On an August morning in 2016, Stewart Kenny, the co-founder of Paddy Power, was struggling to keep his emotions in check as he took his seat around the firm’s board table at its Dublin headquarters. The company he helped set up 28 years earlier had recently finalized a £7 billion ($8.4 billion) merger, making it one of the world’s biggest gambling companies.
Paddy Power had led the transformation of the betting industry from one of drab shops that smelled of stale cigarette smoke into a digital wonderland where anyone with a smartphone could access a maze of blackjack tables, flashing slot machines, and virtual horse races. All the would-be bettors, or punters, across Britain now had a casino in their pocket, and with a flick of the finger they could win — or, more likely, lose — thousands of pounds on a single spin of a virtual roulette wheel. In just three years, the total amount lost in the UK online casino market had gone from £27 million to £2.66 billion.
But Kenny wasn’t celebrating, he was having sleepless nights. At 64, he was ashamed of his complicity in popularizing online games, which he believed were responsible for a surge in gambling addiction and hundreds of suicides. After the usual business of the board was done, Kenny cleared his throat and, fighting back tears, said he was quitting in disgust from the firm because of its collective failure to curb an epidemic of gambling addiction.
“It is the biggest issue facing us and we seem to be like the frog in the boiling water,” Kenny said. As he read from a statement he’d spent weeks preparing, some of his fellow directors looked increasingly uncomfortable. Kenny said his position on the board had become untenable when, earlier that summer, senior managers shelved a safer gambling campaign it was running in Australia because it had proved too effective and was costing them money. He finished his speech, and later that afternoon he walked out of the building for the last time, never to work in the industry again.
​
Six years later, online casino gambling has cemented its dominance — especially in one of Paddy Power’s core markets, the United Kingdom, where it has mushroomed by 47% since his resignation and where gambling addiction clinics are reporting a surge in people seeking treatment.
Britain is the world’s biggest regulated online gambling market, and one of the most liberalized. UK authorities largely outsource consumer protection to the addicts, who are expected to self-exclude from gambling websites if they develop a problem. They do that via a platform called Gamstop, set up and funded by the gambling industry in 2018. Leaving aside that addicts rarely make the best decisions, Gamstop is flawed. While in theory, anyone who self excludes from one site is barred from all UK online gambling businesses, it’s relatively easy to get around. Hundreds of websites offer tips on how to do it, which include changing minor personal details or registering to bet under someone else’s name. Yet when the UK’s regulator looked into how the system could be improved, it delegated the process to industry lobbyists, who went with Gamstop. A spokesperson for Gamstop said it has always acknowledged that “no system can ever be 100% infallible.”
Note: Data is for the year April to March.
Source: Gambling Commission
Successive UK governments have done little to tighten the rules in the last decade, as an ever-increasing number of politicians have developed closer ties to the industry. Many lawmakers who have spoken out against increased regulation have also accepted thousands of pounds in hospitality from gambling companies, and regularly receive free tickets to top-flight sporting events, as well as lucrative speaking gigs and even second jobs, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of lawmakers’ financial disclosures. The government announced a review of gambling legislation in 2019, but has delayed publishing its findings at least four times. This summer, after intensive lobbying, officials in Boris Johnson’s administration watered down or removed several measures originally contained in the review, according to people familiar with the situation.
Note: Data for current Conservative and Labour lawmakers only; includes gifts, donations and employment. *Goulden says that he is “no longer involved in the gambling industry” and has “no interest at all” in it. He made two £10,000 donations to Reeves after his retirement from Gamesys in October 2021. “I am a huge supporter of the current Labour Party and Rachel Reeves,” he said.
Source: Bloomberg analysis of parliamentary records
For four of the past five years, British punters have lost more than £14 billion on online casino games, sports betting and other forms of gambling. Fully 60% of the industry’s profits come from only 5% of its customers, according to a House of Lords’ report. As many as 138,000 people in England are classified by British regulators as problem gamblers, as well as 36,000 children aged 11-16, UK government statistics show. About 400 suicides — or around 8% of all suicides — in England are estimated to be linked to gambling each year, while it disrupts the lives of many more through broken marriages, bankruptcy, homelessness, and crime. During Covid, about 20% of higher-risk gamblers increased the time they spent gaming.
The explosion in online gaming in the UK can be traced to the Gambling Act of 2005. Gambling firms were allowed to advertise sports betting, online casinos and poker on TV and radio for the first time, and until 2014 remote operators selling to British customers weren’t even required to hold a UK license. The law predated the technological revolution that was the smartphone. Betting firms have been exploiting that blind spot ever since, developing aggressive habit-forming games tailor-made for obsessive gambling, and cashing in while a significant subsection of their customers racked up huge losses, according to interviews with dozens of current and former employees, reformed addicts, lawmakers, consumer advocates, and academics. Firms including Bet365 Group Ltd., Ladbrokes and Paddy Power then enrolled their biggest losers into so-called VIP schemes and showered them with gifts that typically included free bets, cash deposits, tickets to sports games, flights to Las Vegas, and other inducements to keep them hooked, the reformed addicts and current and former employees said.
A spokesperson for Entain Plc, the owner of Ladbrokes, said the company shut its VIP scheme in August 2020, though it still provided account managers to a small number of higher spending customers. A spokesperson for Bet365 declined to comment on their VIP scheme. A spokesperson for Flutter Entertainment Plc, the parent company of Paddy Power, said the firm had also closed its VIP scheme, and reduced the revenue coming from its highest spending customers by 55%.
in a capitalistic society, addiction = revenue = good
and companys dont want to see their revenue staying the same, so they chase for more profits which means they need more “customers”/”players”.
hopefully one day these kind of buisnesses that feed off people will go away but i wont hold my breath since its even made its way into the majority of video games with gambling and gatcha systems
Anyone else notice that there was a “when the fun stops, stop” campaign which played at the end of all those online casino ads?
They’ve stopped now and I’d be willing to bet it was because the lobbyists found the use of the word “stop” as threatening to their bottom line.
I think its now a nothing statement like “be smart” or “think”. Nothing specific to gambling at all. That’s how much power the lobby seems to have
Our MPs are for hire – so I don’t think this will ever change
More lives will be lost and families shattered but the lawmakers and the Lords/Peers will make merry.
Labour needs to make a stand and refuse any donations from betting firms.
They may as well be taking donations from street drug dealers.
The harm caused by these companies is awful and those donations are funded by real hurt for families.
Britain actually has many laws and regulations in place to combat gambling addiction. Especially in recent years.
Go gamble a few hundred in a casino and a manager is required to speak with, find out where your money comes from, how gambling affects your private life etc. Keep gambling and the casino is then required by law to demand you provide financial documents to prove that you are not gambling above your means. Same goes for online gambling.
Of course this is far from perfect but its alot more than most other western nations do.
Never understood how Labour willingly introduced something as damaging to working people of low incomes as the Gambling Act 2005.
They should start by banning gambling ads during football breaks, it targets the young who watch these games and normalises gambling.
Should all be banned.
They use predatory tactics, make the majority of their money from a small number of problem gamblers and have proven time and again they just won’t change.
Further to that, the amount of complaints about the companies refusing to pay out when people actually win, making them jump through hoop after hoop and refusing payouts is a fraud. They should really audit any money coming into the company, before bets are placed, if they are really concerned.
The overwhelming majority of people that gamble, gamble fine and don’t have problems.
Yet here we are as usual, trying to punish those because of the minority.
The sheer amount of gambling restrictions in the last few years is nuts.
#ARE YOU LOOKING FOR EXCITEMENT IN YOUR LIFE? THEN PLAY, PLAY, PLAY, TODAY! WIN BIG WITH OUR NEW BETS!
^^^^whentheFUNstops,stop
I’d ban all free offers, ban push notifications, ban phone apps and probably ban all advertising.
I rarely watch TV anymore apart from the odd new release or short series and when I do, it’s usually downloaded and without ads – so when me and my other half decided to watch I’m a Celeb now that it’s back in Australia I was fucking gobsmacked by how many gambling ads were run. The sponsor of the show was Tombola, the ad breaks were every 10-15mins, and it was just non stop gambling ads. Absolutely unfuckingbelievable.
Same as when the alcopops boom came to the alcohol market. Make it taste better for children to get hooked on.
“Fully 60% of the industry’s profits come from only 5% of its customers”
Ok so that’s a sign your industry is absolutely fucked.
Is that a reference to online voting for Liz Truss?
16 comments
On an August morning in 2016, Stewart Kenny, the co-founder of Paddy Power, was struggling to keep his emotions in check as he took his seat around the firm’s board table at its Dublin headquarters. The company he helped set up 28 years earlier had recently finalized a £7 billion ($8.4 billion) merger, making it one of the world’s biggest gambling companies.
Paddy Power had led the transformation of the betting industry from one of drab shops that smelled of stale cigarette smoke into a digital wonderland where anyone with a smartphone could access a maze of blackjack tables, flashing slot machines, and virtual horse races. All the would-be bettors, or punters, across Britain now had a casino in their pocket, and with a flick of the finger they could win — or, more likely, lose — thousands of pounds on a single spin of a virtual roulette wheel. In just three years, the total amount lost in the UK online casino market had gone from £27 million to £2.66 billion.
But Kenny wasn’t celebrating, he was having sleepless nights. At 64, he was ashamed of his complicity in popularizing online games, which he believed were responsible for a surge in gambling addiction and hundreds of suicides. After the usual business of the board was done, Kenny cleared his throat and, fighting back tears, said he was quitting in disgust from the firm because of its collective failure to curb an epidemic of gambling addiction.
“It is the biggest issue facing us and we seem to be like the frog in the boiling water,” Kenny said. As he read from a statement he’d spent weeks preparing, some of his fellow directors looked increasingly uncomfortable. Kenny said his position on the board had become untenable when, earlier that summer, senior managers shelved a safer gambling campaign it was running in Australia because it had proved too effective and was costing them money. He finished his speech, and later that afternoon he walked out of the building for the last time, never to work in the industry again.
​
Six years later, online casino gambling has cemented its dominance — especially in one of Paddy Power’s core markets, the United Kingdom, where it has mushroomed by 47% since his resignation and where gambling addiction clinics are reporting a surge in people seeking treatment.
Britain is the world’s biggest regulated online gambling market, and one of the most liberalized. UK authorities largely outsource consumer protection to the addicts, who are expected to self-exclude from gambling websites if they develop a problem. They do that via a platform called Gamstop, set up and funded by the gambling industry in 2018. Leaving aside that addicts rarely make the best decisions, Gamstop is flawed. While in theory, anyone who self excludes from one site is barred from all UK online gambling businesses, it’s relatively easy to get around. Hundreds of websites offer tips on how to do it, which include changing minor personal details or registering to bet under someone else’s name. Yet when the UK’s regulator looked into how the system could be improved, it delegated the process to industry lobbyists, who went with Gamstop. A spokesperson for Gamstop said it has always acknowledged that “no system can ever be 100% infallible.”
Note: Data is for the year April to March.
Source: Gambling Commission
Successive UK governments have done little to tighten the rules in the last decade, as an ever-increasing number of politicians have developed closer ties to the industry. Many lawmakers who have spoken out against increased regulation have also accepted thousands of pounds in hospitality from gambling companies, and regularly receive free tickets to top-flight sporting events, as well as lucrative speaking gigs and even second jobs, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of lawmakers’ financial disclosures. The government announced a review of gambling legislation in 2019, but has delayed publishing its findings at least four times. This summer, after intensive lobbying, officials in Boris Johnson’s administration watered down or removed several measures originally contained in the review, according to people familiar with the situation.
Note: Data for current Conservative and Labour lawmakers only; includes gifts, donations and employment. *Goulden says that he is “no longer involved in the gambling industry” and has “no interest at all” in it. He made two £10,000 donations to Reeves after his retirement from Gamesys in October 2021. “I am a huge supporter of the current Labour Party and Rachel Reeves,” he said.
Source: Bloomberg analysis of parliamentary records
For four of the past five years, British punters have lost more than £14 billion on online casino games, sports betting and other forms of gambling. Fully 60% of the industry’s profits come from only 5% of its customers, according to a House of Lords’ report. As many as 138,000 people in England are classified by British regulators as problem gamblers, as well as 36,000 children aged 11-16, UK government statistics show. About 400 suicides — or around 8% of all suicides — in England are estimated to be linked to gambling each year, while it disrupts the lives of many more through broken marriages, bankruptcy, homelessness, and crime. During Covid, about 20% of higher-risk gamblers increased the time they spent gaming.
The explosion in online gaming in the UK can be traced to the Gambling Act of 2005. Gambling firms were allowed to advertise sports betting, online casinos and poker on TV and radio for the first time, and until 2014 remote operators selling to British customers weren’t even required to hold a UK license. The law predated the technological revolution that was the smartphone. Betting firms have been exploiting that blind spot ever since, developing aggressive habit-forming games tailor-made for obsessive gambling, and cashing in while a significant subsection of their customers racked up huge losses, according to interviews with dozens of current and former employees, reformed addicts, lawmakers, consumer advocates, and academics. Firms including Bet365 Group Ltd., Ladbrokes and Paddy Power then enrolled their biggest losers into so-called VIP schemes and showered them with gifts that typically included free bets, cash deposits, tickets to sports games, flights to Las Vegas, and other inducements to keep them hooked, the reformed addicts and current and former employees said.
A spokesperson for Entain Plc, the owner of Ladbrokes, said the company shut its VIP scheme in August 2020, though it still provided account managers to a small number of higher spending customers. A spokesperson for Bet365 declined to comment on their VIP scheme. A spokesperson for Flutter Entertainment Plc, the parent company of Paddy Power, said the firm had also closed its VIP scheme, and reduced the revenue coming from its highest spending customers by 55%.
in a capitalistic society, addiction = revenue = good
and companys dont want to see their revenue staying the same, so they chase for more profits which means they need more “customers”/”players”.
hopefully one day these kind of buisnesses that feed off people will go away but i wont hold my breath since its even made its way into the majority of video games with gambling and gatcha systems
Anyone else notice that there was a “when the fun stops, stop” campaign which played at the end of all those online casino ads?
They’ve stopped now and I’d be willing to bet it was because the lobbyists found the use of the word “stop” as threatening to their bottom line.
I think its now a nothing statement like “be smart” or “think”. Nothing specific to gambling at all. That’s how much power the lobby seems to have
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/gambling-companies-hire-mps-and-flood-politicians-with-donations-ahead-of-crucial-changes-to-betting-laws-1294361
Our MPs are for hire – so I don’t think this will ever change
More lives will be lost and families shattered but the lawmakers and the Lords/Peers will make merry.
Labour needs to make a stand and refuse any donations from betting firms.
They may as well be taking donations from street drug dealers.
The harm caused by these companies is awful and those donations are funded by real hurt for families.
Britain actually has many laws and regulations in place to combat gambling addiction. Especially in recent years.
Go gamble a few hundred in a casino and a manager is required to speak with, find out where your money comes from, how gambling affects your private life etc. Keep gambling and the casino is then required by law to demand you provide financial documents to prove that you are not gambling above your means. Same goes for online gambling.
Of course this is far from perfect but its alot more than most other western nations do.
Never understood how Labour willingly introduced something as damaging to working people of low incomes as the Gambling Act 2005.
They should start by banning gambling ads during football breaks, it targets the young who watch these games and normalises gambling.
Should all be banned.
They use predatory tactics, make the majority of their money from a small number of problem gamblers and have proven time and again they just won’t change.
Further to that, the amount of complaints about the companies refusing to pay out when people actually win, making them jump through hoop after hoop and refusing payouts is a fraud. They should really audit any money coming into the company, before bets are placed, if they are really concerned.
The overwhelming majority of people that gamble, gamble fine and don’t have problems.
Yet here we are as usual, trying to punish those because of the minority.
The sheer amount of gambling restrictions in the last few years is nuts.
#ARE YOU LOOKING FOR EXCITEMENT IN YOUR LIFE? THEN PLAY, PLAY, PLAY, TODAY! WIN BIG WITH OUR NEW BETS!
^^^^whentheFUNstops,stop
I’d ban all free offers, ban push notifications, ban phone apps and probably ban all advertising.
I rarely watch TV anymore apart from the odd new release or short series and when I do, it’s usually downloaded and without ads – so when me and my other half decided to watch I’m a Celeb now that it’s back in Australia I was fucking gobsmacked by how many gambling ads were run. The sponsor of the show was Tombola, the ad breaks were every 10-15mins, and it was just non stop gambling ads. Absolutely unfuckingbelievable.
Same as when the alcopops boom came to the alcohol market. Make it taste better for children to get hooked on.
“Fully 60% of the industry’s profits come from only 5% of its customers”
Ok so that’s a sign your industry is absolutely fucked.
Is that a reference to online voting for Liz Truss?