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Gambling when I was growing up was something people did in smoked filled betting offices or the having a go on the Pools with the man coming to the door to collect the stakes.
Shortly after this The National Lottery was rolled out in the UK with the slogan ‘It Could Be You’ as we were sold the dream of being turned into millionaires overnight for a stake of just £1.
As the Internet started to find its way into people’s homes, this presented a new opportunity as sites like casino.netbet.co.uk we’re able to games for people to play at home.
With the evolution of the smart phone came the next thing, Apps, and the gaming companies have wasted no time in putting handy little Apps together so people can have a bet.
The constant adverts on TV and radio urging people to have a bet have led to some groups calling for them to be banned before 9PM. The Church if England say we are facing amoral crisis.
Only this week a debate held on the radio led to one person saying that their 10-year-old, while watching a game said to his father that he would put his money on a peculiar player to score the first goal.
Something his father felt was a result of the numerous betting adverts on the TV and around the pitch.
He has a point, day time television is littered with adverts for online bingo games, promising low stakes and even offer rewards to people to sign up and start playing. During any major sporting fixture now pundits quite often offer hints towards betting.
Recently the government in UK said it would look into the Fixed Odd Betting Machines which are seeing playing machines that can easily take £300in just one hour off a punter.
Figures from the UK’s leading Gamble Awareshowthat 233,000 FOBT users lost more than £1,000 in one sitting last year, while 650 people lost more than £5,000 and one person lost £ 13, 778.
In the UK there are an estimated 2 million people who are said to be addicted to gambling due to the temptation always being there.
More frightening is the growing number of people who are 16 years-old who are becoming addicted to gambling. Not old enough to drink, vote or drive but old enough to play the National Lottery or buy their Scratch Cards.
There are of course a lot of people who just enjoy a bet who are in control of their things. There are others who play skilled based games like Poker Online and have gone on to make a living from it.
I do not think the nation has a gambling problem but I do feel that it is growing at such a rate and is now more sociably acceptable.
However if we are not careful in how it is marketed we will see a huge increase in the number of people and communities that will suffer as result of irresponsible gambling.
