Vocal Voices

The Australian government is to ban live odds on TV and radio in the hope of reducing problem gambling. Maybe it is something we should be looking at as well.

It is a strange quirk of human nature that when times are hard some of us will do anything in the hope of making things better - usually those who can least afford to. They go once and when they do not win they go again, and again... It is sad, but they need protecting from themselves so that we, as a society, do not have to pick up the pieces.

What happens when we hit edit by mistake instead of post Frank? that is what I did and I have now lost my post!!

Workingman wrote:The Australian government is to ban live odds on TV and radio in the hope of reducing problem gambling. Maybe it is something we should be looking at as well.

Damn right it is something the government should be looking at. These adverts are constant, it's a bombardment. They should never have been allowed in the first place. There is nothing wrong with the occasional flutter but the ease with which you can lose money via on-line gambling is scary; and as you say, it's usually the ones who can't afford to lose money who play the most.

Kate wrote:What happens when we hit edit by mistake instead of post Frank? that is what I did and I have now lost my post!!

you can press the back button on the browser, then, possibly the forward button if it was an issue with posting.

If you delete, you can press Ctrl-Z and it should undo the delete.

Of course they don't want them betting. They want them putting all this money on the national lottery so they can erm, "use it wisely"......

cromwell wrote:.... the ease with which you can lose money via on-line gambling is scary....

It isn't only online gambling, there are those "shows" on the TV after the channels have closed down, and don't forget smartphone apps.

The National Lottery is also something to be looked at with its till displays for scratch cards. I see people who I know do not have two pennies to rub together regularly buying £10 worth of scratch cards.

Not to mention the ubiquitous Bet Fred and similar bookies that are springing up in all the empty units in town centres, along with the charity shops and pound shops

Also a lot of the websites and tv ads for bingo and such, as well as bookies, promise people free bets.
There are those who will have joined every one of them, still paying long after the 'free' bet or game.
You'll never stop people gambling, but it is horribly available now.

I confessed I do sometimes play the fruit machine in our pub.. I could if I did not stop myself put too much in it.. So I never go to the pub other than on a Sunday when I collect my paper.

Kate wrote:I do sometimes play the fruit machine in our pub.. I could if I did not stop myself put too much in it...

Nail on head, Kate. You have to be there in person. You see the cash coming out of you pocket. You run out, you stop.

These other ways are not that personal. It's electronic money, remote, so you continue. Then you need food/electricity and the bank says "No way Jose" your pot is empty. Then what?