Racing Welfare Halfway To Goal

Racing Welfare is halfway to its goal for its COVID-19 Emergency Appeal, with fundraising recently passing the £250,000 mark. The appeal, which has included the popular Furlong Factor singing competition and NightIn4Nightout campaign-which together raised £50,000-aims to raise £500,000 to make up for the charity’s spring and early summer fundraising events lost to COVID-19.

Since racing restarted, many of the sport’s businesses such as Betway, Racehorse Lotto and Hambleton Racing have created innovative ways of raising funds for the charity. Support from across the racing community has also come for events such as the Royal Ascot Virtual Preview Evening, supported by Sporting Life, and Racing Welfare’s Best Turned Out series, which was backed by Betfair.

Racing Welfare is asking racing fans that would normally attend a fixture this summer to donate the price of their ticket to its appeal. The addition of Gift Aid means that for every £20 donated towards its Emergency Appeal, Racing Welfare will receive an extra £5. The charity will be on the look out for people showing their support for the campaign on social media, sharing and retweeting images of racing fans enjoying the sport from home whilst supporting Racing Welfare.

Racing Welfare Chief Executive Dawn Goodfellow said, “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt throughout the racing industry. For Racing Welfare the cancellation of many of our usual fundraising events has seen us face a huge income deficit at a time when our services have never been needed more. The generosity of the racing community in response to our COVID-19 Emergency Appeal has been truly inspiring and to be able to announce that we have passed the halfway mark of £250,000 is a huge boost.

“It has been great to have racing back underway and on our screens and I am certainly looking forward to watching all the major summer festivals from home. If you will be doing the same, please consider donating to Racing Welfare. Your donations really do count and reaching our £500k target will enable us to continue supporting the workforce that make racing the wonderful sport that it is.”

The post Racing Welfare Halfway To Goal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Addiction: When Gambling Becomes a Problem

While most people enjoy casino gambling, sports betting, lottery and bingo playing for the fun and excitement it provides, others may experience gambling as an addictive and distractive habit. Statistics show that while 85 percent of the adult population in the US enjoys some type of gambling every year, between 2 and 3 percent of will develop a gambling problem and 1 percent of them are diagnosed as pathological gamblers.

Where can you draw the line between harmless gambling to problem gambling? How can you tell if you or your friend are compulsive gamblers? Here you can find answers to these questions and other questions regarding problem gambling and gambling addiction.

What is the Meaning of Problem Gambling?

Problem gambling or compulsive gambling is defined as an uncontrollable urge to gamble despite the destructive effect of gambling on the gamblers life and despite feelings of guilt and remorse. Problem gambling tends to have a negative effect on the gamblers financial state, relationships and daily life. Severe cases of problem gambling can be defined as pathological gambling.

Am I a Compulsive Gambler?

1) Do you gamble until your last penny runs out?

2) Do you gamble to win back your former losses or debts?

3) Did you ever had to borrow money to continue gamble?

4) Did your gambling habit ever made you lie to your friends or family?

5) Did you ever skip work or other obligation to gamble?

6) Do you tend to gamble to forget about your personal problems or to celebrate happy occasions?

7) Does gambling have a negative affect on your daily life or relationships?

If you have answered yes on at least one of the questions listed above, then you have a problem.

Can Anyone Become a Compulsive Gambler?

Theoretically, yes. Any gambler can develop gambling problem regardless to the type of gambling he is occupied with, the amount of money and time he is spending on gambling. Researches show that slot machines that can be found in bars and convenient stores are the most addictive type of gambling activity, while lottery draws and bingo games are located on the other end of the scale. Gambling addiction is an emotional problem; its symptoms, causes and treatments are similar to any other form of addiction.

How Can I treat Gambling Addiction?

1) Group Therapy:

Gamblers Anonymous offers a 12 step self help program similar to the one offered to alcohol addicts in Alcoholics Anonymous. Group therapy also offers gambling addicts advice and support from professional counselors and other gambling addicts in different phases of their recovery process. Gambler Anonymous centers are available in more than 1,200 locations statewide.

2) Individual Therapy:

Cognitive or behavior therapy can help gambling addicts to identify their unaware thinking and acting patterns, which led them to gamble compulsively, and to replace them with controllable and healthier ways of thinking.

3) Psychiatric Medication:

It has recently been proven that antidepressant medications from the family of SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be affective in treatment of gambling addicts.

Ethical Assessment Of Wild Horse Welfare

Some people believe wild horses left to their own devices would live happy, healthy lives. While this might sound plausible, scientists and equine advocates have never had the ability to accurately assess the welfare of these free-roaming horses—until now.

Researchers in Australia and New Zealand have developed a protocol to assess the quality of life of wild horses and other free-roaming animals. Assessing a horse's welfare is not easy: Accurate welfare assessment requires objectivity, scientific validity and repeatability, says Dr. Andrea Harvey, a member of the research team who invented the protocol. She, along with colleagues Drs. Ngaio Beausoleil, Daniel Ramp and David Mellor created a process that will allow different people to reach the same assessment of an animal's welfare.

The team created a 10-step approach that will evaluate the physical and emotional status of free-roaming animals. The protocol uses the Five Domains Model with conservation in mind; the system details information that should be considered with different species, as well as how to observe and measure them.

The protocol then delves into specifics that are relatable to both scientists and lay people. They encompass measuring and validating welfare indicators and confidence levels, as well as creating “grades” for levels of welfare.

The scientists note that many well-meaning people project their own emotions and feelings onto the animal while trying to assess their welfare—this could lead the person to a very different conclusion than what the animal is actually feeling and is not an objective way to assess animal welfare.

The protocol has already been used to assess the welfare of brumbies in Australia, which, like Mustangs in the United States, has become politicized. The research team hopes that the creation of this protocol will assist in clear and ethical decision making regarding free-roaming horses.

Read more at Horses and People magazine.

Read the full article here.

The post Ethical Assessment Of Wild Horse Welfare appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights