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I watched the news and was horrified at some of the inaccurate comments. Here are some:
– Online gambling is illegal in the US (they did not mention proposed laws, but were adament that it is already illegal.
– Any promotion for online gambling is illegal in the UK.
– The number of gambling problems doubled because the number of hits on the GamCare website doubled. :unhappy: Not even unique visitors, but hits!
And to think this came from one of the most respected news teams in the world!!!
It was in the papers this morning as well and I can definitely say that it had a very negative slant.
I would be surprised if this type of reporting did not hurt us.
To be honest I think it may have doubled as the industry is growing rapidly as well – which is essentially what they are moaning about. If the access to alcohol had rapidly increased over the last year you would expect to see a significant increase in the number of addicts so I don´t really understand what all the fuzz is about.
I agree with you Goldfinger that there really shouldn’t be any fuss about this as had the tv report been fair and clear it would have said that the number of people contacting GamCare was probably due to the rise in the number of online gamblers, but as Coke pointed out, the report wasn’t exactly accurate in places and so this wasn’t made very clear.
This is my take on the whole situation.
The day before all this stuff about problem gambling started appearing on the BBC site they did a lot of coverage on thousands of people falling into debt in the UK. I believe there is a fear that with so many people getting into financial trouble that things might start coming undone soon (I have always thought they would but it looks like it is taking longer then I had imagined).
At the same time as everyone getting into lots of debt through credit cards, poker + gambling has grown immensly. Therefore exaserbating the problem.
I think that you will see a lot more coverage on different reasons why we are in debt over the next few weeks. I also think that another reason for the stories is because of the announcement about the Super Casino’s that will be appearing in the UK.
I fail to understand how a bundle of super casino’s will help any community? … ohhh it creates employment… How stupid of me.
To some up… I have read a bunch of articles by the BBC relating to gambling and Poker and I find a lot of their information a little lacking. It seems as if they do not talk to enough varying people about the situation and do not have an indepth enough knowledge about how it all really works.
just my 2 centimes.
You sound like the BBC is usually accurate in their reporting and now your surprised, especially when it come to anything to do with the US.
Thank you all for your thoughts and comments!
pitboss_igg – I have no idea what you’re suggesting!!
I read today that online gambling revenues are about $12 billion.
The entire US economy in 2005 was $12.4 trillion (CIA factbook).
If every dollar of online revenue came from the US, $12 billion in $12 Trillion is $1 of of every $1000 in the econonmy.
Since only 50-70% of the revs are from US, say only $1 of every $1800 in the US economy is spent gambling online.
Hardly a big deal for the economy, but bad enough for addicts.
In contrast, Anheuser-Busch sells $15 billion in beer each year. Our whole industry outsold by 1 company.
That is, well…..a sobering thought.
