If you had the power to ban all forms of gambling.. would you?

Hello

I posted on here a few days ago asking if I was indeed in recovery as I had had a few small flutters in the bookies on footy accas when online gambling was my problem. For me it's a completely different mindset and I hadn't overly associated it with 'my habit/problem' as I could/can really take it or leave it. However upon thinking about it, it didn't sit right with me knowing my history online so I sought opinions from others - mixed bag but general consensus was to stop. What I'm trying to say here is that despite my problem I did not think of the high street bookie as a similar threat and had considered myself able to visit in a recreational way.

I think as you mentioned, my answer would be 'No' for the same reasons however there are more things that could be done to by the bookmakers / gov't to cut down problem gambling (such as cutting the stakes on FOBT as soon as possible, removing 'in play' terminals and removing advertising).

Interesting topic, I wish you all the best.

I would ban most forms of gambling, on health grounds. I would heavily regulate bookies to small stakes, higher tax, no advertising etc. Essentially make it not worthwhile pursuing as a business, without banning outright.

How is this loss felt by society?

Consider the benefits which gambling brings=some people are able to have an ocassional flutter and 'fun' - these people would lose out. Yet if it's genuinely ocassional, take or leave stuff, then the loss of this is going to negligable. Perhaps there are some 'professional gamblers' who would lose out - too bad, get a normal job involving the provision of something useful or functional, like the rest of us.

Consider the negatives=widespread addiction, increased poverty,broken families, lost relationships.

There's a complete imbalance between the positive and negatives here.

I've said this before, but there's a clear basis of heavily regulating this sector on health grounds. We came round to banning asbestos and unleaded petrol. We tax tobacco into the ground. There's a really clear health basis for these measures aimed at protecting the public.

People will pretend this is about choice. Nanny state etc. Give me a break. We elect governments to act in our best interests, not serve the interests of big business.

When I posted similar before, I was derided. Weirdly, gambling addicts came out in force to protect the gambling industry. Yet now we have leading hardline, nuts, Brexiteers in Reece Mog and Johnson criticising the Government for not reducing high stakes in FOBTs quickly enough. Thus the free marketeers favour more regulation than the addicts. Go figure.

**caveat that if you are embarking on the war path against the industry in the early days of your recovery, then you are almost certainly misdirecting your efforts. Always look inwards as to why you became reliant on this filthy industry. Notwithstanding this, the industry is a disgrace.

Wise words.

Having lived with the fallout of an addiction that wasn't mine for far too many long hard years and still living with the uncertainty of whether or not a relapse might occur I would ban it without hesitation.

Not going to happen of course but a return to the days before the Bliar government deregulated and normalised it and when it was confined to shady backstreet premises certainly wouldn't come amiss.

I would not ban it, plenty of people enjoy gambling and have control over their gambling. Similar to alcohol though there are plenty who cannot control their gambling, such as myself. I just think it is an industry that should be properly regulated and more should be done in the education of people (especially young people) to how it can get out of control.

I know most people say the industry is a disgrace but like any industry that made up of public limited companies, they will just try and make as much money as possible for themselves, its up to the lawmakers to put proper regulation in place as up until the past few years it has been a complete farce. I think there should be no way a person should be able to sign up an get playing straight away or just walk into a shop and start gambling fortunes. It should be like getting a loan, where people are means tested and credit checks ran etc.

Definitely should not be banned just because most of us are compulsive gamblers doesn't mean everyone is the same there are plenty of people that gamble responsibly, so it shouldn't be banned

Johnny57 wrote:

Definitely should not be banned just because most of us are compulsive gamblers doesn't mean everyone is the same there are plenty of people that gamble responsibly, so it shouldn't be banned

The classic - don’t punish others because of our own folly.

But there are hundreds of thousands or even millions like ‘us’. Why not look at the bigger picture like this....

It’s human nature to be addicted to these things, in varying degrees.

Why are we allowing an industry to manipulate and profit from our weaker impulses?

I might think differently if strangling gambling resulted in people significantly losing out. But there really are no losers of any consequence.

If you’re REALLY not an addict then the loss of wide spread easy access gambling will not matter a bit.

Do the plus and minus columns On a society level and it’s a no brainier.

Should we see the mass free marketisation of opioids in the uk, as with the USA? Absolutely epidemic over there causing such destruction and sadness. Surely not- yet gambling regulation is far more easier to justify as it really serves no function

What else should we ban? alcohol, tabacco? again people would not significanlty lose out. In my book banning things is not the way to go, people should have the right to choose for themselves, not live in some nanny state. Education and regulation are the way to go, the gambling industry has for far too long been allowed free reign when it comes to they way they do business and its only in recent year have thiings started to change slowly. There is still a lot to be done but like years ago when Cigrettes advertising was everywhere and people could smoke where they liked, societies attitude to smoke changed over time and its now much more curtailed, but its not banned which in my opinion is the correct approach.

I think that cracking down on false advertising for all addicitive behaviors and substances would be a good investigative starting point. Then 'ballooning out', pumping up, pointing out, highlighting saftey measure and addictive qualities, warnings etc . for all types of products that people are addicted to. No more small print , hidden, de-emphasised help and warnings. And no more whispering the side effects of prescription drugs after a happy ever after tv commercial. Shout out the counter points! Outlawing smoke and mirrors and addiction by design machines. and the overall designs of casinos at large. For every billboard that advertises alcohol , gambling, smoking as glamorous/safe/normal/fun there should be a law that there are 5 billboards that illustrate the downfall and addiction ... also that teach and offer help to addicts. Same for magazines... for every advertisement there needs to be at least double the flip side kind of adv. that does not promote but rather educates and helps. tara2

Personally I wouldn’t ban gambling I do believe it is our own decision to gamble. There are plenty of people out there that can have a flutter every once in a while or people who gamble but can stick to a limit of what they will spend, I think it would be unfair on these people who view it as a source of entertainment. What should happen is similar to what has happened to the cigarettes industry in the UK - No advertisement! I think this is damaging compulsive gamblers more than anything ya know? You get home and flick on the tv to try distract yourself from the urge and half way through the program your watching you have around 3 gambling adverts. It’s grotesque. Also in sport I feel that teams have the moral obligation to decline sponsorship from gambling establishments. I also think the same should happen to the alcohol industry as well but that’s a discussion for another day.

Green2711 wrote:

Personally I wouldn’t ban gambling I do believe it is our own decision to gamble. There are plenty of people out there that can have a flutter every once in a while or people who gamble but can stick to a limit of what they will spend, I think it would be unfair on these people who view it as a source of entertainment. What should happen is similar to what has happened to the cigarettes industry in the UK - No advertisement! I think this is damaging compulsive gamblers more than anything ya know? You get home and flick on the tv to try distract yourself from the urge and half way through the program your watching you have around 3 gambling adverts. It’s grotesque. Also in sport I feel that teams have the moral obligation to decline sponsorship from gambling establishments. I also think the same should happen to the alcohol industry as well but that’s a discussion for another day.

Exactly this. I live in Birmingham, do we really need 5/6 bookmakers clustered in one area with a Casino just across the street? Cities thrive with bookmakers but even normal streets have 2/3 in them which they don't need. Wouldn't ban gambling just put some stops in place to stop preying on weak people.

It's only seen as entertainment because the industry have been selling it relentlessly as such for twenty plus years. Back in the days before the lottery most people's gambling was limited to a fiver on the National and the office sweepstake. Accepting it's a form of entertainment plays right into their greedy corporate hands.

I would struggle to support banning it completely & I don't think its any way achievable.

However, I think it should be treated somewhere between smoking and drinking, in terms of restrictions in advertising. I would ban gambling on credit cards, I would make companies do the KYC before they could accept a bet, I would not allow reversal of withdrawn winnings. I would restrict advertising, particularly on sport. I would restrict window displays in betting shops. I would go back to 24 hours before you could join a casino.

When I grew up there would be fruit machines in chippies and takeways with really young kids hanging round them and people would be playing them in pubs from 14 or 15 years. There was an arcade in every town with fruities alongside the space invader machines with seemingly no restriction on age (may have been 14 years, but whast on old woman sitting in a booth doling out change going to say to a load of scallies aged 11).

There was then a brief period when this was cracked down on, before Labour ludicrously let gambling rip. As a long time Labour voter that still sickens me, absolutley sickens me.

Adverts target laddish adolescents and no one seems to care. The "when the fun stops" adverts in yellow & black play down the problem as much as possible.

There are "loot box" elements in kids video games that are effectively gambling and again no one seems to care.

I can only hope that the pendulum was swung again and we are going to see a large crack down over the next few years.

I would install a government health warning relating to the real risks of addiction and I would ban certain forms and features of rapid play gambling. It now needs heavy regulation if it is not to be banned.

It needs to be treated like any substance abuse as it works in the same way

In relation to machines the developers have been allowed to get away with devious features which should NOT be allowed. One example is the bonus animation character appearing on screen but then vanishing in a P**f of smoke...devious underhand tactics to encourage red mist gambling. In reality the odds of winning are difficult but deregulation has allowed them to programme the machines with false wins and activity to give a false impression

I would also insist that the odds of winning the top prize are clearly printed in large type on the machine...not rtps or it could be you advertising..so if its 1;8000 print it...if its 1/100,000...Print it! In many cases its higher than that but addicts are deluded and beyond control

I would make a serious start in banning or heavily regulating certain forms of gambling.

The problem with the ban it all argument is that it plays into the hands of the industry who use it as a smokescreen to cry victimisation!...you have to see the real game thats being played with government assistance. The tragic thing is that entire lives are being played with and that is the extremely dark side of this whole mess. Make no mistake...its costing lives!