What is the problem with the betting shops?
Many people still perceive betting shops to
be places where only a few ageing men go to place bets on horses, but since
2005 this is certainly not the case.
The founder of the Neuroliberation campaign,
Ben Thacker, had personally experienced the destructive nature of betting shops
and fixed odds betting terminals during a three year gambling addiction (see
his story on the blog).
After spending hours in betting shops every
day, Ben witnessed their destructive nature and how they are ruining lives,
mainly due to machines called ‘fixed odds betting terminals’ (FOTP). It is the roulette games on these machines that
are getting our nation hooked on gambling, but people can also play electronic
slots on them too, along with other electronic betting games.
PR consultants in the
gambling industry won’t tell you this, but betting shops have become social
centres for the financially frustrated and have become a breeding ground for
depression, anxiety, homelessness and family breakdowns.
Some are open from as
early as 8.30am and until as late as 11pm, although the majority of betting
shops are open from around 9.30am until 9.30pm.
One of the biggest
problems with gambling addictions and betting shops is that the addiction can
be very easily hidden from friends and family of the addict. This means that
problems can go on for longer without help and intervention, and also that
addicts can more easily lie about where they have been or how they have lost
all of their money.
The gambling industry
claims that only a minute percentage of people gambling go on to develop an
addiction, but from first-hand experience Ben found that this was not at all
the case. People of all ages enter these places and get sucked in rapidly.
It is certainly not
uncommon to see eighteen year old lads struggling to get off these machines,
losing every penny they had and constantly feeding the machine. It isn’t
uncommon to see stressed-out thirty-odd year olds swearing, spitting and
punching the machines as they lose their money and struggle to break their
habit. These are events that happen regularly each day in a lot of betting
shops around the country.
People from all walks
of life are feeding all their money to these machines; unemployed, builders,
taxi drivers, students and even people that run their own businesses.
The cost to the
individuals and their families lives does not have a price tag.
The financial cost to
mental health services, social services, the police, homeless services and the
NHS is still unclear, as most of the research on gambling addiction given to
the government has come from the gambling industry. But with public funding for
these services being slashed, can our nation afford to carry such a weight on
its shoulders?
The fixed odds betting
terminals have a huge effect on mental health, not just for an addict but for
anybody that plays them. The underlying mental stress from playing these
machines can lead to anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, rage, aggression, delusional
thinking, loss of humour… the list goes on.
When you look into the
individual stories and cases from doctors and lawyers who have worked with
clients with gambling addictions, the effects down the line can lead to abuse,
murder, suicide and neglect.
For every one addicted
gambler on average a further eight people are somehow effected by the gamblers
problem; children, partners, friends, employers, etc. With the gambling
industry attempting to glamorise gambling, this has massive effects on the
social strength of our communities.
How does it make sense
to both cut services that heal people, and promote services that destroy them?
