29-Oct-07. Study links gambling and suicide. National Post, A1.

A recently published study in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry reports that pathological gamblers are almost four times more likely than the average Canadian to commit suicide. The investigation was led by Stephen Newman, a psychiatry professor at the University of Alberta, and was based on a survey of 36,000 Canadians.

3-Mar-07. Gambling’s dirty little secret? Lethbridge Herald, A2.

Univeristy of Lethbridge professor Robert Williams notes that Las Vegas, Nevada is the suicide capital of the Western world for both residents and non-residents. He estimates that approximately two per cent of suicides in Alberta are attributable to problem gambling. The Chief Medical Examiner for Alberta has been tracking the links between suicide and gambling for about seven years and the findings account for case where gambling was specifically mentioned in a suicide note.

3-Mar-07. Deadly gamble. Lethbridge Herald, A1.

This article profiles the suicide of a Lethbridge woman who was a problem gambler. Rebecca Schafer died hours after losing $1,000 gambling on a video lottery terminal (VLT) at a local bar she frequented. Her brother Harlan Ruud believes that her gambling addiction and other problems in her life were what caused her to commit suicide.

20-Aug-06. The lure of addiction. Calgary Herald, B1.

This in-depth article describes the experiences of a Calgary woman whose husband committed suicide after struggling with pathological gambling and depression. More than 1.2-million Canadians exhibit at least one symptom of problem gambling, with more than 20 suicides attributed to gambling each year. David Hodgins, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, says about one per cent of Albertans are pathological gamblers.

10-Jan-06. Lotto ticket sellers urged to bar problem gamblers. Edmonton Journal, A1.

Quebec’s coroner wants retailers of lottery tickets in the province to be made aware of compulsive gamblers in their neighbourhoods so that they could refuse to sell tickets to at-risk customers. Ticket sellers and Loto-Quebec officials say the suggestion is both impractical and impossible to implement. Coroner Jean Francois Dorval made the recommendation after an inquest into the suicide of a 62-year-old Quebec man who killed himself after spending about $400 to $500 a week on lottery tickets.