Scratch card sales soar but addicts get just £15k

In total, 2,116,375 Channel Islands Lottery cards were sold locally in 2016, with by far the biggest increase in those costing worth £5.

In today's Guernsey Press, former gambling addict Craig Le Sauvage talks of how he lost as much as £500,000 during his life on different forms of gambling, warning that the worst areas for the island were scratch cards and online.

He now helps with Gambling Support Group Guernsey.

While revenue from scratch card sales grew by £876,700 last year, and the surplus generated by lottery proceeds as a whole was £1.62m., according to the annual lottery report, very little was made available to Home Affairs to spend on supporting those with gambling problems.

'As a result of discussions which occurred late 2016, the Committee for Home Affairs received £15,000 in February this year from the Channel Islands' Lottery to assist in funding support for individuals experiencing difficulties with problem gambling,' said committee president Mary Lowe.

'The committee has been actively engaged with the self-supporting Gambling Support Group that established itself locally.

'Representatives of the group have attended committee meetings and members of the committee have attended support group meetings to gain a practical understanding of the work that they do.

'On a practical level, the committee has encouraged the group to establish itself on a more formal basis and provided IT equipment and support to help facilitate this.'

'Gambling just consumes you' See today's Guernsey Press for interview with a man who gambled away £500,000.