that an intensive gambling campaign was carried out especially on the younger generation. Kaan, "Young people targeted, so to speak with the point shot, hit them in the life of the marketing methods offered by using betting and gaming games, day by day is rising higher." he said.
Kaan stated that most of the secret and covered marketing techniques enable young people to earn a lot of money or to be rich, as a mortgage of their dreams. If you have dreams and want them to be real, you have to be rich. The shortest way is this. Because if you've worked your whole life, the money you're gonna earn doesn't bring you to that dream. Unfortunately, we see that our people are also very inclined to adopt this idea. When we look at the established dreams, Kaan commented that the products of a thought structure that this strategy will be addressed are: A luxury house, sports car or even a few cars, not life-long work and so on, completely substance-based requests. First, we need to ensure that our youngsters review their dreams.
Abdurrahman Kaan said that gambling brings with it a lot of severe psychological damage. Addiction to games that look like an innocent habit will open a door to a psychiatric illness in time. In a study conducted by Yeşilay in Istanbul, the rate of online gambling addiction among high school students was determined as 7 percent. These are enough figures for us to be grave and uneasy. In the age when intelligence is at the highest points of life energy, a young 15-year-old is inclined towards gambling, and we need to think thoroughly. In a country where most of them are Muslims, a subject that Islam has strictly forbidden, how is it accepted so much, we need to discuss it seriously.
We will share the report with the Presidency of the Presidency and the Ministries, Develioğlu emphasized that the reasons for gambling should be discussed in society and said: Turkish society with a deep rooted history and solid foundations, we should not seek the reasons for the increase in gambling so far. We have to put forward and discuss the reasons for the emergence of this situation completely and the reasons for this to be completely eliminated. Develioğlu also added that the Gambling and Derivatives Report will be shared with the Presidency, the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and other public institutions.