A shocking incident came to light in Pune district where an online rummy addict took his own life due to depression after losing Rs 20,000. The man is identified as Ganesh Kaldante, who hailed from Talegaon Dabhade and worked as a cab driver.
It is being assumed that young Ganesh caught the habit of playing online rummy while getting influenced by celebrity advertisements. These ads often lure the youth and show them the false dream of winning big. Although it is true that one can win big playing these games, they fail to describe that a person requires skills and luck to win.
According to News18 Lokmat, Talegaon Dabhade police revealed that Kaldante was addicted to playing online rummy. This habit led him to lose Rs 20,000, and he went into depression. Unable to cope up with this state, Ganesh took the severe step of hanging himself up, and eventually took his own life.
Several cases involving Junglee Rummy have come to light in the past few months. Most recently, a man from Shirdi shared a reel in which he said that he earlier had his own vehicle but due to losses playing on Junglee Rummy he had to sell it off and now work using someone else’s vehicle. Similarly, a Panvel man took his own life last month after suffering losses to the tune of Rs 5 lakh on the platform.
People typically get addicted to either online games or illegal betting websites and end up losing even larger sums of money. Although there have been campaigns promoting responsible gaming, people need to understand that online gaming is not a “Get-Rich-Quick” scheme.
People who get addicted to online rummy often lose money. And in an attempt to recover the lost sum, they borrow money from friends and family to further lose, leaving them in a vicious debt trap. When people are unable to cope with the losses, they undergo depression, and some of them even take the hard decision to lose their lives.
Addicts recovering through mental rehab across the country
Recently, some cases of recovery from depression have also surfaced. A man named Vikas in Bengaluru who was addicted to online gaming recovered from depression after a seven-month therapy. Vikas was introduced to gambling at a very early age, and had lost Rs 70 lakh in online rummy. He has now pledged to never touch online gambling.
Rohtak’s state drug-dependence treatment centre (SDDTC) in the state of Haryana is also providing treatment for gambling addicts. As of now, many of the patients who are admitted are suffering from gambling addiction and have lost huge sums of money.
Assistant professor at SDDTC, Sidharth Arya, said, “It (gaming addiction) is a behavioural issue and after evaluating and identifying the problem, we start treatment that includes counselling and medication.”