"‘Free bets’ encourage harmful addiction and can have severe consequences. My loving husband developed a gambling addiction after placing a ‘free bet’. This consequently led to him to apply for loans that he could not pay back. He tragically took his own life 4 months later.
My husband developed a gambling addiction. We managed to pay off his gambling debts and he kept his addiction at bay for almost 2 years. We have 2 children and he loved his family dearly. During lockdown, he had been furloughed and whilst I was at work and the children were in school, he was sent a ‘free bet’. From that day onwards, he gambled everyday and quickly lost control. He took his own life on 22nd April 2021." https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/587806
My older son has a number of friends who gamble online, and participate in day trading. Not personally felt the attraction but then again I never tried certain class A drugs because I suspected I’d like them too much…
getting entrapped is likely very easy, and inducements are immoral, pure and simple. I wish the petitioners well but there’s a thick stack of vested interests to overcome.
It was noticeable how horse racing lobby manipulated opinion, and politicians, throughout the scamdemic which we’re supposedly still “in the middle” of. Weren’t several leading figures including Hancock mixed up with this lobby?
As well as this there’s the overarching ideology to contend with: everybody could be a millionaire so everybody’s gotta try (HT Matt Johnson).
It’s what happens when the accumulation of material things becomes more important than any other value…property is not theft, theft is theft…it’s why I’m Schumachian… and the alcohol, gambling and pro-sport lobbies are some of the worst thieves of all…