Imagine buying a lottery ticket stamped with the words: "Warning: Gambling can lead to a dangerous addiction that can harm your relationships, work and finances."

Far-fetched? Perhaps not. An addictions expert at Dalhousie University in Halifax has called on the federal government to put some sort of warning labels on lottery tickets, similar to the ones on tobacco products.

Christiane Poulin, who holds a Canada Research Chair in population health and addiction at the university, argues that gambling is just as addictive as smoking.

Poulin, who makes the recommendation in the Nov. 7 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says lottery tickets should be sold in plain packaging and carry warnings about the dangers of gambling addiction.

She also urges a complete ban on advertising related to gambling.

"What we can do is take a look at the lessons we've learned from tobacco control and see if some of those lessons can't be applied to gambling," Poulin writes. "For example, with tobacco control: we've long since understood that we can limit and ban advertising so that we're less likely to see youth starting to smoke.

"In this case we could ban advertising about gambling activity and see if that would prevent onset of gambling or progression of gambling into problem gambling."

Poulin says a small proportion of the population — about two per cent — is susceptible to developing a serious gambling addiction.

The researcher also suggests the federal government could introduce more stringent controls, such as by increasing lottery ticket prices through taxation, without impeding on gambling recreation for the greater population.

"There are many ways to approach this that would not limit our individual ability to participate but would at the same time decrease risks to vulnerable groups," she writes.

When Nova Scotia's government decreased the number of video lottery terminals by 30 per cent in 2005, the number of problem gamblers decreased as well, she notes.

Poulin also calls for a moratorium on new casinos and improved enforcement of gambling age restrictions.