GAMBLING: The Means
This blog post follows on from the one published previously this year “GAMBLING: The Dangers”. In this post we set the scene highlighting the deception, dangers and sadly the life changing consequences of gambling. In this follow-up post, we will consider the different forms of gambling, so that parents can know what to look out for.
A walk down the High Street of any UK town will feature betting shops. They are fixtures. No matter the downturn, and the shuttering of neighbouring shops and the proliferation of charity shops (which many decry but CViE will not pass an opinion), betting shops are a bit like weeds in the garden. Nothing seems to kill them.
(The following is a description of what a betting shop is like – we are not advocating anyone finding out.)
When you enter a bookmakers, your senses are assaulted by the dizzying array of options – designed to draw you in. It seems as if you can place a wager on anything, and within any field of endeavour you can wager on a long list of stages leading up to the end result. There are television screens showing live events – typically these are horse or dog races as the high end items like football or international sports can be too costly to licence for viewing. Usually there will be a smattering of ‘punters’, those who may or may not have a wager on the race being watched.
While the oldest form of gambling is that type of simple wager, the placing of a bet on the outcome of a sports match or other public event, the most familiar and widespread form of gambling is the National Lottery (one of myriad choices, including EuroMillions and Instant Win games).
Yet, betting shops and lottery ticket sales offering a visible presence of gambling, are only a small percentage of the whole. In-person gambling is shrinking as a proportion of the total revenues as online gambling increases, with the Gambling Commission estimating that 11 million people bet online (increasingly by smartphones) – that may be as high as half of the activity. So, like every other vice, gambling moves on. And like every vice, its dangers have grown more subtle whilst no less destructive.
The believer is well aware of the reality of all temptation, and the seeming harmlessness of the entry into it. And the Christian knows, too, that the temptation is present in the heart of man, which is no respecter of age. Thus, with gambling, young people are just as vulnerable as adults, with statistics alleging “more than 55,000 children aged 11 to 16 addicted to gambling”.
Adults have always had a responsibility (as much as they can) to inhibit the development of unhealthy habits in young people, and it is not just Christians who can see the dangers of gambling. This gives rise to what at times seems a bit of a “pantomime” war, where people decry the impact of gambling and the government purports to do something about it, all the while permitting the endless alluring options and ubiquitous advertising that do little to help the situation.
While MPs and peers have called on the Government to introduce new gambling reforms, the Guardian reports that many are hoping for the largest changes to the running of the industry since 2005. The Government has been promising changes and was meant to present a White Paper on the issue in early 2022, yet somehow it is not surprising to learn that any gambling reform paper has been delayed. This would come at a time when it is reported that students are gambling away over £1,600 a year, leading to them missing lectures, assignment deadlines or social events. More than one in three students admitted to betting with borrowed money, with one in five using their student loan. This is despite the fact that the most common forms of their gambling would be considered at the lower end of the danger scale – National Lottery (32 per cent), online sports betting (25 per cent), online bingo (18 per cent).
Although there are calls on Government to reform gambling laws, it is often overlooked that betting and gaming tax receipts in the United Kingdom represent substantial amounts of money are shown in the following table:
| Period | Amount £ billion |
| 2000/01 | 1.5 |
| 2004/05 | 1.4 |
| 2009/10 | 1.4 |
| 2014/15 | 2.1 |
| 2019/20 | 3.0 |
| 2021/2022 | 3.1 |
Source: Statista.com
Liz Ritchie co-founded the charity ‘Gambling With Lives’ with her husband after their son took his own life. They believe he started betting when using school dinner money to play fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). “Every day at least one person takes their life because of gambling,” she said. It is not surprising to learn, however, that despite the well-publicized dangers and the age restriction of 18, young people are engaged in gambling. The proliferation of smart phones combines with a high level of exposure to gambling advertising presents a powerful temptation.
There is a vulnerability about young people – especially those with new-found freedom and student finance – and gambling firms do not have a good ‘track record’ of restraining their desire for profits. There is an interesting phrase called ‘predatory gambling’, described as the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit. It is not just young people who are considered vulnerable, as it recently came to light that deprived areas of the UK can be targeted. A recent University of Bristol study found that a fifth of all gambling premises in the UK are based in the poorest districts, and that betting shops are ten times more likely to be found in poorer areas than more affluent ones. Problem gambling is said to have cost England around £1.2 billion last year when considering wide-ranging financial harms, such as debt, family breakdown, homelessness, the burden on the NHS and unemployment. This cost also includes policing related to gambling-related crime.
Is it reasonable to think that society can take the necessary steps to address this issue? The Gambling Commission is the body that licenses and regulates the people and businesses that provide gambling in Great Britain including the National Lottery. Under the Gambling Act 2005, gambling operators must comply with the Advertising Codes, administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Codes designed to ensure that gambling adverts do not, inter alia, “exploit the susceptibilities, aspirations, credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of children, young persons or other vulnerable persons”, nor “suggest that gambling can be a solution to financial concerns” (here).
But while many see increased regulation as a way to address these issues, laws are only effective when enforced. Hopes for new laws are empty hopes as there seems to be lacking a robustness in the application and enforcement of regulations already in place. The honest observer must admit that with the endless number of options and the seemingly unlimited availability it is difficult to see how the issue can be effectively dealt with by government. Added to this is the greed that can motivate the many unlicensed gambling operators who engage in practices like “white-labelling” (The Sunday Time, June 20, 2021), where a company simply pays another company to use its licence and so can evade the usual oversight of the authorities.
What continues to lure people is that the price of a ticket or a buy-in is usually affordable and seems to be offering a fast track to financial freedom. Jackpot sums are very attractive and often equal to thousands and even millions. The possibility to get rich and instant results with fruit machines or slot machines, are attractive for players, as they offer accessibility and immediacy.
The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). As with all these things, the real issue is an issue of the heart. The options for gambling – for spending money to make money – are seemingly as endless as man’s ability to imagine them. What is easily obscured amidst the ‘excitement’ is that every form of gambling is a business and the company that takes the money exists for its own benefit. They exist to make money, and the systems in place ensure – by the application of relentless mathematics – that they do. Simply, the odds of winning are always long, and so the gambler must acknowledge that what is driving the bet isn’t the winning, it’s the playing. The ‘thrill’ of chance is very much of the flesh, and very illusory – it is a deception.
The internet offers practically any kind of gambling that someone could desire, with the added danger of being available 24/7 to anyone in the privacy of their own home where they can easily circumvent age requirements by lying about their age. Anyone who has dealt with an addict knows, too, how it is nearly impossible to restrict access to online gambling for people who know they have a gambling problem.
The stark reality is, that in an age of virtually unlimited access to gambling, there is a real danger to those who are particularly vulnerable, such as the young or the poor. The world will always look to the Government to address the problem, but the issue is much deeper than any amount of regulation can touch – “gambling preys on the longings of the heart”.
God has a better way. Next time we will consider the Christian perspective on gambling and the response of the godly to it.
