to think that if smoking adverts are banned then so should gambling adverts?

[Bogeyface]

I dont want my kids growing up thinking that spaffing all your wages on a gambling site or app is considered normal and desirable. There has been a huge upsurge in the number of gambling ads in the last few years along with a huge upsurge in payday loan adverts, coincidence?

These ads seem to give the impression that gambling is cool, fun, and perfectly normal but it isnt! A couple of lines on the lottery is one thing but spending ££'s on a poker website or virtual fruit machine is a one way ticket to bankruptcy.

I know someone who ended up in prison after stealing almost £60,000 from his employer due to a gambling addiction. It destroys families and is as much of an addiction as heroin, smoking or alcoholism and can cause just as much damage, so why is it legal to advertise it?

I know that the government make £££ on the tax from it, but they do on fags too.

YANBU. The proliferation of gambling adverts and methods has been utterly irresponsible and downright disgusting. No responsible government should encourage the poorer people in society (and let's not kid ourselves about who much of it is targeted at) to spank their money on gambling. It sickens me.

YANBU
The sponsorship of the French Open tennis made my blood boil. I want to share my lifelong live of tennis with the DDs without 'normalising' gambling.

fucking payday loans are even worse, there seems to be nothing, but in the junk TV my teens use to chill after school.

Yesterday DD2(13) joked that if she needed a loan she'd come to the bank of Mum as I wouldn't change such a ridiculous interest rate.

Maybe I'm naive but I was shocked to see in the window of a local betting shop that you can get a card that you pay cash onto in store to gamble online, presumably for those not in a position to have a regular bank card.

I don't gamble but I know how addictive and dangerous it can be.
However, if I was to stand next to someone gambling I wouldnt be affected physically so I don't think it really equates to smoking!!!
I do wish they weren't allowed to make gambling look as cool and accessible as they do though

Maybe not on a case by case basis. But over time it's not just the one person affected. It can rip people's lives apart. People loose their jobs their homes. They leave buggies outside. Kids stood outside in the cold and dark. I'd say the consequences were just as severe if not worse than smoking. Smoking doesn't change behaviour. It doesn't make you lie to your family or get you evicted.

Outside shops that should say

How about, hopping, if you are a child reliant on a problem gambler for your food and clothing? Is it as bad as smoking then?

Hopping I said it was an addiction that was a dangerous and destructive as heroin, smoking and alcohol.

But yes it does affect other people an awful lot. Not just the families of the addicts but the victims of their crimes. Would you say it didnt affect you if a gambling addict stole your bank card for example?

I agree absolutely OP.

A friend of mine used to work in a casino and would have to take calls from partners begging for the gambler to be banned because their lives were falling apart, house being repossessed etc.

That was when the 1968 Gaming Act was in force to ensure that no-one was 'enticed' into gambling. That was somewhat diluted by the 2005 Gambling Act, but I still don't understand how those adverts are legal.

I agree - loan adverts and bingo adverts should be banned. Far greater priority should be given to informing people about where they can go for a fairer loan or loan advice. On the odd day I've been off sick I am just amazed and what's advertised on daytime TV - loans, bingo and ambulance chasing lawyers.

YANBU I completely agree.

It would also be nice if these gambling sites and pay day loans would stop emailing me. I have never used any of those sites yet every single day I'm being offered a 'free £10 bet' or a payday loan.

I can see why desperate people get themselves Into such messes with these advertisements being shoved in their faces everywhere they go.

I quite agree, they should be banned. Gambling can ruin lives just the same as tobacco or alcohol and the advertising/sale of those is restricted.

YANBU. I'd like to see a ban on gambling adverts. My ex-BF is an ex gambler and he lost everything because it became an addiction. He was lucky to be accepted onto one of the few places at the Gordon Moody Association residential rehab centre, and thankfully turned his life around. Many are not so lucky to have the opportunity he did.

I think they should be banned too, they normalise gambling and make it all seem 'happy', none of them show the downside of it, when you can't buy food for your kids or pay your rent.

Gambling, payday loans and catalogue ads are all ways of tempting you into debt, and I think they all need more control at the very least

I am going to go against most people on this thread and say YABU.

Smoking is always bad for your health.

For most gamblers, gambling is a fun activity which never develops into an addiction. I appreciate for some people gambling can become a problem, but this is the minority.

I don't think the two can be compared.

YANBU - I hate them with a passion, along with all the gambling on TV at night.

I was talking with a friend recently about the smoking sponsorship ban of years ago. Do you remember all the whining about how it was going to be the end of the world, test cricket, F1, football etc was all going to be decimated and ruined forever when they outlawed tobacco sponsorship of sport? yeah right - well they coped and all those sports are still very much alive and well.

But bookies/gambling websites etc have moved into that spot all to easily. It's unjustifiable and wrong on every level.

I too know families who's lives have been decimated by gambling. Very sad.

where are all these fun gamblers? None of them go to the very busy bookies next to my house. Never a smile seen there.

Perhaps they are all the people gambling from home on their own?

No they are never happy. They are now open 14 hours a day seven days a week shut once a year and you can have phone and online accounts it's too much and now they don't have to go home at half six like before

YANBU and I lose all respect for sports personalities who take part in gambling adverts. It is all part of normalising the behaviour.

All those adverts which show online poker sites as being glamourous. All the people are sat at home in their pants gambling their lives away. Where is the glamour in that?

kslatts I dont want my children to see gambling as normal. Everyone knows bookies exist, everyone knows you can bet at the races, but that has never been advertised (in my memory anyway).

It gives the impression that gambling is not only a perfectly normal thing to do (not in my world it aint!) but is desirable. The adverts by rich successful sports people and actors, the one where the City worker looking couple come in from work and start gambling on their iPads, it all seems so nice, but it isnt!

If people want to gamble then thats up to them, but what I object to is the normalisation of it, thats not on at all.

I think gambling is, by its very nature, intended to be an addiction not an occasional bit of fun. The house always wins and all that. The whole idea of it is that if you win £100, you're enticed to bet it again for a bigger return next time. Even if you win £100k, it's not enough. There aren't many people who can win a few quid and then think 'right, that's me, I've beaten the bookies, I'm never betting again'. The gambler always loses, no matter how much they seem to win.

where are all these fun gamblers? None of them go to the very busy bookies next to my house. Never a smile seen there.

I would consider a day out at Ascot or a night at bingo with a group of friends fun.

*It gives the impression that gambling is not only a perfectly normal thing to do (not in my world it aint!) but is desirable. The adverts by rich successful sports people and actors, the one where the City worker looking couple come in from work and start gambling on their iPads, it all seems so nice, but it isnt!

If people want to gamble then thats up to them, but what I object to is the normalisation of it, thats not on at all.*

In our house gambling is quite normal, on a Saturday myself and DH spend £10 between us on some football accumulators, we then watch the results coming in on final score. As long as you can afford to lose the amount you are gambling then what is the issue, if we lose then we have lost £10, we place the bet online and if we win just transfer the winnings back to our bank account. For us it's just a bit of fun, similar to someone who enjoys films spending £10 to watch a film.

In my post above, this part should be in bold

It gives the impression that gambling is not only a perfectly normal thing to do (not in my world it aint!) but is desirable. The adverts by rich successful sports people and actors, the one where the City worker looking couple come in from work and start gambling on their iPads, it all seems so nice, but it isnt! If people want to gamble then thats up to them, but what I object to is the normalisation of it, thats not on at all.

kslatts that's great for you. But you really don't need to be advertised to to gamble that way do you?

If gambling wasn't advertised it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to you. Whereas it would make a massive difference to society overall to stop promoting a highly addictive and potentially extremely negative habit/pass time.

Totally agree, OP. Hate seeing those ads. I live in a medium sized town, and every other shop on the high street is a betting shop of some sort.