While more people can tell the signs of problem gambling and where to get help, they are also more accepting of gambling in that they see it as a path to riches and are more game to take gambling risks. And fewer people think gambling can break up families or that frequent gambling leaves a gambler the poorer for it.

These startling results come from two surveys, done a year apart, by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

The council concluded: 'These shifts suggest a decrease in rational beliefs in recognising that gambling is essentially a game of chance.'

This year, 28 per cent of people would gamble if one of their friends struck it rich, up from 20 per cent, and 60 per cent say buying lottery, Toto, 4-D or indulging in social gambling are leisure activities and does not count as gambling, up from 50 per cent.

Other significant changes between last year and this:

The number who believe it is possible to strike it big more than doubled from 14 to 32 per cent;

Only 65 per cent feel gambling can lead to unhappy family life, down from 81 per cent; and

The number of people who think it 'makes sense to continue gambling to recover losses' jumped from 11 to 19 per cent.

There were a few bright spots in the survey findings. One was that 44 per cent of the 2,013 people aged 15 to 75 who were surveyed said they had not gambled at all in the past year, up from 41 per cent last year. Another was that 56 per cent of survey participants, up from 37 per cent, are now willing to seek professional help for relatives with a gambling problem. And 61 per cent know how to identify a problem gambler, up from 32 per cent.

Almost all - 95 per cent - see gambling as 'potentially harmful'.

Madam Halimah Yacob, who heads the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health, suggested Singapore's endorsement of casinos here may have contributed to the change in perception.

The decision to develop integrated resorts with casinos may have led people to feel that 'their perceptions are validated by the establishment', she said, adding: 'When people begin to view gambling as a form of recreation and therefore harmless, it means they have become blindsided to its ills.'

Fellow GPC member Lam Pin Min said: 'What's worrying are the opinions that better gambling skills help in winning loads of money and loss recovery.' He added that this may have been accentuated by the glamour with which gambling is portrayed in recent movies, and the telecast of the World Poker Competition.

The NCPG agreed. Council member Mildred Tan said a discussion of the survey findings by the council closely reflected the MPs' views. She said the council offered a third possible reason for the change in people's views on gambling: the Totalisator Board's introduction of new ways to gamble, such as punting on football matches. But she stressed this came from the council's thoughts and was not based on data.

Mrs Tan said the NCPG will focus on two areas: debunking the myth that the more one plays, the better one's chances of winning or recouping losses, and giving religious leaders and community self-help groups the tools to help gamblers who turn to them. The survey found that 48 per cent of people will turn to religious leaders for help, up from 38 per cent.

salma@sph.com.sg