Since the setting up of its gambling services section five years ago, Sedqa, the state agency against drug and alcohol abuse, has experienced a steady increase in cases related to gambling, the agency said in a statement yesterday. In fact, the number of users being helped by Sedqa's gambling services has doubled during the past year. The hefty rise in the variety of gambling and gaming products and the ease of accessibility coupled with an extensive use of the media to advertise these products, especially targeting young people, is not consistent with healthy practice, it said.

Sedqa rebutted comments made in certain sections of the media that seemed to downplay the extent of the effect of gambling advertising.

The agency lauded the Broadcasting Authority's initiative to impose restrictions on advertising promoting gambling.