{"id":6065,"date":"2025-08-05T06:48:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=6065"},"modified":"2026-04-19T15:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:05:35","slug":"ugandan-counsellor-calls-for-greater-awareness-on-responsible-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/ugandan-counsellor-calls-for-greater-awareness-on-responsible-gaming","title":{"rendered":"Ugandan counsellor calls for greater awareness on responsible gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to Counsellor Musenero, individuals suffering from gambling addiction are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Uganda.- The increasing popularity of gambling across Uganda has raised growing concerns about its impact on mental health and social well-being. Counsellor and mental health advocate Ivan Musenero<\/strong> is urging for greater awareness around responsible gaming, warning that a lack of understanding can expose players to a range of psychological and social risks, including addiction and cross-addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in a recent discussion on the implications of problem gambling, Musenero stressed that responsible gaming is not just a personal issue, but a public health concern that requires broader attention. According to him, individuals suffering from gambling addiction are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musenero emphasised the need to protect citizens from the wide-ranging and often severe consequences of gambling addiction, noting that the impact frequently goes beyond gambling itself. He pointed out that individuals battling addiction may develop additional harmful habits, such as excessive alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musenero said: \u201cResponsible gaming matters because citizens need to be protected from the adverse effects of gambling addiction. These effects are many and often severe\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further explained that this pattern, known as cross-addiction, often sees individuals transitioning from gambling to excessive alcohol use or engaging in other harmful behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musenero underscored the importance of education and awareness as essential tools for prevention, saying that an informed gambler is a responsible gambler. He suggests that empowering individuals with knowledge about gaming risks is one of the most effective ways to promote safer practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As gambling continues to grow across various African markets, experts like Musenero are calling on stakeholders, including regulators, operators and civil society, to prioritise responsible gaming campaigns to safeguard the well-being of communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Ugandan gaming regulator meets with university leaders to discuss student protection<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Counsellor Musenero, individuals suffering from gambling addiction are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":6067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Counsellor Ivan Musenero highlights the escalating mental health and social well-being concerns stemming from Uganda's growing gambling popularity, emphasizing the link between gambling addiction and conditions like depression and bipolar disorder. He advocates for enhanced responsible gaming awareness and education, urging regulators, operators, and civil society to collaborate on safeguarding communities from severe addiction consequences, including cross-addiction.","focusai_entities":"Ivan Musenero, Ugandan gaming regulator","focusai_location":"Uganda","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.75), marketing_crm (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Framework Gaps?","query":"What specific enhancements to Uganda's existing regulatory compliance and governance frameworks are being considered to address the identified public health risks associated with problem gambling and cross-addiction?"},{"label":"Operator Mitigation Strategies?","query":"How are iGaming operators in Uganda currently adapting their B2C licensing obligations and responsible gaming protocols to proactively mitigate the mental health impacts highlighted by Counsellor Musenero?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60013,60023],"tags":[1593],"class_list":["post-6065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-legal-news","tag-responsible-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6065"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6091,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6065\/revisions\/6091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}