Hi All,
I remember aged 13 attending my local youth club in 1968 and the youth leader was distracted watching kids on a trampolene refereeing a table tennis match or being judge in a foil fencing dual whilst Alwalm and 5 or 6 of his mates found a quiet corner out of view in order to play 3 card brag, or b-----d brag. or shoot pontoon gambling hard earned cash earned through delivering newspapers or milk.
Next was slot machines usually at the seaside which eventually progressed to gaming arcades. At 16 my studies progressed to bookmakers ( despite the fact i was under age} no one ever challenged me or asked for ID they were more than happy to take my money no questions asked.
I took up a career in retail and thought i was doing well aged 26 i was manager of a large furniture store. I had a mortgage made good money was so focused on progressing in my career. Then after getting a real hammering by the bookmakers i had this cunning plan. This horse at a generous price of 4/9 couldnt get beat it was a certanty so i had no hesitation in borrowing £900 from my employer to win me the easiest £400 id ever earned in my life. I was right or so i thought when it was clear of the field until it fell at the 2nd last hurdle and so the end of my career and prosecution followed.
Moving on to 2018 i was in the city centre 2 days ago shopping and i passed a gaming arcade. Looking through the window i was quite shocked to see young kids whom im sure were school age feeding their cash into FBTs. Ive left it rather late in life to wise up but surely in this day and age we can at least legislate to make it compulsary for these arcades to insist on proof of ID. Or is society and governments happy to wait till these kids become as totally addicted as we are. Even better why not have Gamcare and Gamstop stickers in every school in the country. I think its rather irresponsible not to offer help early rather than letting another generation becoming as addicted as we are. Much better if we can nip it in the bud early.
Stay Strong
AL
Dear alwalm
Thank you for sharing your story here and your insightful thoughts on prevention of future gambling. I'm sure your post will generate opinion and comment. In the meantime you may be interested to read of some of the work GamCare does through its Youth Outreach Programme, and I have posted a link below for more information.
https://www.gamcare.org.uk/news/gamcares-youth-outreach-programme-receives-additional-funding
Warm regards
Leigh
Forum Admin
Hi Leigh,
Thanks for sending me that link. Its so reassuring knowing the work your doing with young people. What a fantastic organisation this is.
Kind Regards
AL
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