Gambling a huge issue in Australia, problem is that it’s big business and governments love the tax. They’ll say all the right things but they won’t change anything while there’s so much revenue in it.
We were watching tv the other night and almost 50% of the ads were for gambling companies.
Letting Boeing effectively self-certify airworthiness was what led to the 737 Max8 disaster, and that happened despite Being having a significantly better moral compass than anyone in the betting industry.
I bet they weren’t!
My wife has a direct debit for £10 or £12 per month for the National Lottery, that is about it from our household. She wins about £2.85 about four times per year.
Since I started working part time, which involves a lot of driving I have been listening to talkSPORT on the radio. There are quite a lot of in depth discussions on all kinds of Sports, but mainly Football. Generally I enjoy it, however it is clear that a lot of their revenues come from Betting Company advertising and other arrangements. Betting is ingrained into it’s fabric.
The radio station has an 80% Male audience and they claim a strong ABC1 audience. ( I’m not so sure). The advertising has a significant ratio from Betting Companies. It feels like the majority but may not be. Lots of Fast Food Ads and products aimed at “White Van man”
Most of the advertising is irritating to me and feels like it is aimed at Dimwits( forgive the term), except the current excellent radio ads for Weetabix.
I work with a mixed set of Colleagues and it seems to be the younger men, who are interested in sport, that bet the most. Some, on" Minimum wage" think nothing of putting £100 match or a Golfer in a Major. The industry is training it’s audience to only enjoy sport if they have a bet on it. I find that very sad.
It seems to me that betting attracts, and is aimed at people who can least afford it. I was talking to a Lady behind a Supermarket Customer service till the other day where they sell Fags and Scratch Cards. She said very few Fags sold now, but folk come in and buy £50 or £100 worth in Scratch cards in one go, and they don’t look like they can afford it. Very Sad.
I am keen on sport, but when asked if I Bet, I tell them that the Lady who started and runs Bet365 is paid £460m per year and is worth £12 billion. She doesn’t have this money by accident.
I’m told that here in the UK we have little interest in betting compared to some Asian countries.
My observation rather than anything constructive.
Gambling should be nationalised to enable strict controls. But independent bookmakers should be allowed to continue for on course/track betting. This would solve all the problems.
Don’t disagree but I can’t ever imagine that happening.
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