Gambling culture concerns ??

[monty999]

Just wondered what the general consensus is over the increasing social acceptability of the need to 'bet' on absolutely anything and everything. Obviously mostly in sport whether its winners, losers or even people next to get sacked from their job I really do feel like we are heading for a very, very dangerous social problem but all seems to be totally ignored due to the 'funding' put back into the sports. The numerous gambling firms seem to cover themselves morally by ''when the fun stops, stop'' or ''we gamble responsibly''- yeh right . Gambling has always thrown up some tragic loss cases when you had to physically make a journey to the bookies or wherever to lose the shirt off your back.Now its so easy to tap tap boom your money away I fear there will be lots of youngsters, who the culture seems to be aimed at, will end up in finance trouble. Yes, it is up to individuals to control the use but so is drug abuse and thats a massive problem. Don't want to be a kill-joy for folks who do gamble responsibly but wish the government would try to put some better control measures in. Remember when there used to be fag ads on the telly ??

[monty999]

I fully appreciate that there is the majority of responsibly gambling going on by folks who can afford to lose a few quid and then maybe win the odd bit back, thats fine.But where my concerns lie is with the younger, perhaps more naive, new customers who the companies are obviously aiming at by drawing in with the '£20 free bet'. I have a 17 year old son who has mates who already have the apps set up on the phone and they definitely can't afford to lose money but it seems a socially acceptable practice so they get involved.
I'm not anti-gambling but would like to see more restrictions on the promoting of it as the great social, fun pastime portrayed by the ads.