It has been said that we Chinese are genetically disposed towards gambling. I would prefer to phrase it another way. I believe we are genetically disposed towards risk-taking, which might have its drawbacks but also has its strengths.

Indeed I will go so far as to contend that calculated risk-taking has been the backbone of our entrepreneurial genius and success in Hong Kong. Were we never to have grasped the wider possibilities of the farther horizons, we would never have seized the greater goals that have made us who we are today.

So I put it to you that gambling and risk-taking are two sides of the same coin. I only stress that the latter should be prefixed by the word "calculated" because it is always crucial to distinguish the risk to be taken, always vital to look before one leaps.

While lesser forms of gambling have been a popular diversion for many Hong Kong people over a very long period of time, most of us have avoided the excesses that result from the compulsive behavioral patterns that afflict the unfortunate few.

Nevertheless many of us can identify, among our associates, friends or perhaps even family members, certain individuals who have been unable to exercise that restraint and moderation which limit the majority of us to the "occasional flutter". And it is these who are in need of our help - not to meet the debts they have accumulated but to conquer the addiction to which they have succumbed.

Happily, problem gambling has been receiving increasing public attention in Hong Kong in recent years, and as a result has generated both growing concern and more focused resolve to tackle its roots.

The extent to which these problems were affecting our society as a whole, and the fears they had provoked, were brought to light in the public arena some seven to eight years ago, in the midst of a heated public debate on regularization of football betting. It was in the context of this public debate that many concerned organizations started to advocate the introduction of measures to alleviate gambling-related problems, and to urge that research and mitigating measures be conducted into the extent of the problems associated with gambling in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has only recently made a head start in getting to grips with its own gambling-related problems and beginning to accumulate valuable insight into how best to address and alleviate problems associated with gambling in Hong Kong.

Observations on Chinese values and the traditional family structure also touch upon how the problem relates to our own social context. Because of the extended family system, still applicable to so many in our Hong Kong society, problem gambling has implications that can weigh upon a wider circle of our community.

Those indebted as a result of this affliction may seek help not only from their immediate family members but also from their extended family, which can produce a ripple effect ranging beyond the extent to which it may involve victims in other communities.

But at the same time this extended family system offers benefits as well, for it provides psychological support and the possibilities of a collective response to the problem.

Most important, we must ensure that when we succumb to the urge to flip that coin, we should take care that it lands the right way up - heads rather than tails.

The author is former secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong SAR government

(HK Edition 02/04/2010 page1)