For me the story here isn’t that a bookmaker didn’t help stop a problem gambler. That’s their business.
The story is that whenever they’re confronted with the harm they do they roll out the standard PR lines.
> Ensuring high standards of safer gambling and preventing gambling-related harm is central to the way William Hill operates
Which this (and many other cases) show is bullshit.
We need to stop pretending that gambling companies are going to self regulate in a way that’s completely contrary to their business interests.
As far as I’m concerned we have a case here of someone shifting the blame for his own shortcomings.
With gambling addiction you get a hit of dopamine every time you lose. To make you want to keep going and going. To get the W
I mean McDonald’s didn’t stop me becoming fat.
The problem with problem gamblers is that even if one bookmaker blocks them, they will find somewhere else – it’s an addiction. The only sure fire way is getting help.
Why would a bookmaker stop someone using their services? If you’re a gambling addict that’s your own fault. What the fuck is up with this mentality of blaming anyone but yourself for your own problems? Does an alcoholic blame an 18 year old supermarket worker for stocking shelves in the spirits aisle? Fuck sake.
Of course they didn’t gambling companies actively encourage problem gamblers as a matter of policy.
A childhood friend of mines wife got hooked on online gambling. The company gave her a handler who would regularly call her to encourage the gambling. At first my friend thought she was having an affair before he found out exactly what was going on. Every time she tried to stop the handler would ring her up after a day or so ‘out of concern’ and often credited her account to get her back into it.
I work in a bookies and we do things like monitor spending on customers and have triggers that are hit when certain amounts are hit. We do talk to customers about it and offer them things like spending limits and self exclusion, but they often ignore this or spread they’re spending across different companies.
We can track the instore spending, but when it comes to on what they’re spending online or in other shops we cant. Given that it’s still mostly a cash based system the paper trail to track just isn’t there.
‘When the fun stops, stop*’
^(*but dont expect us to help you do that in any way whatsoever.)
Should McDonald’s tell the obeast, “You need a salad more than this triple Cheese burger and SHAREbox of 20 nuggets, go and get some help.
I was just wondering if business should be doing more for everyone else.
Hell want to ruin a child’s day, apply it to fat kids, that would really hurt self-esteem..
Imagine a heroin dealer “When the fun stops stop!” And then completely washing their hands of any addiction. If you get addicted its a personal failing apparently, you didnt take their advice of just stopping.
Reality is we know gambling is extremely addictive for many people. It seizes control of the reward centre of the brain and it becomes their only source of joy. The predictors of gambling addiction are genetic, environmental, etc, not how weak a person is or how much self control they have.
Thankfully, gambling has never interested me. An occasional flutter on the national is all that I did, I don’t bother anymore.
Last week must have been horrific for gambling addicts, the Cheltenham festival was on, and all media was bombarded with adverts for betting apps and free bets, one on the radio was promising 2 free £10 bets for every £10 bet which sounded bizzare to me and is why it caught my attention.
It was impossible to ignore and must have been horrific for someone struggling with an addiction.
Betting advertising really needs to be reigned in.
A business model that drives customers away is a plan for failure. It people need to take some responsibility for themselves. That’s not saying there isn’t room for greater regulation around this but still
I used to work in Marketing for William Hill and this isn’t suprising in the slightest. I can’t speak for every bookmaker, but WH were very big on responsible gambling adverts and campaigns onsite and woefully inadequate eith their algorithms which identidied and blocked problem gamblers.
Because lets be honest, if they could stop themselves after seeing “gamble responsibly” messages, they wouldn’t be classed as a problem gambler.
Edit: changed can to can’t
Unfortunately that person chose to gamble and It’s not the company’s fault he doesn’t have a level of self control.
No, they won’t. They make their money from not preventing people from gambling.
They shouldn’t be allowed to pretend they care or that their attempts to help are anything other than PR.
So an alcoholic can shift the blame on “insert pub name” because he doesn’t want to take responsibility for his own problem?
Always said, you should have to show a bank statement/s and you can not put more than x% of your wage in your account.
Scratch cards are much harder but everyone should be limited to x amount a day.
Makes me sad that so many people in this thread show absolutely no compassion.
The gambling commission are toothless. I was an area manager for Ladbrokes and they would have the same “we take it seriously, it’s only fun” nonsense on show…but would give managers and staff actual training on how to bypass the rules, keep people betting longer and suggesting add ons.
I remember another area manager bollocking staff for allowing a problem gambler to self exclude, even saying “there goes your bonus and chances of promotion” and reminding them “no one wants to stop, he’s just going to go to betfred now”.
It’s all lip service by a set of companies that grease the right palms and rob their customers blind
Just another story about it being everyone else’s fault but theirs. Grow a set, put on your big boy pants and take some responsibility. No one forced you to bet all this money. It’s all their own fault I’m afraid to say. Bring on the downvotes.
Having worked there for ten years I can say that most intervention you attempt is futile. I always tried what we were told, when deemed safe, speak to them, offer a cuppa and discuss options. Soon as your back is turned, they’re ramming more money into the machines. Some would open up and say they’ll consider a break. Or exclude. Those who self-excluded would go to Coral.
You can’t force someone to self-exclude, that’s a decision they need to make for themselves.
Isn’t the issue with any adiction is you loose the ability to self-exclude? They have lost that self-control.
Take some responsibilty your OWN actions for a change. You might be addicted to something but you can also prevent yourself from doing it. Don’t walk down the street with the bookies. Don’t have money or credit cards on you when you go out and about. Only take precise money you need to go to the supermarket. We all have to be responsible for our own actions and stop blaming others.
It’s not the job of the bookmaker to make you stop gambling.
Just like it’s not the job of the pub, shop, supermarket to stop you smoking or stop you drinking.
Breaking news: butcher doesn’t actively stop customers from buying their meat.
He’s an adult… take responsibility for your actions!
Banning gambling advertisement should be a given, regardless of this.
The problem is that you can’t even watch sports, go on Twitter, or go to football matches without seeing a gambling advert. Its always in your face
Why do they even have a quick cash option? That’s clearly a sign that someone can’t afford to gamble if they literally do not even have the money cleared in their account
Gamble your money away – bookmaker’s fault
Smoke yourself to death – cigarette company’s fault
End up with obesity or T2D – junk food company’s fault
Have an accident while drunk – bartender’s fault
Accumulate thousands in debt from frivolous spending – credit card company’s fault
Claim you have anger issues and beat someone to death in the street – society’s fault
I dont want to ban gambling, the lottery is generally fine, and even sports and horse betting is fine in moderation.
However when you have some very big companies involved it becomes really hard to believe they are gonna do what is need to stop people who addicted from betting, even more so online.
No surprises there, unfortunately.
On a related note, there seem to be a huge amount of gambling ads going around at the moment. Pisses me off. They think if they go “You can WIN big EVERY DAY” and talk it up for being FUN and EXCITING and whatever, and then just go “begambleaware.orgknowyourlimitswhenthefunstopstop” at the end, that they’ve *totally* done their job weeding out addicts.
Of course they don’t give a shit. Making an exploiting addicts is their business model.
Alcoholic says barman didn’t help him stop. Addict says drug dealer didn’t help him stop. The government (Blair)legalised easy gambling – advertising, apps, online, few controls. Lobby the bastards in power as well!
33 comments
For me the story here isn’t that a bookmaker didn’t help stop a problem gambler. That’s their business.
The story is that whenever they’re confronted with the harm they do they roll out the standard PR lines.
> Ensuring high standards of safer gambling and preventing gambling-related harm is central to the way William Hill operates
Which this (and many other cases) show is bullshit.
We need to stop pretending that gambling companies are going to self regulate in a way that’s completely contrary to their business interests.
As far as I’m concerned we have a case here of someone shifting the blame for his own shortcomings.
With gambling addiction you get a hit of dopamine every time you lose. To make you want to keep going and going. To get the W
I mean McDonald’s didn’t stop me becoming fat.
The problem with problem gamblers is that even if one bookmaker blocks them, they will find somewhere else – it’s an addiction. The only sure fire way is getting help.
Why would a bookmaker stop someone using their services? If you’re a gambling addict that’s your own fault. What the fuck is up with this mentality of blaming anyone but yourself for your own problems? Does an alcoholic blame an 18 year old supermarket worker for stocking shelves in the spirits aisle? Fuck sake.
Of course they didn’t gambling companies actively encourage problem gamblers as a matter of policy.
A childhood friend of mines wife got hooked on online gambling. The company gave her a handler who would regularly call her to encourage the gambling. At first my friend thought she was having an affair before he found out exactly what was going on. Every time she tried to stop the handler would ring her up after a day or so ‘out of concern’ and often credited her account to get her back into it.
I work in a bookies and we do things like monitor spending on customers and have triggers that are hit when certain amounts are hit. We do talk to customers about it and offer them things like spending limits and self exclusion, but they often ignore this or spread they’re spending across different companies.
We can track the instore spending, but when it comes to on what they’re spending online or in other shops we cant. Given that it’s still mostly a cash based system the paper trail to track just isn’t there.
‘When the fun stops, stop*’
^(*but dont expect us to help you do that in any way whatsoever.)
Should McDonald’s tell the obeast, “You need a salad more than this triple Cheese burger and SHAREbox of 20 nuggets, go and get some help.
I was just wondering if business should be doing more for everyone else.
Hell want to ruin a child’s day, apply it to fat kids, that would really hurt self-esteem..
Imagine a heroin dealer “When the fun stops stop!” And then completely washing their hands of any addiction. If you get addicted its a personal failing apparently, you didnt take their advice of just stopping.
Reality is we know gambling is extremely addictive for many people. It seizes control of the reward centre of the brain and it becomes their only source of joy. The predictors of gambling addiction are genetic, environmental, etc, not how weak a person is or how much self control they have.
Thankfully, gambling has never interested me. An occasional flutter on the national is all that I did, I don’t bother anymore.
Last week must have been horrific for gambling addicts, the Cheltenham festival was on, and all media was bombarded with adverts for betting apps and free bets, one on the radio was promising 2 free £10 bets for every £10 bet which sounded bizzare to me and is why it caught my attention.
It was impossible to ignore and must have been horrific for someone struggling with an addiction.
Betting advertising really needs to be reigned in.
A business model that drives customers away is a plan for failure. It people need to take some responsibility for themselves. That’s not saying there isn’t room for greater regulation around this but still
I used to work in Marketing for William Hill and this isn’t suprising in the slightest. I can’t speak for every bookmaker, but WH were very big on responsible gambling adverts and campaigns onsite and woefully inadequate eith their algorithms which identidied and blocked problem gamblers.
Because lets be honest, if they could stop themselves after seeing “gamble responsibly” messages, they wouldn’t be classed as a problem gambler.
Edit: changed can to can’t
Unfortunately that person chose to gamble and It’s not the company’s fault he doesn’t have a level of self control.
No, they won’t. They make their money from not preventing people from gambling.
They shouldn’t be allowed to pretend they care or that their attempts to help are anything other than PR.
So an alcoholic can shift the blame on “insert pub name” because he doesn’t want to take responsibility for his own problem?
Always said, you should have to show a bank statement/s and you can not put more than x% of your wage in your account.
Scratch cards are much harder but everyone should be limited to x amount a day.
Makes me sad that so many people in this thread show absolutely no compassion.
The gambling commission are toothless. I was an area manager for Ladbrokes and they would have the same “we take it seriously, it’s only fun” nonsense on show…but would give managers and staff actual training on how to bypass the rules, keep people betting longer and suggesting add ons.
I remember another area manager bollocking staff for allowing a problem gambler to self exclude, even saying “there goes your bonus and chances of promotion” and reminding them “no one wants to stop, he’s just going to go to betfred now”.
It’s all lip service by a set of companies that grease the right palms and rob their customers blind
Just another story about it being everyone else’s fault but theirs. Grow a set, put on your big boy pants and take some responsibility. No one forced you to bet all this money. It’s all their own fault I’m afraid to say. Bring on the downvotes.
Having worked there for ten years I can say that most intervention you attempt is futile. I always tried what we were told, when deemed safe, speak to them, offer a cuppa and discuss options. Soon as your back is turned, they’re ramming more money into the machines. Some would open up and say they’ll consider a break. Or exclude. Those who self-excluded would go to Coral.
You can’t force someone to self-exclude, that’s a decision they need to make for themselves.
Isn’t the issue with any adiction is you loose the ability to self-exclude? They have lost that self-control.
Take some responsibilty your OWN actions for a change. You might be addicted to something but you can also prevent yourself from doing it. Don’t walk down the street with the bookies. Don’t have money or credit cards on you when you go out and about. Only take precise money you need to go to the supermarket. We all have to be responsible for our own actions and stop blaming others.
It’s not the job of the bookmaker to make you stop gambling.
Just like it’s not the job of the pub, shop, supermarket to stop you smoking or stop you drinking.
Breaking news: butcher doesn’t actively stop customers from buying their meat.
He’s an adult… take responsibility for your actions!
Banning gambling advertisement should be a given, regardless of this.
The problem is that you can’t even watch sports, go on Twitter, or go to football matches without seeing a gambling advert. Its always in your face
Why do they even have a quick cash option? That’s clearly a sign that someone can’t afford to gamble if they literally do not even have the money cleared in their account
Gamble your money away – bookmaker’s fault
Smoke yourself to death – cigarette company’s fault
End up with obesity or T2D – junk food company’s fault
Have an accident while drunk – bartender’s fault
Accumulate thousands in debt from frivolous spending – credit card company’s fault
Claim you have anger issues and beat someone to death in the street – society’s fault
I dont want to ban gambling, the lottery is generally fine, and even sports and horse betting is fine in moderation.
However when you have some very big companies involved it becomes really hard to believe they are gonna do what is need to stop people who addicted from betting, even more so online.
No surprises there, unfortunately.
On a related note, there seem to be a huge amount of gambling ads going around at the moment. Pisses me off. They think if they go “You can WIN big EVERY DAY” and talk it up for being FUN and EXCITING and whatever, and then just go “begambleaware.orgknowyourlimitswhenthefunstopstop” at the end, that they’ve *totally* done their job weeding out addicts.
Of course they don’t give a shit. Making an exploiting addicts is their business model.
Alcoholic says barman didn’t help him stop. Addict says drug dealer didn’t help him stop. The government (Blair)legalised easy gambling – advertising, apps, online, few controls. Lobby the bastards in power as well!