When she she looks back on her childhood, Noriko Tanaka isnt surprised she grew up to be a problem gambler. Her grandfather spent every spare moment playing pachinko a pinball-like game with payouts while her father bet regularly on bicycle races.
At home, they taught Tanaka how to stake money on card games before she had reached her teens. It was that kind of household, although no one drank alcohol, she said. Everyone lived for gambling.
She married an inveterate gambler, and by the time she was in her 30s realised that the casual bets she once placed on motorboat races had become a compulsion that had left her and her husband deep in debt.
As head of a group campaigning to raise awareness of gambling addiction, Tanaka now faces…
Read the full article at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/16/casino-project-will-offer-japans-addicts-a-new-way-to-lose