A recent report has stated that approximately more than half a million Britons suffer from a gambling problem. However, this report went largely unnoticed in the country where gambling and sports betting have attained enormous levels of acceptance and tolerance in the status quo. This is also fuelled by the people who are appealed to the ideas of liberality and free will along with the scope of freedom of individual choice who, however, constantly overlook the adverse effects of the problem on the gamblers and their friends and relatives. The liberals justify themselves by saying that the choice of these people is their own problem as they weren’t compelled to gamble by anyone else by themselves. It is by the same logic that there has been no restraint on the growth of the gambling industry and its casinos and betting sites.
The situation is so drastic now that school children often pass through several gambling and betting shops on their way to school. Even sports commentary is full of frequent references to live betting odds to lure even more people into gambling on the teams. While most of the population looks on this problem with indifference, it is actually a very sorry state of affairs that the Britons find themselves in. Most of them are moderate gamblers who mainly place bets online or on the telephone or those who buy an odd lottery ticket. However, there also exists the other section of the population which has been thrown into a world of darkness and with a bleak future by the advent of these bookmakers cum mini casinos which operate in every nook and corner. According to a government survey the average problem gambler is an unemployed male coming from a poor background.
The picture of masses of working class men betting on horses at a bookmaker has been long outdated. The betting today happens through touchscreen terminals which offer bets up to 100 Pounds on casino games that take place at far greater frequency and speed than horse races. It is thus not a fair reflection of the problem of gambling in Britons to say that it was their choice, it is also because of the fact that they were given this choice when they weren’t in a position to practice it in the first place.
