A recent study by Gambling Aware revealed that gambling ads at sports events had trebled in just one year.
Anyone – like me – who has turned to commercial and
or local radio to avoid the slush of BBC nonsense will not be at all surprise.
These stations rely not on the free government hand-out
to the stale old stultified, out of date, out of touch, unreliable, sycophantic,
London-centric BBC but ad revenue. In my experience it’s rare to get through an
commercial break without something relate to gambling being pushed in that
hysterically happy snappy ad voice.
There is the obvious stuff – bingo websites etc.
but then there is the subtler stuff like the post-code lotteries – charity
lotteries and you’re chance to win anything from a 5 star holiday to a brand
new car to cash.
I’ve never hear it announced how many people enter
or how tiny is your percentage chance of winning. I do remember when the
National Lottery was introduced during the Thatcher years it was condemned as
a. a tax on the poor and b. as a replacement for proper funding. And it did not
start well as one of the first uses was to buy documents from Churchill’s descendants
‘for the nation’ when many people believed they belonged to the nation in the
first place.
Since then the lottery has become a staple and
extended to scratch cards and any number of have-a-go chance grifts. Go to any
outlet the night before a big draw and you cannot fail to see the hunched
figures bent over their purchases frantically (miserably) scraping away or
checking figures. Often these are bought in many multiples not just one. And on
a weekly basis.
But this is nothing compared to the huge increase in
online gambling often very poorly regulated despite the hurried ‘be gamble
aware’ statement crammed onto the end of glitzy, slick, expensively produced
ads.
Personal debt in the UK reached nearly £2billion at
the end of June 2023 and debt per household was running at 96.3% of average
earnings (The Money Charity). And a now three-year-old report from the CAB put
personal gambling debt at an average of £10k per household but of course
Citizens Advice only has access to those seeking help and or acknowledging
there is a problem.
There is a deep fault line running through society
on this issue.
And we may question the effects of advertising but
Science Direct has studied this and discovered – no surprise – gambling
advertising IS effective against one very key demographic –young adults and
teenagers. The same demographic that spend most time online.
Anecdotally, as I am not a car owner and spend a lot
of time on public transport, I can attest to the casual gambling that happens daily and it seems such a regular and integrated pass-time that I
find the figures quoted above surprisingly LOW.
I recall listening to one young man on the train
with pals claiming he enjoyed gambling because he was sensible – limiting
himself to £40. Now he did not say if this was per day or per week. But let’s
go with the week. That is the price of a pair of kid’s shoes (or an entire school uniform if you buy sweat-shop products) EVERY seven days
and I was not at all convinced by his statement as people almost always
underestimate these things whether its drink or food or drugs.
Years ago under the Gordon Brown administration
there was talk of limiting gambling outlets that always seemed to huddle and
multiply in poor areas. A phenomenon that tells a tale in itself. But little
has changed in that respect and it has become almost immaterial
anyhow with the exponential grown of online gambling; it’s a battle that has
been lost.
Like a lot of shit that flowed out of the sewer of
the Thatcher administration last century – privatisation – de-regulation – we
are paying the social price this century - and how.
But I see no push back. For some reason – despite
the documented negative effects on social well-being, family life, economic
well-being, mental health etc. – there is little to no resistance against the
behemoth that is the insatiable GARGANTUAN GAMBLING GREMLIN chewing its way
unchecked through society.
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