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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate the rise in TV adverts for online gambling?

28 replies

HelenofToys · 29/06/2017 07:49

Is it just the accessibility which changed to make it more popular? Are there laws against advertising it?

There is literally nothing to be said for gambling and these adverts are going to encourage vulnerable, disatisfied or bored people into wasting hundreds of pounds on a very quick thrill. Not to mention those who will get too heavily in to it and as is well documented it can become a terrible addiction which literally ruins lives.

I am particularly pissed off with the ones aimed at women, so brainless and patronising.

So am I being AIBU, do the gambling companies have just as much right as others to tout their wares on TV?

OP posts:
UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 29/06/2017 08:06

I've also noticed the prevalence of gambling (esp bingo) adverts, particularly during day time TV.
The pay day loan adverts have increased over the last several years too.
I agree the adverts are annoying and patronising, but I would make that comment for many non gambling adverts!

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 29/06/2017 08:08

To add, I don't know the answers to your questions, but I do think it's much easier to gamble nowadays now a lot of its online.

Autofillcontact · 29/06/2017 08:12

Yanbu OP. I think gambling advertising should be banned and winnings taxed. We need to use our system of government to discourage it. As you say there is nothing good about it and people should have the freedom to do it whilst we do everything possible to make it more unattractive than it already is.

Gambling is addictive and destroys lives. the state should step in.

Gingernaut · 29/06/2017 08:17

YADNBU OP!

Please gamble responsibly - there's no such thing as 'responsible gambling

When the fun stops, stop - Gambling should not ever be considered fun.

The ads are for online gambling sites. Almost as toxic as the fixed odds betting terminals in bookies.

There's no human interaction at all. It's horrifying.

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 29/06/2017 08:21

...also the irony of gambling ads when the Jeremy Kyle Show is on. Jeremy Kyle, who had a gambling addiction. Confused

Elephant17 · 29/06/2017 08:29

They try to normalise it by showing a professional looking 30 something woman, sitting on her nice sofa in her large living room, doing a spot of online bingo... Hmm

Or the one directed at men with a sort of lock stock and 2 smoking barrels feel to it- trying to make gambling look like this cool, exciting, sociable world! .... Anyone drawn in by this advert just needs to look inside any betting shop to know there is no glamour in it what so ever.

msrisotto · 29/06/2017 08:32

YANBU op, I hate them too. Gambling does no good for society and the last thing we should be doing is promoting it. And that line:"when the fun stops, stop" is ridiculous - when the fun stops, you're already addicted so you can't just stop!

msrisotto · 29/06/2017 08:33

Good job gambling adverts aimed at women are so insulting. They make me run a mile.

lightcola · 29/06/2017 08:34

It makes my blood boil. If you were, or living with, a gambling addict you would feel sick with worry every time an advert came on.

Asmoto · 29/06/2017 08:43

YANBU. I say that as someone (please don't flame me) who isn't against gambling per se - I always have a few £2 bets with the 'tic tac toe' people if I go to the races - but I very much dislike online gambling.

The problem with computerised gambling is that it can and is set to pay out in such a way as to maximise its addictive properties. The system can track individual spending patterns and gear 'interaction' to encourage users to spend their maximum. It's available 24/7 without leaving the house.

As pps have pointed out, it's heavily advertised on TV during the day, when vulnerable people are likely to be watching. I understand most sites are registered and administered overseas, so are difficult to regulate, but TV advertising can and should be banned.

Ev1lEdna · 29/06/2017 08:46

This is one of my biggest bugbears at the moment. I loathe the online gambling adverts. They must be such a trigger for those suffering from addiction (which, I guess is what they are targeting - which makes them worse imo). I think it's fine gambling exists as with other vices there are those who can do it responsibly and aren't tempted but it really doesn't allow a rest for those suffering from a gambling addiction. I'm not one for banning this and banning that and I think sometimes on here (MN) it borders on the downright puritanical but the constant advertising at any time of the day isn't remotely helpful when this is a big problem. I signed on to a bingo site (to get currency for another game) and they pest me constantly with emails and texts - fortunately I am unmoved by gambling but I can imagine the utter willpower you would need if that is what 'does it for you.'

The problem is it generates revenue for the government in taxes and as such is one more way the government earn money from some poorer sections of society. They are unlikely to alter this having done away with many restrictions when they deregulated it years ago. It's interesting to note after deregulation the rise in ads after deregulation 3 years ago was 600% from 234,000 a year to nearly 1.4m - I think there are even more on television now so it is certainly disproportionate to other advertisements and much more aggressive.

Orlantina · 29/06/2017 08:47

Just like the Lottery. They advertise that by having a recording of someone winning a million pounds. That's very very unlikely to happen.

Ev1lEdna · 29/06/2017 08:48

Sorry for all the mistakes in my post above - I'm in a hurry and have to go somewhere!

Scoobydoobydont · 29/06/2017 08:51

I think people who make a very good living having invested a load of time into learning how to play poker online, or by learning how to work the odds on sports betting might disagree with the "nothing good comes from gambling" stance.

I have a number of friends who make way more money than most of us ever will without ever leaving their homes and only wish my brain worked in such a way that I could do the same.

msrisotto · 29/06/2017 08:56

I work in mental health so I guess I have a different perspective to the few who succeed from gambling. I am willing to bet (Grin) that successful gamblers are a vanishing minority though. I wouldn't ban gambling, but I would ban advertising.

Asmoto · 29/06/2017 08:59

Scooby That's true, but the TV adverts won't be aimed at professional gamblers. They will presumably know their way around the different sites anyway.

I do think sports or skill-based gambling is different from gambling against a computer (be that a fruit machine or a web site). The result of a football match isn't determined by the bookmaker - the outcome of an online bingo game is.

itsajungleoutthere · 29/06/2017 09:00

And trading stocks/currency ISNT gambling?

Let's ban trading then.

Asmoto · 29/06/2017 09:01

Itsajungle The OP has suggested banning TV advertising for gambling, not gambling full-stop.

msrisotto · 29/06/2017 09:02

Don't make a straw man argument jungle. No one suggested banning gambling, in fact a we explicitly stated that. Hmm

msrisotto · 29/06/2017 09:03

Interesting that you are so defensive though.

Autofillcontact · 29/06/2017 09:05

Sorry Scooby but I don't think that's quite true. Im surprised you know "a number"- it's a fairly unusual to win money gambling as a career and be able to walk away from it.

Even if your friends are telling you they're doing that I'm willing to bet myself Wink that they're not telling you the truth. In 5 years time it will be a very very different story. All gamblers have periods where they win, that's why most get addicted.

Autofillcontact · 29/06/2017 09:06

No jungle that's not the same thing. Luckily most people can understand that things can be similar without being the same, but I thought it was worth acknowledging your overly simplistic argument anyway

silkpyjamasallday · 29/06/2017 09:20

It is definitely something which needs to be curtailed. I know people who have made A LOT of money playing poker online, and a school friends older brother ran his own online poker site, he is a millionaire off the back of it. But I also know people who have got into horrendous debt through gambling.

It's the timing of such ads that is the most problematic I think, because along with payday loans and part payment plans for TVs etc, they are almost always on in the daytime, and lets face it, the majority of people at home in the day probably do not have enough income to be wasting it playing online bingo.

Orlantina · 29/06/2017 09:30

And trading stocks/currency ISNT gambling

Depends.....Bingo has no 'forecast' ability. No skill. Pure chance.

Horses, football - well, that depends. But yes - we do treat people who get addicted to gambling in one way and then we also make a lot of money from the City...

This is an article about a teacher who lost a lot of money spread betting. He thought he knew what he was doing. That he was smart. He got addicted.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/24/lost-spread-betting-gambling-habit-obsession-way-out-chris-stringman

I do matched betting. It is astonishing how many adverts and emails you get with offers and hooks - especially to get you into the casino side. They give you £20 free - so if you lose £20 on the casino, you can reclaim it. It's just a hook like drugs to get you into the feeling of the casino.

wifeyhun · 29/06/2017 09:33

I am a matched better so I don't mind the adverts. Often they alert me to new bookies/casino offers.

However, I completely understand how people can get addicted so maybe they should reduce the amount of ads that are shown.