The betting and gambling Council is run by the gambling companies. Most of these stats are mare up by them and fed to the regulator.
A prime example- if gambling is more tightly controlled and regulated in the UK, then all the problem gamblers just use illegal bookmakers to gamble.
This is simply not true, it’s just a lie they tell to avoid any scrutiny. They don’t want to stop compulsive gambling, so they will spend millions lobbying the government to avoid any affordability checks.
Look at Merkur as an example. They have had multiple Conservative mps visit their places. They are backing councils into a corner to force them to approve 24 hour licenses for these places, despite community uproar, and they are completely aware that vulnerable people and gambling addicts simply cannot stop playing once they start
The whole industry is a cancer, and these disgusting places are popping up everywhere.
I wonder if children play with loot boxes grow up to play with gambling companies. Have there been any research on this? It may be an interesting finding. Generation AA.
I was in Cineworld the other day, and saw two different gambling app adds. I have never seen anything like that before.
Really? Shocking.
Four Ladbrooks and a Betfred in every single dead end, forgotten about town in the UK. Seems like most adverts on TV are for betting. Incentives with free bets all over the place. ‘Raffles’ all over Facebook which don’t even require a gambling license to produce. Even kids, every time they buy a AAA video game (or are afforded the game for free with in-game purchases) are being targeted with shit like lootboxes. Giant billboards everywhere, betting ads on public transport. Fruit machines in every single pub. Scratch cards and lottery tickets in every shop, every garage. Mini casinos at service stations. It’s everywhere you look, all of the time. If you’re the type of person who has an addictive personality, there’s no getting away from this shit.
I’ve been saying this about this country for years now. The level of normalisation around gambling makes it as socially acceptable as having a cup of tea with a mate. It should have been regulated ages ago, but it generates loads of revenue in tax, so nobody gives a fuck. It has ruined countless lives. It’s often not just the gamblers’ own life that gets ruined either. It’s their spouse, their kids, their extended family.
To be clear, I see no issue with responsible adults gambling sometimes. But plastering it all over the place and introducing children to the concept is abhorrent.
In a tiny high street you can walk the entire way through in under 10 minutes, we have at least 6 betting shops and two “adults only” arcades.
Even more as you leave the high street.
Every single ad break on TV, or a streaming service like 4OD has at least one gambling advert, most offering free spins.
Of course it’s fucked.
What’s tragic is that most problem gamblers quit just before they win big.
Treat gambling like tobacco, no advertising at all, not on TV, online, radio, betting shop windows etc.
It must be horrendous for someone with an addiction to have it shoved in their face all the fucking time.
My small, poverty stricken town has 4 betting shops. They’re full of people all the time either betting on sports, or sitting mindlessly playing gambling machines in the vague hope that they’ll finally win. These shops prey on the most vulnerable and poorest to bleed them dry with addictive practices. High street betting and gambling shops should be banned.
Me and my partner both have close friends who have a gambling problem, thankfully hers has been gamble free for a while, although mine hasn’t.
When you’re aware of the issue then it really comes to light just how shoved in your face gambling is. Watch any TV and count how many gambling site adverts you see within an hour. There’s always at least one during each break, and that’s not even sports channels.
I see people on the bus daily gambling in their phones. I know of at least 5 people who have had to contact gambling sites to block them from accessing them due to addiction. My small working class town has 5 bookies and no banks. Gambling sponsors footy teams, TV programs, advertises everywhere online and in the streets. Video games like FIFA or others with the loot box system are basically gambling simulators for kids. There’s a problem alright.
The Paul Merson doc on Netflix about his gambling addiction is very worth a watch
Imo we need a ban on all gambling advertising immediately. All of it. Internet, TV, junk mail, all of it.
Gambling establishments should not be allowed shop fronts, they should be behind closed doors with minimal signage.
The Norwegian government owns a monopoly on wines and spirits. The Uk government could do something similar for gambling. It could offer competitive rates and odds, which would make organised criminal betting unprofitable and uncompetitive.
We don’t have the knowledge or means to eradicate vices. But with smart government policy we can reduce the harm of gambling significantly, without impeding people’s freedoms.
Was the massive profits and gluts of stores not a bit of a giveaway?
Every single advert break has a least one gambling ad. It’s disgusting.
16 comments
Bet they’re not.
The betting and gambling Council is run by the gambling companies. Most of these stats are mare up by them and fed to the regulator.
A prime example- if gambling is more tightly controlled and regulated in the UK, then all the problem gamblers just use illegal bookmakers to gamble.
This is simply not true, it’s just a lie they tell to avoid any scrutiny. They don’t want to stop compulsive gambling, so they will spend millions lobbying the government to avoid any affordability checks.
Look at Merkur as an example. They have had multiple Conservative mps visit their places. They are backing councils into a corner to force them to approve 24 hour licenses for these places, despite community uproar, and they are completely aware that vulnerable people and gambling addicts simply cannot stop playing once they start
The whole industry is a cancer, and these disgusting places are popping up everywhere.
I wonder if children play with loot boxes grow up to play with gambling companies. Have there been any research on this? It may be an interesting finding. Generation AA.
I was in Cineworld the other day, and saw two different gambling app adds. I have never seen anything like that before.
Really? Shocking.
Four Ladbrooks and a Betfred in every single dead end, forgotten about town in the UK. Seems like most adverts on TV are for betting. Incentives with free bets all over the place. ‘Raffles’ all over Facebook which don’t even require a gambling license to produce. Even kids, every time they buy a AAA video game (or are afforded the game for free with in-game purchases) are being targeted with shit like lootboxes. Giant billboards everywhere, betting ads on public transport. Fruit machines in every single pub. Scratch cards and lottery tickets in every shop, every garage. Mini casinos at service stations. It’s everywhere you look, all of the time. If you’re the type of person who has an addictive personality, there’s no getting away from this shit.
I’ve been saying this about this country for years now. The level of normalisation around gambling makes it as socially acceptable as having a cup of tea with a mate. It should have been regulated ages ago, but it generates loads of revenue in tax, so nobody gives a fuck. It has ruined countless lives. It’s often not just the gamblers’ own life that gets ruined either. It’s their spouse, their kids, their extended family.
To be clear, I see no issue with responsible adults gambling sometimes. But plastering it all over the place and introducing children to the concept is abhorrent.
[Awkward moment from the ad algorithm](https://i.imgur.com/NAZZsws.jpg)
In a tiny high street you can walk the entire way through in under 10 minutes, we have at least 6 betting shops and two “adults only” arcades.
Even more as you leave the high street.
Every single ad break on TV, or a streaming service like 4OD has at least one gambling advert, most offering free spins.
Of course it’s fucked.
What’s tragic is that most problem gamblers quit just before they win big.
Treat gambling like tobacco, no advertising at all, not on TV, online, radio, betting shop windows etc.
It must be horrendous for someone with an addiction to have it shoved in their face all the fucking time.
My small, poverty stricken town has 4 betting shops. They’re full of people all the time either betting on sports, or sitting mindlessly playing gambling machines in the vague hope that they’ll finally win. These shops prey on the most vulnerable and poorest to bleed them dry with addictive practices. High street betting and gambling shops should be banned.
Me and my partner both have close friends who have a gambling problem, thankfully hers has been gamble free for a while, although mine hasn’t.
When you’re aware of the issue then it really comes to light just how shoved in your face gambling is. Watch any TV and count how many gambling site adverts you see within an hour. There’s always at least one during each break, and that’s not even sports channels.
I see people on the bus daily gambling in their phones. I know of at least 5 people who have had to contact gambling sites to block them from accessing them due to addiction. My small working class town has 5 bookies and no banks. Gambling sponsors footy teams, TV programs, advertises everywhere online and in the streets. Video games like FIFA or others with the loot box system are basically gambling simulators for kids. There’s a problem alright.
The Paul Merson doc on Netflix about his gambling addiction is very worth a watch
Imo we need a ban on all gambling advertising immediately. All of it. Internet, TV, junk mail, all of it.
Gambling establishments should not be allowed shop fronts, they should be behind closed doors with minimal signage.
The Norwegian government owns a monopoly on wines and spirits. The Uk government could do something similar for gambling. It could offer competitive rates and odds, which would make organised criminal betting unprofitable and uncompetitive.
We don’t have the knowledge or means to eradicate vices. But with smart government policy we can reduce the harm of gambling significantly, without impeding people’s freedoms.
Was the massive profits and gluts of stores not a bit of a giveaway?
Every single advert break has a least one gambling ad. It’s disgusting.