>Based on the Public Health England annual estimate of suicides associated with problem gambling, there are likely to have been more than 2,450 deaths linked to problem gambling in the years since Joshua Jones died in July 2015.
>
>Gambling with Lives says it is only aware of two of these deaths having been investigated by the Gambling Commission.
–
Two of the many bbc r4 programmes on recently on seeing only what you want to see and ignoring what you don’t.
I feel it really shows how the gambling firms prey on the unfortunate with the fact that the majority of gambling shops are almost always in deprived areas / areas with low income and they prey on the “you might escape your poverty if you gamble enough times” appeal.
Personally I think they are life sucking leaches that design everything to be as addictive and as easy to lose your money as possible while claiming that it’s all the customers fault for gambling and pretending to have Lilly white hands.
I noticed on the radio today (Talksport) the gambling adverts are all boasting about ‘safe limits’ and ‘keeping the fun in your bet’. It seemed like the ads are specifically targeted at people who are frequent gamblers (ie potential problem gamblers)
The chief executive of Bet365 was given a CBE for how well they can get every last penny from gamblers.
[deleted]
I feel for anyone suffering with gambling addiction, these ads are plastered everywhere… during football games, on football shirts, on websites like SkySports. There really is no hiding from it.
Gambling ads need to go the same way as smoking ads. Both online and in the world.
This whole “when the fun stops, stop” is as nonsense as alcohol ads ‘only’ using their 0% abv product in advertising.
Do you ban pubs and breweries because of alcoholics no
Do you ban car driving because of self-inflicted accidents no
Do you ban smoking no
Just don’t get addicted to anything I never have done so why should other people take responsibility for your actions don’t blame everybody else. I know I am going to be downvoted but there you
Sorry but I think gambling should be banned. It just doesn’t make any sense, you throw most of the money away and do not win most of it back, it’s a get rich quick thing for most and ruins their finances and leads to mental health issues, depression and suicide. Ban it all.
Some UK banks prevent you spending your own money on things such as Cryptocurrency. So they could technically do the same for gambling. They won’t of course, gambling does them no harm whereas Cryptocurrency arguably may, but the mechanism is there to identify it (like they may flag fraud) and action it, and could make a difference to many people. Maybe not hardcore gamblers but certainly those developing a habit that’s picked up on by their spending habits at that bank (such as a sudden upturn in outward payments to gambling companies).
why cant the gambling funds go to local clubs? eg: Bet on Manchester city and support the local manchester football club.
I don’t see any reason why there should be high street betting shops in this country tbh
You think the police who can barely solve actual crimes are going to open investigations in to gambling sites and their links to suicide now?
We can hardly even get them to turn up the day you get your house broken in to.
The lack of personal accountability I see for the gambler in a lot of coverage like this annoys me. If someone drinks themselves to death, we don’t go after the corner shop who sold them the brandy every day, or the manufacturer.
I see these very sad stories like my husband got into bother by gambling more and more and taking out loans etc and then he killed himself. Sad as I said, but also, what a fucking idiot for doing that. Yes it’s an addiction, but see above, we don’t bemoan the fact alcohol is easily available in every street in country as a general rule.
This is not my complete and total view on the matter, it’s just a controversial one I hope will spark some debate. I don’t love gambling or the predatory practices of some operators either.
Heartbreaking to read that Josh felt he’d no way out from addiction at 23.
When your brain is telling you you’re fucked and no hope there’s always someone who’ll help you there is always hope.
Be honest, it’s not normal to feel like you’d be better off dead it’s hard to tell people the first time. But it makes a world off difference in treatment.
Don’t hate on me, but I work in marketing for a top gambling firm in the UK.
It’s hard for me to say gambling should be outright banned because it brings so much entertainment to so many people, not to mention jobs such as mine.
However, I’m also fully aware that not enough is being done by gambling firms to tackle problem gambling. On top of that, the amount of support available for problem gamblers is shockingly poor. This means when people do suffer, they suffer hard because they are not stopped and not helped.
And I should know because I have a direct family member who is addicted.
I set up an app that blocked transactions. She got around it. I blocked gambling on her bank. They sent her text explaining how to unblock it so that lasted 5 minutes. Got her to talk to kne agency but all they did was natter on the phone for half an hour once a week.
Companies (including mine) need to up their game on their algorithms and flagging, nip it in the bud straight away and pass them into an agency which has the knowledge AND the means to actually help.
17 comments
>Based on the Public Health England annual estimate of suicides associated with problem gambling, there are likely to have been more than 2,450 deaths linked to problem gambling in the years since Joshua Jones died in July 2015.
>
>Gambling with Lives says it is only aware of two of these deaths having been investigated by the Gambling Commission.
–
Two of the many bbc r4 programmes on recently on seeing only what you want to see and ignoring what you don’t.
>'[Methinks it is a weasel](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011s25)’
>'[Julia Galef on motivated cognition](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001219p)’
I feel it really shows how the gambling firms prey on the unfortunate with the fact that the majority of gambling shops are almost always in deprived areas / areas with low income and they prey on the “you might escape your poverty if you gamble enough times” appeal.
Personally I think they are life sucking leaches that design everything to be as addictive and as easy to lose your money as possible while claiming that it’s all the customers fault for gambling and pretending to have Lilly white hands.
I noticed on the radio today (Talksport) the gambling adverts are all boasting about ‘safe limits’ and ‘keeping the fun in your bet’. It seemed like the ads are specifically targeted at people who are frequent gamblers (ie potential problem gamblers)
The chief executive of Bet365 was given a CBE for how well they can get every last penny from gamblers.
[deleted]
I feel for anyone suffering with gambling addiction, these ads are plastered everywhere… during football games, on football shirts, on websites like SkySports. There really is no hiding from it.
Gambling ads need to go the same way as smoking ads. Both online and in the world.
This whole “when the fun stops, stop” is as nonsense as alcohol ads ‘only’ using their 0% abv product in advertising.
Do you ban pubs and breweries because of alcoholics no
Do you ban car driving because of self-inflicted accidents no
Do you ban smoking no
Just don’t get addicted to anything I never have done so why should other people take responsibility for your actions don’t blame everybody else. I know I am going to be downvoted but there you
Sorry but I think gambling should be banned. It just doesn’t make any sense, you throw most of the money away and do not win most of it back, it’s a get rich quick thing for most and ruins their finances and leads to mental health issues, depression and suicide. Ban it all.
Some UK banks prevent you spending your own money on things such as Cryptocurrency. So they could technically do the same for gambling. They won’t of course, gambling does them no harm whereas Cryptocurrency arguably may, but the mechanism is there to identify it (like they may flag fraud) and action it, and could make a difference to many people. Maybe not hardcore gamblers but certainly those developing a habit that’s picked up on by their spending habits at that bank (such as a sudden upturn in outward payments to gambling companies).
why cant the gambling funds go to local clubs? eg: Bet on Manchester city and support the local manchester football club.
I don’t see any reason why there should be high street betting shops in this country tbh
You think the police who can barely solve actual crimes are going to open investigations in to gambling sites and their links to suicide now?
We can hardly even get them to turn up the day you get your house broken in to.
Some people trying to read this article:
https://youtu.be/nb_Ho09LIH0
The lack of personal accountability I see for the gambler in a lot of coverage like this annoys me. If someone drinks themselves to death, we don’t go after the corner shop who sold them the brandy every day, or the manufacturer.
I see these very sad stories like my husband got into bother by gambling more and more and taking out loans etc and then he killed himself. Sad as I said, but also, what a fucking idiot for doing that. Yes it’s an addiction, but see above, we don’t bemoan the fact alcohol is easily available in every street in country as a general rule.
This is not my complete and total view on the matter, it’s just a controversial one I hope will spark some debate. I don’t love gambling or the predatory practices of some operators either.
Heartbreaking to read that Josh felt he’d no way out from addiction at 23.
When your brain is telling you you’re fucked and no hope there’s always someone who’ll help you there is always hope.
Be honest, it’s not normal to feel like you’d be better off dead it’s hard to tell people the first time. But it makes a world off difference in treatment.
Don’t hate on me, but I work in marketing for a top gambling firm in the UK.
It’s hard for me to say gambling should be outright banned because it brings so much entertainment to so many people, not to mention jobs such as mine.
However, I’m also fully aware that not enough is being done by gambling firms to tackle problem gambling. On top of that, the amount of support available for problem gamblers is shockingly poor. This means when people do suffer, they suffer hard because they are not stopped and not helped.
And I should know because I have a direct family member who is addicted.
I set up an app that blocked transactions. She got around it. I blocked gambling on her bank. They sent her text explaining how to unblock it so that lasted 5 minutes. Got her to talk to kne agency but all they did was natter on the phone for half an hour once a week.
Companies (including mine) need to up their game on their algorithms and flagging, nip it in the bud straight away and pass them into an agency which has the knowledge AND the means to actually help.