부산대학교 도서관

In order to minimize the adverse effects of the ever-growing gambling industries and to secure a budget for the prevention, healing and rehabilitation of gambling addiction, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been imposing on the industry a burden to share the cost of gambling addiction prevention and treatment programs. However, even though the number of gambling addiction problems steadily rise, the basic burden imposed on the gambling industry is only 0.35% of the net sales from its gambling operations. In fact, the actual burden is reduced to 0.25% after all the exemption benefits the industry enjoys. As the budget for gambling addiction treatment programs is filled almost entirely by the burdens paid by the gambling industry operators, it is time to rethink the current addiction prevention and treatment fee system. By way of comparison, I have examined health promotion, who seeks to reduce the socially undesirable behaviors and to secure financial resources for public service projects to reduce the social costs caused by those behaviors. I have also investigated, to meet those purposes, how health promotion impose, collect, and manage burdens. From the comparison of these two burdens systems, it was revealed that health burdens far exceeds gambling burdens, although the social cost of gambling is several times higher than that of smoking. The ineffectiveness of Korean gambling prevention fee system was confirmed through comparison with overseas cases. Despite the less prevalence of gambling addiction in most countries, their burden rates are maintained at 1 ~ 2% - much higer than Korea’s rates. This researcher argues that it is necessary to change the addiction prevention fee system of preventing in order to effectively cope with the increasing gambling problems. As its methods, I first suggest an increase of basic burden rate being imposed on gambling industry. Second, I propose that different rates apply to different gambling operators. The basic burden rate for gambling prevention is too low in comparison with the case of health promotion and overseas cases. It is necessary to raise the basic burden rate through amendment of the Prime Ministerial Act. If the law still can’t be ammended immediately, it should be raised to the maximum level, 0.5% of the net sales, which is prescribed in the NGN Act. The number of gambling outlets operated by gambling operators reaches more than 70 across the nation, while there are only 11 gambling problem management centers nationwide. Thus, the burden rate of 0.25 can never be sufficient. In spite of the low prevalence of gambling addiction compared with Korea, most foreign countries impose a burden of 1-2% for gambling prevention. in this view, Korea’s burden rate should be raised to the foreign level, resulting in the addiction rate being reduced to the overseas level. Furthermore, as aforementioned, different burden rates should apply to different gambling operatiors. This is because different gamlbing operations produce different levels of harm. And it is accessiblity to gambling dens that determines the level of addiction and harm. Statistics released by the Korean Gambling Industry Consolidation Supervision Committee every year confirms that fact. The statistics reveals that there is a significant difference in the prevalence of gambling addiction between the users of the main gambling outlet, which is usually situated in the outskirts of town, and small gambling dens inside the city. The difference can be attributed to the difference in accessibility to gambling. Therefore, it is imperative that the government charge a higher burden to more accessible gambling operators. Besides, in order to effectively cope with the current gambling problems, it is urgent that a firm service infrastructure be constructed to train addiction prevention professionals and expand regional addcition centers. In order to achieve this, financing should be prioritized. And to secure sufficient funds, the government should raise the burden rate and impose different burdens on different gambling operators.