AIBU - gambling is truly nasty and pernicious...

Maremia

I'd love to know what is the 'proper' way to do gambling.

Premium bonds and perhaps a lottery ticket occasionally because it helps good causes!
A charity raffle? You buy a ticket (or ten) but might not win a prize.

ArthurAskey

Saw a man clearly on his uppers and the worse for drink spend £10 on scratch cards the other day. We hear a lot about people living in poverty but when benefits are squandered on betting and boozing it makes my blood boil.

How did you know he was on benefits?
Did you ask him?

He could have been reasonably well off but just scruffy.

I'd love to know what is the 'proper' way to do gambling.

As Anne has said, you can gamble without doing great damage, and most certainly the phrase "More bookies in the High Streets of the UK than shops now" is utter tosh.

Sure, there are some problem gamblers, but the numbers are DWARFED by the number of problem eaters, and problem drinkers! The eaters and drinkers also tend to kill themselves, having on the way cost the NHS huge sums trying to fix THOSE particular addictions (which the taxes from gambling are helping to pay for!). Oh, and drunk drivers tend to kill people, people who've overdosed playing roulette (etc) largely don't? Let's ban excess food and drink, have Big Brother checking your Tesco till rolls?!

TV adverts? Yes, look closely, and you will see them festooned with signs about 'GamCare', 'BetResponsibly' (etc etc).

Horse-racing is one of the largest employers in the country, apparently, when you add in all the ancillary business interests (hospitality, transport, etc), and trying to cripple it would be thoroughly counter-productive. And as some have said, it can be a nice day out (maybe don't go on a wet day like we've had so much of lately?!).

The REAL problem apparently lies with online games, roulette, poker, etc, which the campaign to not drastically increase taxes on horseracing tried to focus on. Those sites it seems, according to the article I read, are based outside of the UK, in low-tax locations (Gib, Malta, etc) so hard to enforce UK laws on them. If you have bright ideas about that, send to your MP?

Ban gambling because it's a terrible thing? Well, the numbers suggest it's hugely popular. Lots of countries abroad have horse-racing, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and plenty more, massive amounts in the States, Oz, Hong Kong, SA, and these days in S America too. Those countries tend to have a 'Tote' Based system, with the profits going to racing, or perhaps good causes.

I read years ago that THIS country messed up when betting shops appeared, the MacMillan Govt (Tories!) allowed itself to be 'persuaded' (the polite term?!) to let them be run by commercial interests, and so Ladbrokes, Corals, etc built vast business empires from the profits. We could only guess if any recently ex-politicos found themselves as directors of such firms?!

My dear late mil was exactly like Anne58, she made a real hobby of studying form, had her favourite trainers and jockeys, gambled nearly every day, just 20, 30 max 50p a day and thoroughly enjoyed it! She was totally non addictive, although she could have afforded to gamble much higher stakes, she never did!

Advertising should be banned on gambling as is smoking in all places. Stop the idiocies of the “take a rest”ones also similar line to “Air on a G string “ having the same affect on smokers.
If the USA can control it online as a previous poster reported, why can’t the UK?

They shouldn't be allowed to advertise on TV or have their banners/sponsorship of footie shown on TV

Saw a man clearly on his uppers and the worse for drink spend £10 on scratch cards the other day. We hear a lot about people living in poverty but when benefits are squandered on betting and boozing it makes my blood boil.

vegasmags

I think that the growth of online gambling has exacerbated addiction. It can be carried out in private, unknown to family and friends. I am astonished by the number of TV adverts promoting this activity, and wonder if they shouldn't be more strongly regulated.

The situation in the USA is very complicated, because different states take differing views, but it is much harder to gamble online because of credit card regulations which are absent here.

This post ticks all the boxes on the perils of gambling. Never really had had a problem with the usual suspect High Street bookies back in the day.

When besides the daily gamblers people could have the odd flutter or a bet on a big horse race like the Gand National. I know they has changed a lot

But the introduction of Online gambling has really changed to get whole nature of gambling. And l think online gambling should be banned.

But really don't know how this could be achieved.

Gambling Addiction like any addiction is truly awful. And can really destroy individuals and their families.

Unfortunately it brings a lot of money into the economy. There is nothing wrong with gambling if done in a proper way.

If someone doesn’t have much money they will beg, steal, or borrow the money they need to feed their addiction. If it means pawning their possessions or someone else’s, it doesn’t matter. People have lost their homes, their marriages, and become estranged from family who loaned the addict money but never got it back. Eventually they end up alone without any support system having run out of options for getting the money they need legally.
The saddest thing is that addicts who try to kick the habit are relentlessly bombed on their phones with adverts from gambling companies. One young man had nearly kicked his habit for good but succumbed to the constant ads and committed suicide.
Companies that do this bombing should be held to account. Is criminal.

One of my foodbank clients is addicted. When money comes into his account, he spends it immediately on gambling. Within a day or two, his money is gone, he has no food in the house, and no way of buying credit for his electricity.
He is in his late fifties, I would guess .
I have no idea how this could be stopped.

As far as gambling goes the saddest thing I witnessed was a lady who once upon a time was very wealthy.
At the time I was a roulette and black Jack dealer.
It was a quiet afternoon session so there was only her and I on the table. She had done all her money, the manager refused her credit.
Then she spent an amount of time scrambling in her very expensive handbag looking for enough change to buy one more chip.
It was so sad to see. I can still see her in my minds eye. My brain was saying, stop, please stop.

It would be good if online gambling was stopped but it's not going to happen because too much taxation would be lost, it's just another revenue earner.

MiniMouse

It's true that betting shops and gambling have been around for donkey's years, but it's the advertising on TV that's glamourising it, plus the 24 hour accessibility that worries me.

I think it was early 60s that bookies were allowed on the high street. Up until then horse race betting was done at the course.

I remember my parents being quite shocked when a betting shop came to our village.

Fallingstar

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

Yes.

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.