Gamblers not so anonymous

Is Britain finally getting into debt for the wrong reasons? Have we all become avid gamblers? Could we be a nation of punters playing to make our fortunes? At what point does a harmless bit of fun become something more serious? Let’s look at the list of things currently legal and commonplace in the UK, which I feel is a far more widespread range of gambling systems then anywhere else in the world.

• You buy a raffle ticket at the local school fair, with the aim of winning the bottle of Blue Nun
• You then buy 3 or 4 tickets in the tombola, and come home with a tin of Baked Beans.
• You give your £1 at the sweepstake on the Friday before the Grand National, and pick the name of a horse out of a hat.
• You take the kids into an arcade whilst at the seaside, and give them both £1 worth of 2p coins for the coin pushers, and put in a £1 of 2ps yourself.
• You pick up your Sunday paper, and scratch off the free scratch cards offering you a £2000 holiday or a new car. You phone the 09068 number to claim your prize.
• You’re in the pub on a Saturday night, and put all the pound coins in your pocket into the fruit machine at the end of the bar. You then repeatedly put the winnings back in, until you have nothing left. Then you go to the bar and change £10 for 10 £1 coins.
• You and your friends meet up for a late night game of pontoon, with a capped bet of 10 matches.
• You have a direct debit that picks random numbers for the national lottery, and any winnings are paid back into your bank account.
• Whilst getting your Sunday paper, you buy some National Lottery scratch cards, and scratch them there and then to see if you’ve got the £25,000 prize.
• You stay up late, phoning the late night quiz shows on ITV, offering your suggestion for a kind of rice. Each phone call, although not always successful in getting through, costs you £1.50.
• The kids no longer see you in the arcade, and you head for the 18 year and over sectioned off machines with the £30 jackpot. You have to borrow £5 of your son’s holiday money because you ‘miscalculated’ how much dinner would cost.
• You and your friends meet up for a late night game of poker, with a capped bet of £50
• You find yourself reading the last few pages of a newspaper more then the rest of it, working out the form of horses, and then place just a £5 accumulator on the evening’s race at Chepstow in William Hill’s on the way home.
• You pop into the local casino, because the regulars there are friendly, and you can get a drink later then pubs.
• You find yourself £1000’s in debt, on the train back from the opening of the Manchester super casino.

I don’t think I need to go on.