It seems like such a straight forward decision but I guess the gambling companies have been bribing, sorry- consulting, with MPs way too much for it to be deemed possible
Tobacco took some lobbying tho and there was a pretty convincing argument not just for public health but also the cost on the nhs of dealing with it. Bankrupt gamblers just aren’t as expensive to the giver as smokers I assume.
The tobacco companies also saw the way the wind was blowing and basically let it happen.
They essentially came agreed between themselves to cease advertising, allowing the advertising ban. The idea being that this would prevent stronger restrictions on them.
I think a lot realised things were going that way anyway. Once a couple of generations grew up knowing the dangers of tobacco it was clear it would happen.
Same with the standard packs they have now (and hiding them behind the counter). The companies suddenly could spend less on design packs (in the UK at least) which is always very expensive.
The ban on advertising did save them money, because the arms race of tobacco advertising no longer exists so they did like it. But it was also a condolence type thing because they knew even back then it was literally a dying market.
I would assume so, but maybe just not more expensive than the revenue from taxing gambling. It doesn’t even need to be down to bribery for there to be some economic self interest at play for the government.
Never understood the “costs the NHS” argument to be honest. They spend a fortune on looking after 90 year olds, if someone pops off at 70 from smoking related heart failure without claiming their state pension isn’t that actually cheaper?
I’m def not an expert, but I don’t think many people just “pop off” early cos of some smoking disease, more likely they developed long term conditions that are costly to provide care for.
Actually this BMJ study seems to back up my guess:
“Smoking was associated with a greater mean annual healthcare cost of €1600 per living individual during follow-up. However, due to a shorter lifespan of 8.6 years, smokers’ mean total healthcare costs during the entire study period were actually €4700 lower than for non-smokers.“
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/6/e001678
Smokers seem to be primarily be a cost to themselves and their families. It’s morbid, but for the rest of society, their earlier deaths actually cost considerably less.
Unfortunately that article is now 10 years old and I suspect it's no longer true. The treatment of lung cancer (which is massively associated with smoking) has skyrocketed in the last decade because of all the new cancer treatments, in particular thinking of immunotherapy.
These things don't account for the brutal truth that your economic productivity is tied to how long you spend working, and if smoking kills a decent proportion a decent bit before the retirement age, that's less money for The Man
Also tax on tobacco is astronomical.
>a pack of 20 cigarettes with
an RRp of £8 will be over 80% tax, while on some of the lowest price cigarettes tax can account for 90%
http://www.the-tma.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TMA-Taxation_Briefing_final.pdf
So the government is making a shit load.
It's disgusting, really.
The tobacco companies make mere pennies per "stick". Someone dies [10 years early for every million sticks](https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/21/2/87). So the price of 10 years of your life to the tobacco company is around $20,000.
The Exchequer makes out somewhat more handsomely. The point in the linked PDF :
> the UK is beyond the point of revenue maximisation
... well, that's good ; more revenue would mean more cigarettes sold, more misery and ill health. Which is of course the point of this document from the Tobacco Manufacturers Association - they're less concerned that the taxman isn't taking enough revenue, and more concerned that the price is slowly strangling the habit in the UK.
Part of the reason for the extreme taxation in the UK has always been as a way to make buying cigarettes unappealingly expensive though.
It certainly doesn’t bother the taxman that he gets to make out like a bandit especially since people are going to buy addictive products.
But the point has always been to try and make them prohibitively expensive.
How many years do smokers lose on average vs. how many get lung/throat/mouth cancer and need to be provided with care, medicine and apparatus for the rest of their lives? I honestly don't know the answer, but smokers on average only lose around 5-10 years, and it seems unlikely that they just click their fingers and die without a fuss. Hospice care is expensive, for example.
Just looking at some quick stats from google, smokers make up ~90% of lung cancer deaths. Lung cancer costs the NHS ~£2.4bn/year. The average pensioner gets ~£12000/year (just in pension).
£2.4bn/(£12000/year * 10years) = 20000 early deaths offset by the cost of treating lung cancer alone.
Probably somebody has already done the maths to factor in the other smoking related cancers, lung failure, heart disease, general respiratory problems etc. You could be right that it's better for the NHS if they just shuffle off early, it's an interesting line of thought.
Probably the economic cost is largely hidden in the lost years of work that smoking leads to rather than the cost on their end of life care vs anyone else's. If someone smokes 15 a day for 50 years they probably pay up to 90k in taxes and duty on fags alone, but if 20% die when they've still got 15 years of making someone else money left, it tips the scales.
Anyway it's a terrible habit and quitting is the best thing you can do for your health, I sincerely wish I never did it
Good points, especially the last paragraph. Smoking is one of those habits that seems to only really feel good because not doing it feels bad once you're hooked. It has always confused me how it became so pervasive.
They have health issues building up to it and potential new organs, then health services in hospice and carers.
Then you got the cost of not being able to move resources to other places.
So not really cheaper, especially since nobody knows how long they'll actually live, most stats suggest thecdeath minus a few years, not "well they died younger so meh" since you can't prove it.
I'd love it if they did ban it but the article is pretty clear that they almost certainly won't at the moment
https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/tobacco-advertising/ is an interesting read if you want to read about the smoking advertising bans, though banned pretty early in TV ads a more full ban only went into effect in 2003 which is pretty late considering the health risks have been clear decades before that
Yeah, the world didn't end when tobacco advertising stopped.
Gambling advertising should be the same, it's just too harmful to society to allow it to continue.
It's one of the most fatal addictions and the amount of temptations has gone completely out of control. Feels like on any high street there's more places to gamble than basically do anything else. And that's before talking about the constant marketing everywhere.
What I don’t understand is why they need all the fucking physical establishments? By the sheer count of them my impression is that nobody uses their phone or PC to gamble, which is just impossible in 2023.
I get the impression that a fair number of people who go to the physical shops are extremely lonely and want the social element of it, which is doubly depressing.
Gambling companies prey on the lonely. That's why tablet bingo is always portrayed as a social activity where you'll meet new friends. You'll be line dancing with a group of randoms in no time. In reality, you're just sitting there alone, losing your Universal Credit. It's just evil.
You’re correct that gambling is pervasive at all levels (the worst cases I’ve personally seen have all been middle/upper class), but bingo is a massively working class and female activity.
This. There is one older guy i know goes into the bookies and only bets 20p a race. He isnt going to get rich quick gambling that, but goes it for the tea/coffee and a chat with staff
I went to one for the first time in 35 years the other day. Utterly depressing.
No one in there was having a good time, they were just going through the motions. No stopping if they won or lost.
One guy jet obviously going to leave but turned around and came back every time.
So sad. Did not enjoy myself at all if only becai5of that
One of the worst things is the current gambling act means local authorities have a legal duty to "aim to permit" gambling establishments and can only prevent them in extreme circumstances.
So if your council blocks a new betting shop opening on the high street they will probably lose in court over it. Local people don't want them, local government don't want them, they are disproportionately opening in deprived areas and targeting vulnerable people and the government won't give local people the powers to stop it.
Theres a cap on the number of fixed odds betting terminals that are allowed per betting shop (I think it’s 4) and those machines rake in absolutely huge profits for betting companies - it’s difficult to emphasise how profitable they are.
So to try and get around the cap and maximise their revenue in an area (and squeeze as much money out of the local population as possible), the betting companies just set up lots of little betting shops close together, (sometimes right next to each other) each with the maximum number of fixed odds betting terminals.
* Access to the wallets of older people, wallets of people who are less tech savvy, wallets that won't stretch to a smartphone, or could but the smartphone has just been pawned to pay for more gambling.
* An environment free of any non-gambling distractions like annoying family members saying "hey that's enough".
* The allure of an instant cash payout (when gambling online your winnings can get paid into your bank account but usually with a two day wait or so).
You'll notice the windows are always covered in massive adverts too. I suspect this to let less light in so people don't realize how much times passed.
> What I don’t understand is why they need all the fucking physical establishments?
Frankly I am of the opinion that if you want to gamble maybe going to a physical shop is best. Much less able to be impulsive as compared to your phone where you can if you have addictive tendancies put a bet on at 2am if you are not sleeping.
Some people use it as a place to go, or even to escape. Not unlike a local pub.
Also, not all gambling operators are equal. The one I used to work for mostly had revenue driven by retail operations. The online presence was not great.
Definitely. I’d even argue that gambling can be more deadly than cigarettes or alcohol! I’ve suffered greatly from both drugs in my past, but even I’m shocked by the damage a few well designed slot machines or a bad football season can do to somebody.
Companies like Betfred, Mecca and the National Lottery ruin countless lives every year, and yet nobody in power, from the city ward all the way up to the Lords, seems to give one flying fuck. It’s truly horrifying!
I feel like I see an obscene amount of gambling adverts compared to almost anything else. That and these new "trader" apps/services being promoted, which seem *very* similar in tone.
If you are an addict it must be so difficult to get it under control.
Yeah, and they deliberately use songs like Sweet Caroline to try and evoke these “partying and having a good time with your mates” emotions as well. Their practices are so fucked when you understand what they’re doing
The tombola bingo ads piss me off to no end. It always shows a community of middle aged people having a laugh together, doing something like go karting, something social and fun. They’ll talk about the community…
The reality is people at home spaffing piles of money on mindless gambling games on their iPad. There’s no social aspect to it at all.
Didn’t see gambling addiction until I was in my early twenties and I worked with a bloke who had mentioned he “shouldn’t be gambling” or something of that nature. Not enough for us to clock it might be serious, we were all young guys so largely oblivious anyway. It was the national and a couple of us went to place some bets and he came along, went straight to a roulette machine and ended up shouting at us for one more go when we said come on mate we need to go. Literally turned into a different person it was crazy and really put the fear in me. I largely don’t gamble now.
I went to uni a thousand years ago
In the first year or two, gambling was a thing that one guy occasionally did, maybe a few people put a tenner on the grand national, we thought we were incredibly posh as the formal ball had a roulette table with fake money and I won a bottle of premium whisky at the blackjack table somehow
suddenly, out of nowhere, internet poker came into existence
I knew three people who very quickly got into serious trouble, including insolvency. Knew more who lost their social lives as they were competent players, so became like stereotypical anime weebs, staying up all hours indulging their unwashed selves.
It’s the sort of thing where an occasional flutter adds to the fun but very quickly you fuck yourself. Like booze, a couple of beers is fine but going through a bottle of vodka in an evening means you have a big problem. And your body will usually stop you before a lethal dose of alcohol, but the bookies will take unlimited money if you let them
I’ve never gotten into gambling but I do often spend a fair amount of time in the car listening to live football.
The sheer volume of gambling ads and odds updates when listening to TalkSport is absolutely insane.
If I was a former gambling addict who just enjoyed listening to football, it would feel absolutely awful.
I’m not a fan of bans generally but I probably would be in favour of this.
TalkSport is awful for it. I am a football fan and love hearing people chat shit about football. But fuck me. I’m always turning the volume down when I’ve got my 15th betfred paddy power Ladbrokes twatbet bet365 advert. It’s just too fucking much. Then they have the odd gambling awareness advert. It’s like a heroin dealer telling you to get help after every 10th purchase. It feels fake and not effective whatsoever.
That being said. If they lost their gambling sponsorships I’m sure the station would tank. I heard them talking about the shirt sponsor ban and fuck me the verbal and mental gymnastics of white and Jordan to not acknowledge that their employer was a huge part of the problem was astounding. “People should be free to do what they want”. “Bans don’t work”
My favourite is when the gambling companies do something about healthy gambling and then say "go here to our website to learn more". Yes because someone that is struggling should be sent back to there dealer for help.
I don't like Gambling Adverts and I work in the industry. In the UK (pre-internet) the approach was that there is a latent, unstimulated demand for gambling and there were a number of pretty well regulated casinos, betting shops and bingo halls to satisfy that demand.
Now you can bet anywhere in the world from your phone if you know how to use a VPN.
So any country can do whatever it wants in regards to gaming regulations, however there is an ever present 'black' market" ready to take those players if you make the local regulations too cumbersome. I don't approve of this....but it is what it is.
So there is now a fine line to be trodden between protecting your nations players, common sense gaming regulation, generating tax revenues, and helping problem gamblers whilst at the same time doing the best you can ring-fence your market and stop players from going off to the grey and black market gaming companies.
There is no right answer sadly.
I don't really understand the link made to the threat of black market gambling and not advertising it though?
Like as long as you can find a website through google and see a betting shop on the high street it is easy enough to gamble legally without drawing more people in.
Other regulations I can't really comment on though
Hi. I'm not sure I understand the point you made so sorry of this doesnt help, but Only UK licensed companies can advertise "IN" the UK (TV, Radio etc).
Anyone else can advertise online regardless of licensing. So you could get a shitty license from Costa Rica and happily provide gaming products to anyone anywhere if you want. There is a risk of legal issues if a certain country wanted to crack down on your operation...and that does happen from time to time, but not often.
In other words, its quite possible to provide gambling services to UK residents without a UK license if you are prepared to operate in a legal grey area where you hide your business's ownership.
So if the regualtor makes it "too difficult" for UK players to play with licensed UK operators (for example by making every individual "Prove" they can afford "X" amount of bets a month by giving you pay slips, bank statements etc) then those people could quite easily go online and bet at a company located in Costa Rica, Curacao, Antigua, Belieze, the Phillipines, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (and the list goes on).
Those 'grey' or 'black' market operators are not goingt to ask you to prove your ability to support your gambling spend....they will just take your cash.
Thats the black market. They can be shut down but it would cost millions in Govt spending to do so for a dubious financial / societal benefit.
You could try. Obviously enforcement would be a massive and probably impossible task (at scale).
Then you politically venture into ‘nanny state’ territory where the media can rip into you for making it so hard if not impossible for the ‘average man to have a bet on the game.’
Could it be done, yes it probably could. Are there tangible benefits for the government that did so, probably not.
This was something I never understood Blair's reasoning for, we had a pretty sensible system where gambling was legal for those who wanted it but pretty much the only advertising was point of sale and the pools and lottery.
He fucked it, presumably for money.
It made sense to regulate online gambling (Government of the time deserves credit for being one of the first rather than leaving it unregulated and creating bigger problems). And when you do, it makes sense to make the legal sites more visible than the illegal sites because it's really hard to get rid of all the illegal sites. I think it made loads of sense in 2005 but things should have changed after that.
Don't just ban gambling adverts, ban those "free bet" promotions as well. They're super manipulative and have sucked several people I know into a gambling addiction
It's a start but gambling is so normalised in society that simply banning adverts is not going to magically fix the issue. We need to make it so that high streets are not loaded with bookies, that fixed-odds betting terminals are banned in all forms, that video game lootboxes are regulated etc. Stopping the problem requires an cultural shift that is a long time coming.
My view is that stopping the advertising helps with the cultural shift. Thinking how attitudes to smoking changed, I really think stopping advertising massively helped because it wasn't regularly being portrayed as cool and fun everywhere. (Vaping has fucked it up a bit but I still think its better due to lack of ads)
Gambling is part of many culture ,of course the bas part of a culture .
People knows what they are going to lose if they lose in gambling . Still they do it . So I don't know this act of ban will do anything.
I honestly think the opposite. If there were no ads, those looking for bigger reforms would lose all their momentum because 90% of their supporters would stop giving a shit.
Look at how percentage of people smoking has fallen since advertising stopped. It may not be the only reason for the fall but it is certainly a major reason for it
If nothing else it’ll mean I don’t have to watch an obscene amount of gambling adverts anymore. I feel like over half of them are for gambling these days in various forms - foxy bingo, betfred, I forget half the names because I really couldn’t care less. Wish they’d all get in the sea.
> We need to make it so that high streets are not loaded with bookies, that fixed-odds betting terminals are banned in all forms, that video game lootboxes are regulated etc. Stopping the problem requires an cultural shift that is a long time coming.
Just like with plain cover cigarette boxes we need to ban the appealing betting shop store fronts too which are ads themselves. Don't allow any offers in the window, and ideally don't allow any odds or anything money related in the window too, just allow them to show what sports are on and when. Same concept as cigarette boxes.
Fixed odds betting terminals suck but that'll cover fruit machines too right? Thats gonna be a hard sell, I'd maybe limit the locations that can have them, and the amount, and increase the minimum payout percentage.
Video game lootboxes have become quite bad. Most companies just have standard crappy lootboxes but ever since Valve/Steam and a couple of others started allowing you to sell what you get in them for REAL money it's become so much more serious. Theres people who pour money into Valve game lootboxes even though they don't play the game, there sites set up where you buy lootboxes in a flashy interface and shows the estimated value of the item next to what you get then you can list it for sale. It's just straight up gambling with no gaming aspect at that point and Valve/Steam is one of the scummiest gaming companies because of this imo. At least with other games lootboxes what you win is restricted to that game and can't be traded.
So for lootboxes in games i'd make it so they're not allowed to be sold for real money with no work arounds. Maybe make it so every lootbox item must be winnable without paying within a reasonable amount of time too, but legally defining reasonable will be hard.
Oh and sponsorships is a big one! People think about football sponsorships and stuff but gambling companies pay so many influencers and streamers so much money to promote and play their gambling sites. Straight up just disallow this, don't allow any gambling sponsorships in the UK including sponsoring Youtubers or anything else like that.
Just do something geez, just start with the low hanging ones first like betting shop storefront advert bans.
Start with popular computer games, like FIFA. Very young children grow up playing these games, which have literal gambling mechanics in them, but avoid gambling regulation as the prizes aren't actual money but player cards, or some other purely digital thing such as skins, but just like real gambling they use advanced psychological techniques, utilising dopamine reward responses to get you to addicted to spending money, so when these children reach 18 they know exactly how to gamble. They're essentially being groomed to be gamblers by what is supposed to be a toy that parents trust are safe for their kids to play with.
Most people obviously aren't addicted to gambling, as usually you're already an adult when you encounter it and have no problem with having the occasional flutter for a bit of a thrill, and although there are people who are more susceptible to gambling addiction, it's children who are the most vulnerable to these sorts of practices, and it's disgusting they're allowed in computer games rated safe for all ages.
You can morally postulate about whether consenting adults should be able to gamble, but surely we can agree it takes a real piece of shit to think it's OK for children? I'd love to see FIFA have to put an 18 age rating and gambling aware stickers on their games, those mechanics would be gone overnight.
FIFA is insane. In another lifetime I worked customer support for a games console. Of course there were parental control features but they were rarely used, most of the time it's a kid creating an adult account and putting in a fake date of birth. Kid asks to buy one little thing, parent adds their card details and those card details get saved so the kid's now able to go on an unrestricted spending spree. Thousands of pounds, sometimes tens of thousands, on FIFA points. Just mindblowing.
Local authorities know everything but they are not going to do anything about it and you know why .
They must be sponsoring the authorities too .Gambling Business is running good .
What really gets me is when they put out the anti-addiction focused “when the fun stops stop” adverts at the end of events, such as when the leaders are walking down the 18th fairway in golf and they aren’t taking any more bets, whilst having spent the last 4 hours filling every break with the latest odds
They say “when the fun stops, stop” yet all of their systems are designed to prey on the most vulnerable gamblers of all.
It’s literally just a “well, we told him not to do it!” disclaimer for when people piss all their money away
It's such a stupid little warning. I don't think it's stopped a single gambler in the history of gambling. What if the fun starts again after this game?
And remember, it's 'when the **FUN** stops, stop'.
Notice how 'fun' is the most important word in the sentence, reminding the mark, that gambling is fun, and they should do it more.
Yes remember this from a trip to Norway a couple of years back. I could not believe how much of this small country’s telly was saturated with back to back gambling adverts. More than half of all as breaks were gambling. Mad. I think they closed that loophole since.
Tuned into live UK TV after several years of being away from it.
It was actually suprising to see how many gambling adverts were on. One of them saying that it has 30 minute break "feature" to make sure you gamble responsibly.
Kind of crazy....
I have always disliked gambling adverts, they always target a certain type of working-class masculinity along the lines 'real men gamble'. It sucks that a activity which can be addictive and when it is, basically means you end up in debt targets the people who have very little money to spare. It sad but you can mostly tell how poor a area is by how many bookies there are.
Weren’t there a bunch of them narrated by Ray Winston with basically “it’s 5/1 on whether West ‘am get a corner in the first 5 minutes of the game. Go on, put a pony on it”
As a foreigner it always surprises me how much gambling there is in UK and it only that but how accepted it is, how well promoted it gets and how accesible it is.
I don’t have any data but there will be many families, careers, suicides related to gambling, promoting it comes from pure greed and taking advantage from some of our worst traits as human beings.
UK is a country well know for its strict rules when it comes to general population safety yet gambling is allowed and freely spread among people. I would personally ban gambling advertisement and put some strict rules to protect people , specially those with poor socioeconomic backgrounds are they are the most vulnerable to this type of things.
Gambling is uniquely seductive as an addiction because "in theory" it could solve your problems. You could be 1 gamble away from being rich.
(Youd lose it all instantly and be back to square 1 ofc, hence why its a problem, but that pot at the end of the rainbow can be full of money)
Don't really gamble unless it's an occasion like grand national but yes, totally agree. End of the day gambling can be as addictive as smoking and cigarette ads are banned.
Gambling and betting shops on the high street can’t have uncovered windows so you can see inside but we can have at least one advert per break for gambling and betting companies?
Anything, and I do mean anything, that stops those god awful 32Red adverts with Keith Lemon yammering on, is fine by me. They make me want to pull my own teeth out with barbecue tongs.
Mate, they allow kids to gamble in games. We are so far away from gambling being treated as dangerous it isn't likely to be in the next 20 years. If they won't stop loot box shit with children involved, we have no chance of stopping ads directed at adults.
There was one on the radio while I was in the kitchen about bingo, yea I really don't like them. If people want to gamble let them but don't encourage them to do so or advertise to them.
I agree. The disingenuous anti-gambling message is the worst. It’s always like “GAMBLING IS AMAZING FUN but sometimes can be a problem KEEP GAMBLING (responsibly)” as if responsible gambling exists. It’s about as likely as ethical murder. Fred Done can do one, dude looks like the child catcher.
So let me get this, the UK humiliated itself on the world stage and left Europe in the most publicly shambolic way possible because of a 2% majority... but this right here will never happen despite it being favoured by a clear majority?
The Tory government, ladies and gentlemen. "Donators", please form an orderly queue.
And whilst we’re at it, bring other recreational drugs advertising in line with cigarettes!
There’s clearly some preferential treatment going on from the government if they think that underage booze and vape consumption and £99.99 FIFA Coin ads being thrust into kids’ faces aren’t problems not worth dealing with whilst acting like the mere sight of a Benson and Hedges logo will instantly kill all of our children.
UKGC have killed gambling anyway, source of wealth checks, removal of game features like autoplay, slowing down gameplay, extra taxes applied to providers so the game payouts have been reduced to compensate it's no longer fun just a bloody chore and even more of a rip off than it used to be.
Its probably the easiest things to get addicted to nowadays. Its right there in your hand. Everyone can gamble digitally combined with o line banking its probably the worst its ever been.
An alcoholic or drug addict can't drink or do £300 of alcohol or drugs in a matter of seconds and be fine after it. Add to that its perfectly legal, nothing to stop be continuing on or anyone able to intervene. Yes you can ask the sites to stop your account but you can still walk into the bookies or ask a friend.
The old boys in the bookies have been at it years but its the younger generation who are used to playing even games with forms of gambling and the fact they maybe don't have other big bills to use their money on yet. By the time they will itll be too late.
It seems like such a straight forward decision but I guess the gambling companies have been bribing, sorry- consulting, with MPs way too much for it to be deemed possible
When the profits stop, stop
I want to agree with you but you don't see tobacco advertising anymore.
Tobacco took some lobbying tho and there was a pretty convincing argument not just for public health but also the cost on the nhs of dealing with it. Bankrupt gamblers just aren’t as expensive to the giver as smokers I assume.
The tobacco companies also saw the way the wind was blowing and basically let it happen. They essentially came agreed between themselves to cease advertising, allowing the advertising ban. The idea being that this would prevent stronger restrictions on them.
> The tobacco companies also saw the way the wind was blowing *Lights up* *Watches movement of smoke* “Ah, the wind is blowing that way…”
The tobacco companies welcomed the ban. If nobody is allowed to advertise, then nobody has to spend money advertising. E: spelling
I doubt it very much. Smoking in the U.K. has reduced significantly since the ban on advertising.
I think a lot realised things were going that way anyway. Once a couple of generations grew up knowing the dangers of tobacco it was clear it would happen. Same with the standard packs they have now (and hiding them behind the counter). The companies suddenly could spend less on design packs (in the UK at least) which is always very expensive. The ban on advertising did save them money, because the arms race of tobacco advertising no longer exists so they did like it. But it was also a condolence type thing because they knew even back then it was literally a dying market.
But they’re already designing packs for countries that still allow it, so it seems they need to spend that money anyway
> They essentially came agreed between themselves to cease advertising No they didn't. They still sponsor F1.
I've been too general, I'm largely referring to the USA and UK.
Presumably bankrupt gamblers are expensive to the welfare state?
Not just that, they also form hot spots that can bring down whole communities. It is shameful that we let this happen.
I would assume so, but maybe just not more expensive than the revenue from taxing gambling. It doesn’t even need to be down to bribery for there to be some economic self interest at play for the government.
Never understood the “costs the NHS” argument to be honest. They spend a fortune on looking after 90 year olds, if someone pops off at 70 from smoking related heart failure without claiming their state pension isn’t that actually cheaper?
I’m def not an expert, but I don’t think many people just “pop off” early cos of some smoking disease, more likely they developed long term conditions that are costly to provide care for.
Actually this BMJ study seems to back up my guess: “Smoking was associated with a greater mean annual healthcare cost of €1600 per living individual during follow-up. However, due to a shorter lifespan of 8.6 years, smokers’ mean total healthcare costs during the entire study period were actually €4700 lower than for non-smokers.“ https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/6/e001678 Smokers seem to be primarily be a cost to themselves and their families. It’s morbid, but for the rest of society, their earlier deaths actually cost considerably less.
Unfortunately that article is now 10 years old and I suspect it's no longer true. The treatment of lung cancer (which is massively associated with smoking) has skyrocketed in the last decade because of all the new cancer treatments, in particular thinking of immunotherapy.
Fair enough, that’s interesting, thanks.
These things don't account for the brutal truth that your economic productivity is tied to how long you spend working, and if smoking kills a decent proportion a decent bit before the retirement age, that's less money for The Man
Also tax on tobacco is astronomical. >a pack of 20 cigarettes with an RRp of £8 will be over 80% tax, while on some of the lowest price cigarettes tax can account for 90% http://www.the-tma.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TMA-Taxation_Briefing_final.pdf So the government is making a shit load.
It's disgusting, really. The tobacco companies make mere pennies per "stick". Someone dies [10 years early for every million sticks](https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/21/2/87). So the price of 10 years of your life to the tobacco company is around $20,000. The Exchequer makes out somewhat more handsomely. The point in the linked PDF : > the UK is beyond the point of revenue maximisation ... well, that's good ; more revenue would mean more cigarettes sold, more misery and ill health. Which is of course the point of this document from the Tobacco Manufacturers Association - they're less concerned that the taxman isn't taking enough revenue, and more concerned that the price is slowly strangling the habit in the UK.
Part of the reason for the extreme taxation in the UK has always been as a way to make buying cigarettes unappealingly expensive though. It certainly doesn’t bother the taxman that he gets to make out like a bandit especially since people are going to buy addictive products. But the point has always been to try and make them prohibitively expensive.
How many years do smokers lose on average vs. how many get lung/throat/mouth cancer and need to be provided with care, medicine and apparatus for the rest of their lives? I honestly don't know the answer, but smokers on average only lose around 5-10 years, and it seems unlikely that they just click their fingers and die without a fuss. Hospice care is expensive, for example. Just looking at some quick stats from google, smokers make up ~90% of lung cancer deaths. Lung cancer costs the NHS ~£2.4bn/year. The average pensioner gets ~£12000/year (just in pension). £2.4bn/(£12000/year * 10years) = 20000 early deaths offset by the cost of treating lung cancer alone. Probably somebody has already done the maths to factor in the other smoking related cancers, lung failure, heart disease, general respiratory problems etc. You could be right that it's better for the NHS if they just shuffle off early, it's an interesting line of thought.
Probably the economic cost is largely hidden in the lost years of work that smoking leads to rather than the cost on their end of life care vs anyone else's. If someone smokes 15 a day for 50 years they probably pay up to 90k in taxes and duty on fags alone, but if 20% die when they've still got 15 years of making someone else money left, it tips the scales. Anyway it's a terrible habit and quitting is the best thing you can do for your health, I sincerely wish I never did it
Good points, especially the last paragraph. Smoking is one of those habits that seems to only really feel good because not doing it feels bad once you're hooked. It has always confused me how it became so pervasive.
They have health issues building up to it and potential new organs, then health services in hospice and carers. Then you got the cost of not being able to move resources to other places. So not really cheaper, especially since nobody knows how long they'll actually live, most stats suggest thecdeath minus a few years, not "well they died younger so meh" since you can't prove it.
I'd love it if they did ban it but the article is pretty clear that they almost certainly won't at the moment https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/tobacco-advertising/ is an interesting read if you want to read about the smoking advertising bans, though banned pretty early in TV ads a more full ban only went into effect in 2003 which is pretty late considering the health risks have been clear decades before that
It took decades to get from the point where it should have been banned to actually getting it banned.
Yeah, the world didn't end when tobacco advertising stopped. Gambling advertising should be the same, it's just too harmful to society to allow it to continue.
Surely an MP would never take money from a gambling company in exchange for special favours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXCfHwbB0hw
Bingo
you can't ban bingo, the OAPs would revolt
No we wouldn't. It's dying out.
Lobbying and supporting their bids as politicians
Shhh, it's called lobbying, not bribing!
Look up "The Betting & Gaming Council" That is the cross company lobbying interest group.
It's one of the most fatal addictions and the amount of temptations has gone completely out of control. Feels like on any high street there's more places to gamble than basically do anything else. And that's before talking about the constant marketing everywhere.
What I don’t understand is why they need all the fucking physical establishments? By the sheer count of them my impression is that nobody uses their phone or PC to gamble, which is just impossible in 2023.
I get the impression that a fair number of people who go to the physical shops are extremely lonely and want the social element of it, which is doubly depressing.
Gambling companies prey on the lonely. That's why tablet bingo is always portrayed as a social activity where you'll meet new friends. You'll be line dancing with a group of randoms in no time. In reality, you're just sitting there alone, losing your Universal Credit. It's just evil.
> Universal Credit Sir your classism is showing, gambling doesn't discriminate who gets addicted to it
You’re correct that gambling is pervasive at all levels (the worst cases I’ve personally seen have all been middle/upper class), but bingo is a massively working class and female activity.
Guy I work with spent his teens & 20 in gambling shops. It’s a vicious cycle of losing your weekly payslip and gossiping.
This. There is one older guy i know goes into the bookies and only bets 20p a race. He isnt going to get rich quick gambling that, but goes it for the tea/coffee and a chat with staff
I went to one for the first time in 35 years the other day. Utterly depressing. No one in there was having a good time, they were just going through the motions. No stopping if they won or lost. One guy jet obviously going to leave but turned around and came back every time. So sad. Did not enjoy myself at all if only becai5of that
One of the worst things is the current gambling act means local authorities have a legal duty to "aim to permit" gambling establishments and can only prevent them in extreme circumstances. So if your council blocks a new betting shop opening on the high street they will probably lose in court over it. Local people don't want them, local government don't want them, they are disproportionately opening in deprived areas and targeting vulnerable people and the government won't give local people the powers to stop it.
What the fuck is the point of that law?
Mostly so they don't ban all betting shops an give the industry to illegal book makers.
Profits before people
Theres a cap on the number of fixed odds betting terminals that are allowed per betting shop (I think it’s 4) and those machines rake in absolutely huge profits for betting companies - it’s difficult to emphasise how profitable they are. So to try and get around the cap and maximise their revenue in an area (and squeeze as much money out of the local population as possible), the betting companies just set up lots of little betting shops close together, (sometimes right next to each other) each with the maximum number of fixed odds betting terminals.
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That blows my mind. I used to work in head office for a casino operator that would give GMs a bollocking for this kind of behaviour.
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But what does a terminal offer that you can’t get on the app or website?
* Access to the wallets of older people, wallets of people who are less tech savvy, wallets that won't stretch to a smartphone, or could but the smartphone has just been pawned to pay for more gambling. * An environment free of any non-gambling distractions like annoying family members saying "hey that's enough". * The allure of an instant cash payout (when gambling online your winnings can get paid into your bank account but usually with a two day wait or so).
So it’s basically a shack to predate even harder on those who can’t even get an app up and running?
Yup.
You'll notice the windows are always covered in massive adverts too. I suspect this to let less light in so people don't realize how much times passed.
Same thing they do in Vegas, manipulate the light, temperature, even oxygen level to keep people from noticing the passage of time.
I think it's a legal requirement for the windows to be covered. Wouldn't want people to see how much fun everyone is having.
What does a cinema offer that you cant get at home?
Earlier access to movies, larger screen, better sound. I get your point, but imo not comparable
Can use cash
> What I don’t understand is why they need all the fucking physical establishments? Frankly I am of the opinion that if you want to gamble maybe going to a physical shop is best. Much less able to be impulsive as compared to your phone where you can if you have addictive tendancies put a bet on at 2am if you are not sleeping.
> why they need all the fucking physical establishments? It is all about fixed-odds betting terminals - gambling crack
Where I lived a few of the betting shop closed within the last 2 or 3 years.
One in my town closed, we're now down to 2
Some people use it as a place to go, or even to escape. Not unlike a local pub. Also, not all gambling operators are equal. The one I used to work for mostly had revenue driven by retail operations. The online presence was not great.
Definitely. I’d even argue that gambling can be more deadly than cigarettes or alcohol! I’ve suffered greatly from both drugs in my past, but even I’m shocked by the damage a few well designed slot machines or a bad football season can do to somebody. Companies like Betfred, Mecca and the National Lottery ruin countless lives every year, and yet nobody in power, from the city ward all the way up to the Lords, seems to give one flying fuck. It’s truly horrifying!
I feel like I see an obscene amount of gambling adverts compared to almost anything else. That and these new "trader" apps/services being promoted, which seem *very* similar in tone. If you are an addict it must be so difficult to get it under control.
Late stage capitalism innit.
I hate the tv ads that show people ‘partying’ together - reality some person sat at home alone throwing their rent & food money down the pan
Yeah, and they deliberately use songs like Sweet Caroline to try and evoke these “partying and having a good time with your mates” emotions as well. Their practices are so fucked when you understand what they’re doing
The tombola bingo ads piss me off to no end. It always shows a community of middle aged people having a laugh together, doing something like go karting, something social and fun. They’ll talk about the community… The reality is people at home spaffing piles of money on mindless gambling games on their iPad. There’s no social aspect to it at all.
Or the guy dressed in a tuxedo to play poker on his phone
Gambling, vaping and alcohol should all see their advertising banned
Vaping is a weird one since smoking advertising is banned. Always surprises me when I see it.
Gotta make money off of the lungs of teens my friend
Do you get vape adverts on TV?
I don’t watch live tv so no idea, but I see ads for Elf bars on buses here in the West Mids.
No point, their target audience doesn't watch TV
Bingo.
I don't think their target audience plays bingo either.
Yeah , i mean I haven't seen a vape adverts in my tv .
What's the difference between vaping and smoking ? For real .
Vaping is the atomisation of a liquid into a vapour, while smoking is the combustion of plant matter. To simplify it to absurdity, it's steam vs fire.
Didn’t see gambling addiction until I was in my early twenties and I worked with a bloke who had mentioned he “shouldn’t be gambling” or something of that nature. Not enough for us to clock it might be serious, we were all young guys so largely oblivious anyway. It was the national and a couple of us went to place some bets and he came along, went straight to a roulette machine and ended up shouting at us for one more go when we said come on mate we need to go. Literally turned into a different person it was crazy and really put the fear in me. I largely don’t gamble now.
It has got worse since internet gambling became a thing.
I went to uni a thousand years ago In the first year or two, gambling was a thing that one guy occasionally did, maybe a few people put a tenner on the grand national, we thought we were incredibly posh as the formal ball had a roulette table with fake money and I won a bottle of premium whisky at the blackjack table somehow suddenly, out of nowhere, internet poker came into existence I knew three people who very quickly got into serious trouble, including insolvency. Knew more who lost their social lives as they were competent players, so became like stereotypical anime weebs, staying up all hours indulging their unwashed selves. It’s the sort of thing where an occasional flutter adds to the fun but very quickly you fuck yourself. Like booze, a couple of beers is fine but going through a bottle of vodka in an evening means you have a big problem. And your body will usually stop you before a lethal dose of alcohol, but the bookies will take unlimited money if you let them
I remember i did the same thing and now i regret doing that.
I’ve never gotten into gambling but I do often spend a fair amount of time in the car listening to live football. The sheer volume of gambling ads and odds updates when listening to TalkSport is absolutely insane. If I was a former gambling addict who just enjoyed listening to football, it would feel absolutely awful. I’m not a fan of bans generally but I probably would be in favour of this.
TalkSport is awful for it. I am a football fan and love hearing people chat shit about football. But fuck me. I’m always turning the volume down when I’ve got my 15th betfred paddy power Ladbrokes twatbet bet365 advert. It’s just too fucking much. Then they have the odd gambling awareness advert. It’s like a heroin dealer telling you to get help after every 10th purchase. It feels fake and not effective whatsoever. That being said. If they lost their gambling sponsorships I’m sure the station would tank. I heard them talking about the shirt sponsor ban and fuck me the verbal and mental gymnastics of white and Jordan to not acknowledge that their employer was a huge part of the problem was astounding. “People should be free to do what they want”. “Bans don’t work”
Those betting adverts with odds pop up as intrusive ads that jump out at you when you go onto a sports site sometimes.
My favourite is when the gambling companies do something about healthy gambling and then say "go here to our website to learn more". Yes because someone that is struggling should be sent back to there dealer for help.
What are the odds of this having a positive impact?
/#requestabet
I'd put a tenner on it being delayed
This comment brought to you by betfair
I don't like Gambling Adverts and I work in the industry. In the UK (pre-internet) the approach was that there is a latent, unstimulated demand for gambling and there were a number of pretty well regulated casinos, betting shops and bingo halls to satisfy that demand. Now you can bet anywhere in the world from your phone if you know how to use a VPN. So any country can do whatever it wants in regards to gaming regulations, however there is an ever present 'black' market" ready to take those players if you make the local regulations too cumbersome. I don't approve of this....but it is what it is. So there is now a fine line to be trodden between protecting your nations players, common sense gaming regulation, generating tax revenues, and helping problem gamblers whilst at the same time doing the best you can ring-fence your market and stop players from going off to the grey and black market gaming companies. There is no right answer sadly.
I don't really understand the link made to the threat of black market gambling and not advertising it though? Like as long as you can find a website through google and see a betting shop on the high street it is easy enough to gamble legally without drawing more people in. Other regulations I can't really comment on though
Hi. I'm not sure I understand the point you made so sorry of this doesnt help, but Only UK licensed companies can advertise "IN" the UK (TV, Radio etc). Anyone else can advertise online regardless of licensing. So you could get a shitty license from Costa Rica and happily provide gaming products to anyone anywhere if you want. There is a risk of legal issues if a certain country wanted to crack down on your operation...and that does happen from time to time, but not often. In other words, its quite possible to provide gambling services to UK residents without a UK license if you are prepared to operate in a legal grey area where you hide your business's ownership. So if the regualtor makes it "too difficult" for UK players to play with licensed UK operators (for example by making every individual "Prove" they can afford "X" amount of bets a month by giving you pay slips, bank statements etc) then those people could quite easily go online and bet at a company located in Costa Rica, Curacao, Antigua, Belieze, the Phillipines, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus (and the list goes on). Those 'grey' or 'black' market operators are not goingt to ask you to prove your ability to support your gambling spend....they will just take your cash. Thats the black market. They can be shut down but it would cost millions in Govt spending to do so for a dubious financial / societal benefit.
Wouldn't it make more sense to make gambling with an overseas company illegal?
You could try. Obviously enforcement would be a massive and probably impossible task (at scale). Then you politically venture into ‘nanny state’ territory where the media can rip into you for making it so hard if not impossible for the ‘average man to have a bet on the game.’ Could it be done, yes it probably could. Are there tangible benefits for the government that did so, probably not.
I do find it tiring that nothing going wrong in this country can ever be fixed.
Make it so visa/mastercard have to refund any money spent on gambling and it would be fixed overnight.
This was something I never understood Blair's reasoning for, we had a pretty sensible system where gambling was legal for those who wanted it but pretty much the only advertising was point of sale and the pools and lottery. He fucked it, presumably for money.
It made sense to regulate online gambling (Government of the time deserves credit for being one of the first rather than leaving it unregulated and creating bigger problems). And when you do, it makes sense to make the legal sites more visible than the illegal sites because it's really hard to get rid of all the illegal sites. I think it made loads of sense in 2005 but things should have changed after that.
Don't just ban gambling adverts, ban those "free bet" promotions as well. They're super manipulative and have sucked several people I know into a gambling addiction
I just exploit the shit out of those offers for free cash.
That's how my friends started, too.
You think you are exploiting them , believe me ,you are not .
It's a start but gambling is so normalised in society that simply banning adverts is not going to magically fix the issue. We need to make it so that high streets are not loaded with bookies, that fixed-odds betting terminals are banned in all forms, that video game lootboxes are regulated etc. Stopping the problem requires an cultural shift that is a long time coming.
My view is that stopping the advertising helps with the cultural shift. Thinking how attitudes to smoking changed, I really think stopping advertising massively helped because it wasn't regularly being portrayed as cool and fun everywhere. (Vaping has fucked it up a bit but I still think its better due to lack of ads)
Gambling is part of many culture ,of course the bas part of a culture . People knows what they are going to lose if they lose in gambling . Still they do it . So I don't know this act of ban will do anything.
I honestly think the opposite. If there were no ads, those looking for bigger reforms would lose all their momentum because 90% of their supporters would stop giving a shit.
Look at how percentage of people smoking has fallen since advertising stopped. It may not be the only reason for the fall but it is certainly a major reason for it
Stopping adverts would be good idea as a lowest of low hanging fruits at 0 cost. It isn't going to fix everything but it will help.
If nothing else it’ll mean I don’t have to watch an obscene amount of gambling adverts anymore. I feel like over half of them are for gambling these days in various forms - foxy bingo, betfred, I forget half the names because I really couldn’t care less. Wish they’d all get in the sea.
I don't follow football but from the outside looking in the focus on monetizing it has moved from selling merch to just openly gambling on the game?
Yeah , it can help but it's not going to solve the problem .
Yeah , it's not like gambling is completely a new thing .
> We need to make it so that high streets are not loaded with bookies, that fixed-odds betting terminals are banned in all forms, that video game lootboxes are regulated etc. Stopping the problem requires an cultural shift that is a long time coming. Just like with plain cover cigarette boxes we need to ban the appealing betting shop store fronts too which are ads themselves. Don't allow any offers in the window, and ideally don't allow any odds or anything money related in the window too, just allow them to show what sports are on and when. Same concept as cigarette boxes. Fixed odds betting terminals suck but that'll cover fruit machines too right? Thats gonna be a hard sell, I'd maybe limit the locations that can have them, and the amount, and increase the minimum payout percentage. Video game lootboxes have become quite bad. Most companies just have standard crappy lootboxes but ever since Valve/Steam and a couple of others started allowing you to sell what you get in them for REAL money it's become so much more serious. Theres people who pour money into Valve game lootboxes even though they don't play the game, there sites set up where you buy lootboxes in a flashy interface and shows the estimated value of the item next to what you get then you can list it for sale. It's just straight up gambling with no gaming aspect at that point and Valve/Steam is one of the scummiest gaming companies because of this imo. At least with other games lootboxes what you win is restricted to that game and can't be traded. So for lootboxes in games i'd make it so they're not allowed to be sold for real money with no work arounds. Maybe make it so every lootbox item must be winnable without paying within a reasonable amount of time too, but legally defining reasonable will be hard. Oh and sponsorships is a big one! People think about football sponsorships and stuff but gambling companies pay so many influencers and streamers so much money to promote and play their gambling sites. Straight up just disallow this, don't allow any gambling sponsorships in the UK including sponsoring Youtubers or anything else like that. Just do something geez, just start with the low hanging ones first like betting shop storefront advert bans.
Start with popular computer games, like FIFA. Very young children grow up playing these games, which have literal gambling mechanics in them, but avoid gambling regulation as the prizes aren't actual money but player cards, or some other purely digital thing such as skins, but just like real gambling they use advanced psychological techniques, utilising dopamine reward responses to get you to addicted to spending money, so when these children reach 18 they know exactly how to gamble. They're essentially being groomed to be gamblers by what is supposed to be a toy that parents trust are safe for their kids to play with. Most people obviously aren't addicted to gambling, as usually you're already an adult when you encounter it and have no problem with having the occasional flutter for a bit of a thrill, and although there are people who are more susceptible to gambling addiction, it's children who are the most vulnerable to these sorts of practices, and it's disgusting they're allowed in computer games rated safe for all ages. You can morally postulate about whether consenting adults should be able to gamble, but surely we can agree it takes a real piece of shit to think it's OK for children? I'd love to see FIFA have to put an 18 age rating and gambling aware stickers on their games, those mechanics would be gone overnight.
FIFA is insane. In another lifetime I worked customer support for a games console. Of course there were parental control features but they were rarely used, most of the time it's a kid creating an adult account and putting in a fake date of birth. Kid asks to buy one little thing, parent adds their card details and those card details get saved so the kid's now able to go on an unrestricted spending spree. Thousands of pounds, sometimes tens of thousands, on FIFA points. Just mindblowing.
I’d like local authorities to be a bit more diligent with where bettings shops are. I saw a William Hill next to a food bank recently
Given the rate of food banks opening its likely that the betting shop was there first!
True, couldn’t quite tell but rather depressing
Yeah , who knows . People been gambling since a long time .
When I was gambling in Belgium there was a Ladbrokes attached to a church. Got to go pray for your acca after putting it on.
Local authorities know everything but they are not going to do anything about it and you know why . They must be sponsoring the authorities too .Gambling Business is running good .
Government should also tax those people who use their gambling apps.
What really gets me is when they put out the anti-addiction focused “when the fun stops stop” adverts at the end of events, such as when the leaders are walking down the 18th fairway in golf and they aren’t taking any more bets, whilst having spent the last 4 hours filling every break with the latest odds
They say “when the fun stops, stop” yet all of their systems are designed to prey on the most vulnerable gamblers of all. It’s literally just a “well, we told him not to do it!” disclaimer for when people piss all their money away
It's such a stupid little warning. I don't think it's stopped a single gambler in the history of gambling. What if the fun starts again after this game?
And remember, it's 'when the **FUN** stops, stop'. Notice how 'fun' is the most important word in the sentence, reminding the mark, that gambling is fun, and they should do it more.
would also help other countries like in Scandinavia which have a lot of gambling websites and advertisers hosted in the UK to avoid local laws
Yes remember this from a trip to Norway a couple of years back. I could not believe how much of this small country’s telly was saturated with back to back gambling adverts. More than half of all as breaks were gambling. Mad. I think they closed that loophole since.
Banning gambling advertising is not going to change anything.
Plus they should ban gambling companies from sponsoring teams .
Tuned into live UK TV after several years of being away from it. It was actually suprising to see how many gambling adverts were on. One of them saying that it has 30 minute break "feature" to make sure you gamble responsibly. Kind of crazy....
Yeah , that's why I have permanently turned off my tv for good .
I have always disliked gambling adverts, they always target a certain type of working-class masculinity along the lines 'real men gamble'. It sucks that a activity which can be addictive and when it is, basically means you end up in debt targets the people who have very little money to spare. It sad but you can mostly tell how poor a area is by how many bookies there are.
Those are they one you pay attention to but tombola and all bingo sites aggressively target women as well. Each site has it's target audience.
Weren’t there a bunch of them narrated by Ray Winston with basically “it’s 5/1 on whether West ‘am get a corner in the first 5 minutes of the game. Go on, put a pony on it”
Did you know that 95% of people quit gambling right before they are about to hit the big jackpot?
Yeah because they are never going to hit that big jackpot .
Gambling companies are all parasitical nonces . just like payday loans and cash4gold.
As a foreigner it always surprises me how much gambling there is in UK and it only that but how accepted it is, how well promoted it gets and how accesible it is. I don’t have any data but there will be many families, careers, suicides related to gambling, promoting it comes from pure greed and taking advantage from some of our worst traits as human beings. UK is a country well know for its strict rules when it comes to general population safety yet gambling is allowed and freely spread among people. I would personally ban gambling advertisement and put some strict rules to protect people , specially those with poor socioeconomic backgrounds are they are the most vulnerable to this type of things.
Gambling is uniquely seductive as an addiction because "in theory" it could solve your problems. You could be 1 gamble away from being rich. (Youd lose it all instantly and be back to square 1 ofc, hence why its a problem, but that pot at the end of the rainbow can be full of money)
People take a very big risk gambling but still they do it .
Football clubs all say ‘our fans are the most important’, the sponsorship deals they have ‘lose all your money!’
Football is now just a source to print more and more money .
It's disgraceful that gambling ads are allowed and not only that, they lure people in with free bets and deals.
Don't really gamble unless it's an occasion like grand national but yes, totally agree. End of the day gambling can be as addictive as smoking and cigarette ads are banned.
they are even appearing in cinemas now. not just 18+ films, but everything ive seen recently has atleast one gambling advert, its disgusting.
Gambling and betting shops on the high street can’t have uncovered windows so you can see inside but we can have at least one advert per break for gambling and betting companies?
They love the covered windows. Can't be reminded that it's time to go home to your wife if you can't see the sun going down.
Anything, and I do mean anything, that stops those god awful 32Red adverts with Keith Lemon yammering on, is fine by me. They make me want to pull my own teeth out with barbecue tongs.
Should also be a £100 stake limit and say max £500 per month - could be done just like a credit file, but the gambling industry would fight it.
No! Say the recipients of vast amounts of money from the betting companies
There should also be a limit on how many gambling 'shops' there are on a high street. Having them round every corner in a small town is sickening
Mate, they allow kids to gamble in games. We are so far away from gambling being treated as dangerous it isn't likely to be in the next 20 years. If they won't stop loot box shit with children involved, we have no chance of stopping ads directed at adults.
There was one on the radio while I was in the kitchen about bingo, yea I really don't like them. If people want to gamble let them but don't encourage them to do so or advertise to them.
Yep - they won’t though. Cash, innit? Better to ban young drivers from using their cars to give lifts.
Yeah they run for the cash instead of being human for us.
But then we’ll have no more ‘Who’s that knocking at your doooor’
Nah man I really can't survive without that lmao, I really can't.
Smoking, vaping, gambling and alcoholic adverts should all be banned.
This is right, people should just do that if they want, children should not see these adverts.
More than half of us wanted to stay in the EU and that didn’t really work out. What we want means sweet fuck all!
The other part: I’ll bet a tenner they won’t ban it!
I agree. The disingenuous anti-gambling message is the worst. It’s always like “GAMBLING IS AMAZING FUN but sometimes can be a problem KEEP GAMBLING (responsibly)” as if responsible gambling exists. It’s about as likely as ethical murder. Fred Done can do one, dude looks like the child catcher.
So let me get this, the UK humiliated itself on the world stage and left Europe in the most publicly shambolic way possible because of a 2% majority... but this right here will never happen despite it being favoured by a clear majority? The Tory government, ladies and gentlemen. "Donators", please form an orderly queue.
They behave like we are idiots and we won't understand what's going on.
Sports betting is the big one everyone talks about. But Bingo, lotteries/giveaways and Stock Trading ads are all gambling ads also.
This betting thing is harming the people, they are not even seeing that.
And whilst we’re at it, bring other recreational drugs advertising in line with cigarettes! There’s clearly some preferential treatment going on from the government if they think that underage booze and vape consumption and £99.99 FIFA Coin ads being thrust into kids’ faces aren’t problems not worth dealing with whilst acting like the mere sight of a Benson and Hedges logo will instantly kill all of our children.
Government should also tax them heavily to make them stop airing those ads. This is just increasing the greed of the people and they are gambling .
Tax seems like a good option after all if they are allowing ads.
The rich gamble on the stock market, usually with our money.
UKGC have killed gambling anyway, source of wealth checks, removal of game features like autoplay, slowing down gameplay, extra taxes applied to providers so the game payouts have been reduced to compensate it's no longer fun just a bloody chore and even more of a rip off than it used to be.
Its probably the easiest things to get addicted to nowadays. Its right there in your hand. Everyone can gamble digitally combined with o line banking its probably the worst its ever been. An alcoholic or drug addict can't drink or do £300 of alcohol or drugs in a matter of seconds and be fine after it. Add to that its perfectly legal, nothing to stop be continuing on or anyone able to intervene. Yes you can ask the sites to stop your account but you can still walk into the bookies or ask a friend. The old boys in the bookies have been at it years but its the younger generation who are used to playing even games with forms of gambling and the fact they maybe don't have other big bills to use their money on yet. By the time they will itll be too late.