According to numbers of the Ministery of Economy and Finance, that result represents an increment of us$ 26 million with regards to the same quarter last year. Experts consider that the expansion of tourism has contributed to this behaviour in the sector, although an important part of the bets are from Panamanian citizens, with the risk to have gambling addiction.
To avoid situations of this kind, the Association of Games of Chance Administrators from Panama (ASAJA), suscribed an agreement with the Institute of Mental Health, adressed to design mechanisms of control against gambling problems.
There are cases of people that have lost their properties, demand loans and mortgage their houses to have money to bet. If the current trend is mantained, funds allocated to that activity by national and foreign people may exceed the us$ 1.1 billion on the current year.