The number of gambling addicts continues to rise in Bosnia, which is no surprise, considering it has the most betting shops per capita in Europe, said the head of the Gambling Addiction Centre (KLOK) in Mostar, Prof. Marko Romic, a Specialist in Traumatic Psychology.

Apart from being the leading country by the number of gambling addicts in the region, Romic warned that their Centre had seen a rise in women addicts, from 20, all the way to 75 years of age.

“We’ve had a case of a 75-year-old woman who’d spend her entire retirement which she received from abroad, on bingo and betting shops,” he said. “She’d spend her entire retirement, which was around €750 in a single day, and when she was out of options, she started thinking about suicide.”

In his lengthy career, the head of the KLOK Centre met countless gambling addicts, from those who spent millions of state funds, to those whose children were kidnapped by usurers so they could get their money back.

“There are many cases where our members would spend the money that doesn’t belong to them, but the state or a company,” Romic noted.

According to him, most people begin gambling out of curiosity and the more they lose, the more they are convinced they would win.

Out of 830 people who sought treatment in the Centre, only 115 went through the entire treatment and returned to their normal lives, Romic noted, adding that the number of women seeking help is on the rise.