AIBU - gambling is truly nasty and pernicious...

I think it’s like everything which can be addiction. A small percentage of people, usually those with addictive type personalities, become addicted to the rush, or thought, of winning.

My husband regularly gambles and watches horse racing and is so controlled. He does these weird accumulative bets, 10p each way, usually spending approx £2.20p per day, occasionally we actually attended horse racing and we limit ourselves to a £5 bet per race.

I think there should be much better controls on online gambling and better algorithms to limit online spending.

I’m not sure banning it is the answer, this tends to push things underground and could cause further problems.

Addiction, it could be said that many are addicted to work or making money, I know a few workaholics, work comes before anything else in their lives. Once you accumulate more wealth than you or your family could possibly spend, it has to be an addiction, thats what makes billionaires.

I think gambling is an important enough issue for us to discuss again regardless of how old the thread is.

Does it matter that the thread is old? Online gambling will have increased since the thread started, and is still an issue.

I have known three women whose marriages were ruined by gambling. One would get home to find the TV or the sofa had been seized to pay her husband's debts, another woke up to find hers had disappeared and left her with thousands of pounds of debt that was in joint names. It took her many years to get free of it on one salary instead of two, and the final one ended up leaving the man she loved and bringing up two boys as a single mum, as their lives were too precarious with their father at home gambling.

On the surface all were 'normal' families, but the heartbreak was terrible. All of this was years ago too - before you could sign up for 'spins' or bingo in front of the TV. I think that should be much more tightly regulated - it's much more pernicious than putting an annual bet on the Grand National. I also think that casinos should have to close at midnight. As it is, they are open all night and people are able to keep going until all their money is gone.

This thread is over ten years old!

That said gambling is still an issue... my son ended his relationship because his partner was a drinker and a gambler- not a good combination!

Fallingstar I absolutely agree with you

Grandmabatty

My uncle became addicted to gambling and lost money he could ill afford. Fortunately he told his lovely wife and together they dealt with the addiction and the debt. My family on mum's side have addictive personality. Gran played bingo every day, mum was addicted to smoking, my brother is an alcoholic. I have never been a fan of gambling. We used to have to spend hours with mum in amusement arcades on holiday and i was bored rigid. I don't even buy lottery tickets.

I have an addictive personality, was an alcoholic when much younger, it nearly killed me, thankfully am many years sober but still have an addictive personality so will not even dip my toe in with gambling, no lottery tickets, no one off flutter at royal Ascot. Had an uncle who committed suicide after borrowing and losing large amounts of money when gambling, every year there are countless suicides due to gambling. It doesn’t just wreck lives, it takes lives.
Have absolutely no idea why it is advertised so much is a disgrace.

My uncle became addicted to gambling and lost money he could ill afford. Fortunately he told his lovely wife and together they dealt with the addiction and the debt. My family on mum's side have addictive personality. Gran played bingo every day, mum was addicted to smoking, my brother is an alcoholic. I have never been a fan of gambling. We used to have to spend hours with mum in amusement arcades on holiday and i was bored rigid. I don't even buy lottery tickets.

Oreo

10 year old thread 😲

I knew from the off with the OPs name.
I suppose it’s old enough to be a new thread.

I’m too mean to be a gambler because if I ever won I would take the money and run and certainly wouldn’t put it back. We have a lot of fruit machines here in most of the hotels and pubs and casinos in the state capitals. Then there’s tattslotto every week. It seems the poorer the person, the more they pour into stuff like that - desperation I suppose . I think fruit machines are 5he most boring things on earth and really don’t get how people play them for hours on end. I suppose the stock exchange is another form of gambling - we have quite a few friends who gamble on that with varying degrees of success.

I did place a bet once, it was £1 each way on a horse, it lost!

Haven't bothered since but I am a risk taker, it's just I like the odds stacked in my favor. Making money out of business investments is much better, although still not a sure thing.

Best bet is your own home, plenty of risk excitement there for most.

Butterandjam, fortunately, you and I do not have that addictive gambling personality. Of course a £10 flutter on a horse is not a problem, people spend money earnt as they choose. It's young vulnerable people who get drawn into gambling plus young professionals as a release from stress only to end up in a nightmare, they lose every thing and the bookies make it easy. Many commit suicide,when they lose homes and their families, they become unemployable. Their families are victims, eventually they have to cut off, the effect on other children in the family, , the lying, the stealing. Thank goodness various programmes and residential courses are available which helps many but by no means all. It's an addiction fuelled by high streets full of gambling shops, on line gambling, multiple lottery tickets and scratch cards at tills everywhere, we walk past them but they find it impossible. Ask the victims families what they think needs doing or could help because they live it.

MiniMouse

I suspect you're right Nelliem How much does it cost to sort out the lives of addicted gamblers - benefits, therapy, rehousing because they can't pay mortgage etc etc? It seems a tad counterintuitive

I'm inclined to agree with you MiniMouse unfortunately it's the size of the Tax Take that gets the headlines.
The life-repair stuff is far more difficult to quantify so can more easily be "kicked into the long grass" as they say.

@MOnica *the problem is the way gambling companies are allowed to advertise so much and also offer enticements to betters to keep going."

Is it any different from media advertising encouraging women/ men to put X on their face or wear Y , a mad gamble that will help them win love, admiration and sex?

I'd rather gamble £10 on a horse than hyaluronic acid.

I own Premium Bonds, I've been known to pick a horse in The Grand National, my retired racing greyhound won a lot of money for his previous owner and other people. Also I enjoy a glass of wine.

My level of gambling and alcohol consumption are the reasons pubs and betting shops exist; the proof that not all gambling /alcohol is addictive or pernicious and both can be harmless pleasure (providing a living to others) .

Old but relevant thread. I know of at least two NEETs who have turned to gambling because they cannot get a job. The situation is critical and tragic for young people.

About 20 plus years ago, l bumped into a woman l went to uni with during a bus ride. She was telling me about her recent interview with HM Customs and a few odd questions they asked. One question she was asked, stuck in my head. It was: what are your thoughts on the national lottery?
The new opium of the masses, perhaps?

10 year old thread 😲

Gambling companies are not interested in people just money, its the worst addiction to get, they live for that adrenaline rush just before the win then carry on and lose the lot. The gambler lies they become so good at it and would sell anything to fund the habit, it ruins families, bankrupts them. Your life is never the same if you have had a gambling addict in it, even if they get away from it, they are mentally scarred, you are too.

The problem is the way gambling companies are allowed to advertise so much and also offer enticements to betters to keep going.

I think all enticements should be banned. Betting compaanies should not be allowed to offer anyone any enticements to place a bet, or place a second bet after a first bet and the way they can advertise should be limited to displaying the company name and contact details. Similarly they should not be able to entice you to play different games on their website. They should offer a list of games available and nothing else.

Georgesgran

*REPORTED*. Old thread resurrected by Spammer.

Resurrected again it would seem!

I think spam posts are pretty nasty and pernicious too - reported

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

petra

Roses. Loved Walthamstow stadium. We had a few dogs racing there.

I never went inside but I used to love going past after dark to see the neon sign with the running greyhound.

Gambling addiction/ problem gambling , like drug and tobacco addiction or alcoholism can be serious, damaging, change lives.

But lets stay rational.

They are ONE end of a spectrum of behaviours . At the other end, the same behaviours, in moderation are harmless fun , life enhancing pleasures. A drink with dinner, a lottery ticket, a bet on the grand national.