AIBU to think a birthday scratch card win was harmless fun?

[Fidbdfb]

It was my daughter’s birthday this week, and I got her a scratch card just for a bit of fun.

She ended up winning £100 from a £5 card.

I mentioned it to a friend, but she felt quite strongly that she’d never let her child do anything like that, as she sees it as gambling.

It felt a bit over the top to me, to me it was just a harmless bit of fun for a special occasion....

Is she being over top?

I told my DD that if I paid for a lottery ticket (using her account as I cba to have one and only very rarely want to buy a ticket) we would go halves. Also I tell her that if I win the euromillions independently of her, she’d inherit it anyway 🤭

I wouldn't. A gambling addict I know said the worst thing that ever happened to him was winning £500 the fist time he went to a casino. He spent years chasing that high.

It's gambling. However, your friend is way over the top, Hope your DD enjoys her win.

I remember going to the races as a kid and betting a small amount. I remember we all chose a horse for the Grand National as well and my father putting money on them. I haven't been to the races or bet on a horse since I was a kid.
I really think one scratch card is harmless. I can imagine how excited your daughter was when she realised she won something and I hope your daughter enjoys whatever she buys with the money from her win.

Don't most people take their kid to the pier/fairs etc? I know kids can't buy lottery tickets etc, but the principle is the same. Very few parents I know don't ever take kids to the arcade including some who don't gamble themselves for religious reasons.

We were the same. I got a new coat thanks to Red Rum 😂

@Fidbdfb
Well done to your DD …
I won £100 on a scratch card in1979 ( equivalent to about £650 today in a charity football type thing .
(Obviously my parents had to collect the money for me )
It was fantastic 🙌
I bought a few pieces of furniture for my bedroom and then I used it for lots of family days out .. shared with my siblings etc .
To be clear there was no expectation from my family to do so but it was so much fun for us all …I loved it and am NOT a gambler in any way ….have never been in a betting shop and dont buy scratch cards .. that was my first and only ..

One of my brothers still talks about the football boots that we got for him with the money 😄

Let your DC enjoy it !

it’s not the path to ruin as some on this thread are suggesting!

Yes it's harmless fun. Just like buying a raffle ticket is. However, the friend may have experience of gambling addiction which would influence her life decisions.

Exactly. She'll potentially think scratchcards are easy money now. I got introduced to gambling way too early-arcade games, fruit machines, even pogs! My grandparents also put £1 on the lottery for me every week as a kid (they were very anti-gambling but the lottery was different in their eyes) if you've got an addictive personality you can keep away from all drugs and drink but something like gambling for kids is a big no-no in my eyes. I couldn't wait til I was 18 and could go on the proper slot machines.

Perhaps the Fawlty Towers episode where Basil bets (and wins) on a horse should be compulsory viewing.

“That particular avenue of pleasure (betting) has been closed off.”
“And we don’t want it opened up again, do we?”
”No, you don’t.”

”If I find out the money on that horse was yours, you know what I’ll do, Basil.”
”You’ll have to sew ‘em back on first!”

As for when children drew the raffle at my church; I thought the reason they were blindfolded was to make sure there was no cheating. But maybe it was to fulfil a requirement of “they’re not involved in gambling if they can’t see while they’re doing it”.

What's the difference between this and winning on the premium bonds?

Most parents I know have premium bonds for the children. A lottery.

The basic difference with premium bonds and most other forms of betting is that you still keep your money if you lose; you can cash them in with no notice, unlike betting, where you pay and keep losing, and win nothing. So premium bonds are less risky; also apart from the initial investment, you don’t have to actively do anything with them, unlike actively buying lottery tickets. But there’s still the idea of: what do you do with a big win? All those unhappy lottery winners who spend big, and end up poorer than they were before. How sad!

Playing the lottery every week is like burning money every week. Your probabilities of winning are so small that you would have to play the same numbers for 40 odd years to have a slim chance of winning.

scratch card the same.

i dont see the fun in spending on something ad useless as the lottery or a scratch card. Sorry i value my hard earned cash

Yes she is overreacting. It was harmless fun for her birthday. I'm sure your daughter was delighted. There will always be judgemental parents. I would ignore and let your daughter enjoy her win.

To be honest I think it is better to learn some of the lessons about gambling at a young age

In a similar vein, I let the my kids have a go on an amusement arcade grabber machine. I warned them that it is almost impossible to win….and of course their first go they won!

Every subsequent time we have seen a grabber machine they have begged for another go. So I’ve let them stand and watch other people using them (and have a few turns themselves) to demonstrate that usually you don’t win. We’ve had conversations about the economics of it - how much do those toys cost, what is are the maximum odds of winning you could have for the machine owner to make money. Eventually they got the message..

We still use the grabber machine as an example of anything where they are overestimating their chance of random success!

oh my god I run the tombola at our PTA summer fair and some kids (and some adults too TBH!) have zero control!

Surely this is no different to buying a ticket on the tombola stall at the village/school fete, or a raffle.

There seem to be a lot of people who find this a problem and not sure if agree. Most people i know have let their kids choose a horse on something like the grand national or have a go on the 2p machines at the amusement arcades. I think as long as its not a regular thing, I'm not sure what the issue is. Its like letting a younger child try a sip of wine- you wouldn't assume they would become alcoholics

Without sounding like a twat.

£100 isn't a huge amount of money. My daughter gets £50 pocket money a month so essentially its only 2 months pocket money. I don't think a £100 win will draw her in to much. Nice to have of course but thats it.

I didn’t expect so many replies, and I’ve only just had a chance to catch up.
Some of the responses are completely over the top.

The fact that people have brought up words like “vibrator” and “rape” in this context is honestly wild.

We already do plenty of the things people have mentioned. I used to pick horses for the Grand National as a child, and now my kids do the same. We love a 2p machine and usually go on a few caravan holidays each year where we’ll play them now and then. We also take part in school fete raffles and tombola's.

And for what it’s worth, my grandad won the lottery when I was young, he paid off his mortgage and took us abroad on holiday. I grew up seeing that, and I still don’t gamble. I can’t even remember the last time I bought a scratch card before my child’s birthday.

I remember that. Got to love Sybil 😂

My mum puts one in our Christmas crackers and has done for many years. None of the family are gambling addicts as far as I’m aware. It’s fine in my opinion OP, but you’ll always find someone who thinks the opposite to you.

Not something I would ever do for my kids

But, why ?

Not saying you are right or wrong but discussion is more than saying yes or no

A lot of OTT reactions here! Its one scratch card, hardly in the same league as encouraging her to bet her £50 pocket money on Nun's Chuff to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup!