The resolution was made on Friday（Nov. 9th） by the leaders of Gulu District during a district council meeting in Uganda.  They banned slot machines stating that they were corrupting youth and women.

Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, district chairman, said that they reached the decision following the increasing involvement of children in gambling.  Mapenduzi said that the people behind the gambling facilities didn’t even try to stop children from entering these places.  “When you go to these gambling centres, you find children aged between 12 and 15 years crowding them and engaging in gambling.  We don’t want our children to be taught the culture of gambling.  We should teach children the culture of hard work.  This is one of the reasons why we have decided come out with the ban,” he said.

The district chairman also commented that the majority of the companies that own the slot machines and operate in Uganda have no licenses and don’t contribute by paying taxes to the district local government.  There are approximately 600 slot machines operating in Gulu.  “We have written to these people notifying them that their operations has ceased in the district and that they should take their slot machines somewhere else,” he added. (2016/11/17)