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Meanwhile, there are still some even bigger mugs who think that Betting Chains actually have any interest or care in what happens to horse racing in this country.
Quite frankly, at £40,000 a machine and no Levy why would they care a jot?
As long as you can mechanically shaft the vulnerable for huge amounts, horse racing looks like too much time, effort and hassle for a lot less reward.
Mike
Indeed Mike, but there are some people on here who uphold the bookmakers as giving the punter freedom of choice and help make horse racing in the UK the "finest" in the world. The real truth is that they are parasites sucking the lifeblood out of a sport so that is moribund, but never going far enough to kill it off completely.
Could horse racing survive without gambling, without any income at all from betting how would racing be affected?
It’s like the smoking ban in a way or the whip ban, first we must stop FOBTs as people can’t help themselves stop, then when people divert their money to fruit machines, ban them, then scratchcards and the lottery and all forms of gambling to protect people from themselves.
In fifty years time we will have outlawed completely, even in private, smoking, drinking, gambling and over-eating, to protect people from themselves.
Then it will be leaving your own home, as that will be considered too dangerous.
Most people who use them aren’t addicted, just possibly misguided. As has been said, the Lottery has a massive take out, winning a million or two on a 14 million to one chance. Appalling value. These FOBTs aren’t the only form of gambling with a big take out (profit) built in.
Some people "betting" on FOBTs enjoy it, knowing they have NO chance of making a profit and aren’t addicted. Just as many people bet on horse racing (without studying) enjoy it, knowing they have NO chance of making a profit and aren’t addicted.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with FOBTs in bookmakers, they are licenced betting shops after all.
Drinking destroys far more lives than FOBTs. Doesn’t mean we should ban alcohol from pubs.
Those that do get in to problems from gambling, drinking or any other addiction should receive our sympathy and get help if they want it. Some people on here who seem to look down their noses at FOBT users should remember, it is possible to get addicted to gambling on horses. I’ve often thought some like moaning about jockeys poor rides, trainers being bent etc a little too much. Portraying the "blaming others for their own mistakes", associated with many gambling problems; in the same way as those thinking FOBTs are "fixed".
Value Is EverythingIndeed Mike, but there are some people on here who uphold the bookmakers as giving the punter freedom of choice and help make horse racing in the UK the "finest" in the world. The real truth is that they are parasites sucking the lifeblood out of a sport so that is moribund, but never going far enough to kill it off completely.
Here we go,
Here we go again.
Here we go,
I just can not pretend.
Here we go,
She’s off again.
Value Is EverythingPerhaps the iteration was misplaced, but the continual relaxation of laws limiting the betting chains’ means of enticing the unsuspecting public by various governments is something that shows what a massive influence the gambling lobby has in the corridors of power. The old legislation was in place to protect the public from itself, so when it was jokingly suggested that gamblers might sue for being mis-sold "hope", their case would probably be stronger than some of the spurious claims that the compensation culture has seen submitted.
Most people who use them aren’t addicted, just possibly misguided.
Massively disagree. And then some.
FOBTs should be banned .. this isn’t new news it’s just what gambleaware and all the rest of them have been saying since the racket first started.
These things ’cause’ gambling addition, fact.
I almost laughed when I read about this jerk pumping money into a machine and then crying.
I can imagine you did.
Tell me, were you laughing at his misfortune or your innate superiority over him?
Was it the
schadenfreude
of his misery that made you so amused or the unblemished perfection of your own life?
Remember, all you need is ignorance and confidence and success is assured.** You sound
very
successful to me.
Mike
**Not sure who first said this but I doubt it was from a derivitive mobster flick
I laughed at the absurdity of his behaviour. It is
absurd
. I don’t feel superior to the jerk at all. I’m addicted to quite a few things, but they are not unreasonable things to be addicted to. I am addicted to drink, sex, the Turf, good food,etc. But these things are reasonable, they deliver, *mostly*. They are not a BLATANT con, they give something straightaway, be it aesthetically or whatever. To become addicted to a FOBT is like becoming addicted to banging your head against a brick wall.
It’s stupid, and if we didn’t live in a culture addicted to finding ‘victims’, it wouldn’t matter.
OF COURSE the bookies who run these things are scum. OF COURSE! But the world is full of shysters. There were shysters taking bets on the chariot races in Rome 2000 years ago. And there they are today.
The important point is that you don’t arrange society around protecting idiots from themselves. Because that way lies the hyper controlled nanny state. As the philosopher Edmund Burke said: the less control from within meand the more must be applied from without ie just because a few jerks can’t run their lives properly it in’t worth creating a semi totalitarian state. I mean, where does it end? Ban pubs cos there are alcoholics?
Let’s be sensible, please.There were shysters taking bets on the chariot races in Rome 2000 years ago. And there they are today.
At least bookies have roughly a 130% overround nowadays as well. I’ve read tweets from reliable sources that say Caeser’s bookie was running at 250%.
Could horse racing survive without gambling, without any income at all from betting how would racing be affected?
http://www.nationalsteeplechase.com/new … #more-3771
The problem with outright banning slot machines, roulette, etc. is that horse racing inevitably follows. There are as many gambling addicts at the racetrack as the casinos. I know many of you like to play poker, and that’s also on the cutting table.
I don’t feel superior to the jerk at all.
Hmmm…
Mike
What a wonderfully comprehensive answer.
There were shysters taking bets on the chariot races in Rome 2000 years ago. And there they are today.
At least bookies have roughly a 130% overround nowadays as well. I’ve read tweets from reliable sources that say Caeser’s bookie was running at 250%.
Roman Centurion: I’ll have 50 sestertii on Dettorix.
Bookie: OK.
RC: Ooh, actually can I have that each-way?
Bookie: I’ll have you thrown to the lions if you keep on, son!There were shysters taking bets on the chariot races in Rome 2000 years ago. And there they are today.
At least bookies have roughly a 130% overround nowadays as well. I’ve read tweets from reliable sources that say Caeser’s bookie was running at 250%.
Roman Centurion: I’ll have 50 sestertii on Dettorix.
Bookie: OK.
RC: Ooh, actually can I have that each-way?
Bookie: I’ll have you thrown to the lions if you keep on, son!Mind you, each way paid a third in ancient rome’s chariot races. Ladbrokes stopped that. Ain’t you read Cicero’s book on the subject? ‘A Licence to Print Sestertii’
To echo Miss Woodford, all those who are getting carried away with the babbling flock need to realise that any draconian gambling measure will drag the Turf in as well. This is because the Political Class
cannot tell the difference between one form of gambling and another
.
We saw this the other week when some thinktank had the bright (ish) idea of teaching schoolchildren about the odds in gambling and also racing form. Harriet Harman the great socialist, went berserk. She seemed to think racing was a game of total chance, no different to find the lady etc.This is thread that comes down to one distinction: the difference between liberty and license. We are all at liberty to pump FOTBs full of 20 pound notes. Most of us don’t because it’s utterly stupid. If government were to impose gambling controls we are suddenly merely licensed to spend a limited amount of cash. This is a small point but with wider implications. Many on the political left would like to see ever deeper state interference in personal liberty. They want to tell you what do because they think they know better. They may know better than our crying FOBT addict. But they don’t know better than us, do they?
In the next 20 years racing is going to be severely battered by health and safety, revenue rows, foreign competition from robust asian markets, emigrant bookmakers and animal rights. The last thing it needs is any puritanical drive to control gambling in this country. Let the jerks ruin themselves. It is an indication we are free to do as we see fit.
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