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China Daily; North American ed.

Calling television quiz shows in the hope of winning big money cost Julie Ellison nearly $8,000 in phone bills over 18 months and she never won a penny, but still she keeps on trying.

Thousands of people in Britain take part in interactive quiz programs, but Ellison, who is housebound after being injured in a fire two years ago, is one of an unknown number who say they have become addicted to them.

"I want to win," the 38-year-old, from the northern city of Manchester said over telephone. She only started calling because she needed money to buy a mobility scooter.

"With what I spent (on phone calls) I could have bought one anyway," she said. Her bills totalled $7,744.

Britain's television industry is at the centre of a storm amid allegations of rigged or overpriced phone-ins for talent contests and quizzes, prompting broadcasters to suspend some shows as they review the system.

The shows - including contests offering viewers the chance to vote for their favorite performers - have grown rapidly in Britain and beyond. Companies behind them make money by charging a premium rate on the cost of calls.

Premium phone rate services watchdog ICSTIS says the services in Britain generated a total of about $2.3 billion in revenue in 2006.

While Britons are apathetic when it comes to choosing political leaders, the hope of picking their favorite celebrity or winning a prize has enticed them to call up in their droves. This has raised fears that quiz games, in particular, are a potentially addictive form of gambling.

"Interactive television quiz shows share many of the dimensions of interactive television gambling, and also raise the same types of concern when talking about vulnerable and susceptible populations," Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies, wrote in a paper entitled Interactive Television Quizzes As Gambling: A Cause for Concern?

Symptoms of addiction include a TV quiz becoming the most important thing in a person's life, not playing brings on withdrawal symptoms and they feel the need to play the game ever more frequently, he said.

Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, has not yet met anyone who fits his criteria, but said: "There are lots of people out there who are spending lots of money."

GamCare, a charity for gambling addicts, says it has not received a significant number of complaints from individuals hooked on interactive TV quiz shows, but adds this could be because viewers do not know where to turn. "It is an area that is being investigated," a spokeswoman said.

But Promis, a firm that offers counseling to beat addictions, is convinced TV call shows - with their smiling presenters, seemingly easy questions and cash prizes of up to $200,000 - are a form of addictive gambling.

Agencies

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