Debt-free with no known history of depression, a 26-year-old young man ended his life after winning more than $100,000 at an overseas online gambling site and then losing it in less than 24 hours, The Press learned. A relative is calling for the banning of these illegal platforms in Quebec that do live roller coasters with the players.

Posted at 5:00 am

In February 2022, Jacques (fictional first name) revealed to relatives that he had won more than $100,000 playing online poker in less than a week.

One of his electronic devices, which was later consulted by a relative, was “exposed [qu’il] had actually won the announced amount and then continued to play,” says the coroner’s report.

On the evening of his death, the man “made significant bets, including at least one bet of tens of thousands of dollars, before losing his accumulated winnings,” the coroner said. “By 8 p.m. the same day, he had less than $10 of his winnings left. »

The man’s body was found at his home two days later. Death “probably occurred[e] On the day he lost all his earnings, coroner Marie-Pierre Charland concludes in a very sober investigative report that makes no recommendations. “Often in the files we want to denounce the sadness of the situation, but to make recommendations we really need a specific recipient. I can’t say to the general public, “Be careful in situations like this,” Me Charland explained.

Winnings that are not paid out immediately

The online gambling site told the player that their winnings would not be paid out in full immediately, but only at “$2,500 a week,” a relative told us, who asked not to be named.

“He didn’t like it, he didn’t want to leave his money there. If he could have pulled it off, he would have done it. I think that was the trigger, says this person. The company that does this doesn’t want to pay the winners: they know there’s a good chance people will play and lose again. »

Ottawa should block access to overseas gambling sites, this relative claims.

A site that lets you play and doesn’t pay you right away should not be tolerated in my view. They should not be allowed to look for customers in Canada.

A relative who asked for anonymity

The site where the Quebec player would have lost his winnings in a few hours had not yet answered our questions at the time of sending this text.

In Quebec, only lotoquebec.com is fully legal. Other gambling sites are considered illegal. Many players, including a man who won $75,000, complained of difficulties getting paid by such sites, The Bill reported last fall.

No warning signs

The player’s demise is all the more troubling as he showed no warning signs whatsoever. “I didn’t find it in the medical record […] no relevant story to understand death. According to one of his relatives [il] wasn’t depressed at all. No suicidal remarks or suicide notes were found,” the coroner wrote.

The twenty-something has “a very good job”, has no gambling debts and has not stayed away from work, emphasizes his relative. While gambling has always been a part of his adult life, he only devoted his spare time to it.

It’s really a sudden movement. There’s something that triggered something, there was really an inclination.

A relative who asked for anonymity

The toxicological analyzes revealed no traces of drugs or medication. On the other hand, the blood alcohol level was 202 mg/dl (0.20), two and a half times the legal limit for driving (0.08). “It is known that a blood alcohol level of 202 mg/dl can cause emotional instability, decreased inhibitions and loss of critical judgment,” notes the coroner.

“Thank you for speaking up because it is the story of an individual’s suffering from a gambling addiction and often when people come to commit suicide there is a sense of unease about talking about suffering,” Me Charland said in a telephone interview. “The fact that you talk about it helps open people’s horizons and maybe prevent similar situations. »

“Harmful” game

The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) does not comment on specific cases. “It’s documented that a big win encourages anchoring, the taste of reliving that experience because it creates tremendous stimulation, a bit like a drug,” recalls Élisabeth Papineau, a science advisor specializing in happiness and cash games at INSPQ.

The definition of harmful gambling not only includes spending too much money, but also spending too much time or thought. “Even if you have the financial means, you will have a problematic relationship with gambling that will affect your quality of life. »

Operators of websites located outside the country “may have very dubious practices” for which “we have no jurisdiction,” recalls Sylvia Kairouz, research chair in gambling studies at the University of Concordia. “There is no security for the players. »

The ubiquity of online gambling and the hype it receives makes the experience more engaging, the two researchers note. “A player has already told me: ‘I carry my casino in my pocket,'” illustrates Ms. Kairouz.

No blockade in sight

When asked about the idea of ​​blocking foreign gambling sites, the office of the Federal Minister of Justice referred us to the ministry. Gambling is regulated “by the provincial and territorial governments in accordance with the Penal Code,” he just recalled.

“Federal legislation does not block access to the sites of operators who are not authorized,” argued Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard’s office.

Quebec had enacted a provision to oblige internet service providers to block access to sites deemed illegal, but the Court of Appeals invalidated it for a second time in 2021.

Efforts continue to “restrict access to illegal sites, strengthen the position of the state-owned company as the sole responsible operator of online gambling [et] Reduce the presence of advertising,” we say in Quebec.

Since blocking is “almost impossible”, it would be better to issue “licenses with very clear and strict conditions” in terms of ethics and responsible gambling, Ms Kairouz suggests. “If we offer licenses, a certain number of large operators will stick to what we consider to be a safe environment,” the researcher estimates.

Loto Quebec customers can withdraw their total winnings “regardless of the amount,” according to Crown Corporation.

With the collaboration of William Leclerc, La Presse

Do you need help ?

If you need assistance, are having suicidal thoughts, or are concerned about someone close to you, call 1 866 APPEALS (1 866 277-3553). A suicide prevention worker is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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• 20% Percentage of Quebecers who gambled and gambled online in April 2022. Her popularity, observed a year earlier amid a pandemic, has therefore been sustained.

  Source: Quebec National Institute for Public Health (INSPQ)

If there’s anything in abundance this time of year, it’s the list of foods to lose ten pounds, improve cholesterol, lose your belly, snuff out the excesses of Christmas, or starve outright and call it “detox.” We list foods that we eat, that we stoically submit to to transform our bodies or improve our health. At this point I think it is not necessary to say that they do not work, they are pretentious lists and with little scientific evidence, but we still find it difficult to make ourselves aware that health is not just food. In fact, the WHO defines health as “a person’s complete state of physical and social well-being” and not just the absence of disease.

Nutrition is a relatively new science and the training most dieticians and nutritionists have received is based on weight loss, restriction and a weight-based model. We leave the module or course with little clinical nutrition aimed almost exclusively at weight loss, without associated or very basic pathologies and with few resources to adapt to patient needs. I myself have changed a lot since graduating, it has nothing to do with how I started working and how I work now. In my case, I found that the offer was archaic, outdated and only focused on losing weight. The patient had a passive role based on obeying my instructions without really being the protagonist of his health.

This way of working just creates an unequal relationship between patient and nutritionist where I, in my role as health worker, know more about their hunger, tastes or habits than they do. And on the other hand, the patient transfers all the responsibility and trust in me, and sometimes they even go to the clinic with fear or with the idea that I will judge them in order to set their actions in order. They act as a retaining wall rather than a guiding lighthouse.

The moral categorization of food is a common practice that gives us guidelines for what is and is not recommended to eat. It’s a way of positioning ourselves at the extremes, going from white to black without even tiptoeing through the grays. Traditionally, and sadly it’s still current, it was a way of informing health workers and non-health workers (that social media intrusion is now brutal) and gaining control over patients or users: if you choose these foods, good do and you are on the path to health, but if you choose these others you will become ill, you will not take care of yourself and you will have no willpower.

In this dichotomy, it is very easy to “teach” or spread nutrition to patients. There is either “yes” or “no”, there are no half measures, there are no personal circumstances, no different stages of development, no age, gender or diseases. I’ll give you a list of allowed foods, another one free to eat and that’s what you eat and if you can’t keep going it’s because you’re not trying too hard or because you’re not taking responsibility for yourself.

This kind of “informing” implies the promise that if you work hard enough you can get the body you want, with a healthy diet and exercise, you can be Beyoncé. And look, no, these promises of an ideal body only lead to failure, to frustration.

And on top of all that, are there good foods and bad foods? I think we all know that there are foods that are more nutritious than others that are more nutritious and for this reason regular consumption is recommended, while there are others that are less nutritious and therefore consumed sporadically. In addition, if we classify foods in this way, we will feel weak or guilty if we consume one of the “bad” foods when there is room for everything in a healthy and flexible diet, depending on the amount, frequency and the rest of the diet.

No food, no matter how healthy, will significantly improve our health, since health is a set of factors that are not only related to food. For the same reason, not so nutritious food will not worsen our health. Everything is much more complex, it requires flexibility and balance.

It is very strange that there are foods that are better never to be eaten, but healthy foods are also full of myths and eating rules. For example: the banana makes you very fat, it is better to only use half; Eggs produce cholesterol; Pasta, rice and carbohydrates in general should not be eaten at night; Fruit after six in the evening is not recommended; Water should not be drunk with meals, only before or after; Olives are very fattening, milk is important for bones and at the same time it is not recommended after lactation as we are the only omnivores who drink them after that time… and I could go on with a thousand examples, all myths, that they are repeated and end up appearing as an axiom.

So instead of focusing on foods that do and foods that don’t, let’s evaluate our diet as a whole, in addition to sleep quality, physical activity, and stress levels, and stop living in black and white, life and the diets are in technicolor.

NUTRITION WITH SCIENCE It is a section on nutrition based on scientific evidence and expert juxtaposed knowledge. Eating is much more than a pleasure and a necessity: diet and eating habits are currently the public health factor that can help us the most to prevent numerous diseases, from many types of cancer to diabetes. A team of dieticians and nutritionists will help us to better understand the importance of food and, thanks to science, to shatter the myths that lead us to eat poorly.

you can follow THE COUNTRY Health and well-being on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Latvia has become the first nation to say it will not take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics if athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete in response to the war in Ukraine

Zorzs Tikmers, president of the Latvian Olympic Committee, said that if athletes from both countries were allowed to compete in the games while the war in Ukraine rages on, the Latvian team would boycott next year’s Summer Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee last week said it was ready to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutral participants at the Games and opened the door for them to take part in qualifiers, sparking an angry reaction from Kyiv.

And now Tikmers has said Latvia would stand by Ukraine and not send athletes to the Games if Russia and Belarus allowed it.

Latvia has become the first nation to say it will not take part in the Paris 2024 Olympics if athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete in response to the war in Ukraine (file picture)

Ukrainian soldiers adjust a 60mm mortar barrel near the front line in the Donetsk region on Tuesday

“Latvia’s position is as follows – if these games were held now and athletes from Russia and Belarus took part, I think the Latvian team would not go to these games,” Tikmers told Latvian news agency Delfi.

He added: “We hope that the war will end, Ukraine will win it, there will be a completely new situation and new rules of the game. Then, of course, Latvian athletes can also take part in such Olympic Games.”

Ukraine is hoping for broad international support for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Games.

Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in February last year, and Russian and Belarusian military activity there has been going on for months.

Sports Minister of Ukraine Vadym Huttsait, 51, a former Olympic fencing champion, said last night that the idea of ​​having Russian and Belarusian athletes compete as neutrals was unacceptable.

“This is impossible for us at a time when there is a full-scale war, when our athletes, our soldiers are defending our homeland,” Huttsait said in his Kiev office, next to a wall with portraits of athletes killed in the war .

Moscow said on Tuesday it would welcome any move by the IOC to allow its athletes to compete in the Olympics and demanded that its athletes be treated the same as those of other countries.

But hours later, the IOC said it stood by sanctions imposed on countries over the Russian invasion.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, had spoken out in favor of full participation.

“The Russians have to participate under exactly the same conditions as all other athletes. Any additional conditions or criteria are undesirable, especially those with political overtones that are completely unacceptable for the Olympic movement,” Pozdnyakov said, according to Russian news agencies.

Pozdnyakov said his organization welcomes the IOC’s efforts to allow Russian athletes to participate.

“But as far as the additional terms go, we strongly disagree. The Olympic Charter states that all athletes must participate on an equal footing,” he added.

The IOC quickly pushed back, saying the sanctions on Russia and Belarus were “unanimously confirmed by the recent Olympic summit on December 9”.

These sanctions included “no flags, anthems, colors or other identifications of these countries displayed at sporting events or meetings, including the entire venue,” the IOC spokesman said.

Russian Army soldiers practice at a military training ground in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday

Ahead of the IOC’s response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s participation in the Paris Olympics would amount to showing that “terror can supposedly be something acceptable”.

At least 220 Ukrainian athletes and coaches died in the war, said Huttsait, who won gold with an Olympic fencing team in 1992 for the so-called Unified Team, which included 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics. He also coached the winning team Ukraine at the 2008 games.

“Ukraine will unite with many countries… and it (Russians who compete) will not be allowed,” he added, saying 40 nations provided shelter and training aid abroad to Ukrainian athletes during the war.

The IOC’s original recommendation to ban Russians and Belarusians has been implemented by many sports federations.

But last week it backed a proposal by the Olympic Council of Asia to allow them to compete in Asia, which could potentially include Olympic qualifying events.

Should that happen, Ukraine’s sports authorities and athletes will face a “very difficult decision” on whether to boycott Paris, Huttsait said.

“If we lose so many people, so many athletes, the lives of Ukrainians are more important to us than any medal in international competitions,” he said.

Ukrainian officials have in recent days turned against the IOC for promoting “violence, mass murder and destruction” with the idea of ​​giving Russia a “platform to promote genocide.”

Zelenskyy said Sunday allowing Russia to participate in the 2024 Games would amount to showing that “terror is somehow acceptable.” Pictured: Zelenskyy with IOC President Thomas Bach on July 3, 2022 in Kyiv

The IOC has called it defamatory and said such words do not encourage constructive discussion.

Zelenskyy said: “Only the free world acting together can protect sport from those sports bureaucrats who for some reason are willing to turn a blind eye to reality.”

On Tuesday, former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko urged IOC chief Thomas Bach not to betray the Olympic spirit and become an “accomplice in this vile war”.

Last week Zelenskyy said he had invited IOC President Thomas Bach to visit the Ukrainian frontline town of Bakhmut “so that he could see for himself that neutrality does not exist”.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday that of the 71 medals won by Russian participants at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, 45 went to athletes who were members of the Russian Army Central Sports Club (CSKA).

“The army that commits atrocities kills, rapes and plunders,” Kuleba said. “That’s who the ignorant IOC wants to put under (the) white flag for (they) to compete.”

Meanwhile, Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Tuesday that his country opposes any participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympics, saying it is “immoral and wrong”.

After meeting his counterparts from the Baltic States and Poland in Riga, Rinkevics called for Russia to be isolated as long as it continued its offensive in Ukraine.

“Like all tyrannies, it uses sport for political purposes. The IOC should not be complicit in Russian propaganda efforts,” Rinkevics said.

However, the Asian Olympic Council last week offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the opportunity to compete at this year’s Asian Games, arguing that “all athletes, regardless of nationality or passport, should be able to compete in sports.” .

This was a significant step as it would allow athletes from these two countries to reach the qualifying standards they would need to compete in Paris.

Moscow is trying to turn the page on years of doping scandals after its teams were forced to compete without their flag or anthem at the Olympics and major international events.