In this section, people talk about their experiences with and views of how gambling companies operate.
Affected others say that gambling is an industry that produces addiction. People said that the gambling industry preys on people, especially those who are desperate for money or experiencing challenging circumstances.
Gambling companies sell people a dream, knowing that it is the company that will be the winner in the long term. Free bets and time-limited offers induce people to gamble and continue gambling. Affected others express disbelief that the gambling industry is allowed to produce and advertise a product that is designed to produce addiction.
They are angry that addictive products, which have caused so much harm to the person and to them, are allowed to be so accessible 24/7 and promoted everywhere.
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If you think about alcohol adverts or something like that, it doesn’t say spend £5, and we’ll send you £50, but it’s not the same. Yet it doesn’t get, I don’t know, it’s too easy. It’s too accessible. I think of all the types of addiction you can have, it’s the one that probably preys on the most vulnerable, and anybody almost is so susceptible to it. I look at how desperate people will be for money now. I just think all it takes is that… It’s so quick because they know exactly what they’re doing, and they lure those people in.
I said to [partner] and to everybody I get the chance to, the only way to walk out of a casino as a millionaire is to have walked in as a billionaire. You will never ever, ever get money from gambling. You only ever borrow it. You give it straight back. You might win a £500 jackpot that probably cost you £1,000 to put in. You will never, ever make money. You will only ever lose it. They don’t give you money. You don’t win money. They just lend it to you. You’re going to give it straight back to them, and they know it.
Gambling is different because the actual product is specifically designed for or at least some of them are so designed to create addiction. It’s incredible. I just could not believe personally how anyone would be allowed to produce a product that’s so addictive, far more addictive than when I was told by the experts, they’re far, far more addictive than drugs.
It just doesn’t seem possible that a betting shop could allow someone to be addicted in the way of losing their life, their life that, you know, multiple hours every day, hundreds of pounds every day that the shop, the people that work in the shop could allow this to happen, that the companies themselves could be allowed to happen, that legally this could be allowed to happen.
The lack of wellbeing checks from gambling companies. When someone at 24-years-old can bet £24,000 from a business account, not a personal account, and receives a phone call from the betting company to say, “Oh, we noticed a lot of activity. Are you okay Mr. [surname]?” [son] says, “Yes, I’m just dandy.” “Okay, you crack on.” Then, the bank rings as well, and says, “Oh, we’ve noticed that there’s a lot of activity this evening. Are you okay Mr. [surname]?” He says, “Yes, I am.” They go, “Okay, that’s fine. Crack on.” That to me is where the problem is.