primetime rte1 now

sendic

primetime just started on rte 1. at the moment theyre talking about drug problems but they said that later on in the program they will be talking about online gambling problems in ireland.

might be interesting. then again it is rte...

hotspur

Wasn't bad actually.

sendic

anyone else see it?

basically it consisted of how easy it is to gamble online, paddy power talking it up and some dude from a law firm (goodbodys?) talking about how the 1958 act needs to be updated.

they interviewed someone called Darragh Fanning who plays poker online. does he post here?

At the end they interviewed a Prof Peter Collins who was a consultant for the British government when they were preparing their new gambling bill. he was actually very level headed, completely opposed to banning gambling and admitted that 95% of all gambling is harmless and under control.

apparently the yearly european turnover from gambling is something like 135 billion.

DubTony

Link

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0216/primetime.html

Lafortezza

I didn't like the way they lumped poker in with the horses/dogs, blackjack/roulette and other gambling.

gosplan

Totally agree with the blackjack roulette, but I think there can be a lot of skill/knowledge to horse/dog betting.

Most people lose at it, as do most people that play poker but the ones who know what they're doing just wait and pick the best spots to gamble. Basically instead of pitting yourself against other players you're pitting yourself against the bookies.
I never bet on anythign like this as I know for a fact that paddy power is better at selecting odds then me so I'll always be getting the worst of it. However if you really know what you're doing you'd be able to spot slip up's by the bookies where you get the best odds.
(Admittedly you'd have to live eat and sleep racing)

DeVore

Gross scare tactic piece with 0 real content. Focusing on one person who has a gambling addiction and then tossing in poker along with shadowy camera work and dark threatening music said more then all the fair reportage and indepth analysis could have. They took the easy option but thats all I've expected from our media for some time now.

I await with baited breath the expose on drink related deaths in Ireland in the same manner. Frightening statistics exist for this activity (1-in-4 deaths of young men in Europe are as a result of alcohol, http://www.vhi.ie/news/n210201a.jsp) but instead its easy to criticise people who just want a game of cards and make us out to be desperate gamblers. The problem exists, theres no denying it but proportion in reportage is needed. If we rationed air time in relation to severity of the problems, poker would never be mentioned.

I've had my bankroll wiped out by a river card. I've never seen it wipe out a family of 4.

DeV.

hotspur

DeVore wrote:

Gross scare tactic piece with 0 real content. Focusing on one person who has a gambling addiction and then tossing in poker along with shadowy camera work and dark threatening music said more then all the fair reportage and indepth analysis could have. They took the easy option but thats all I've expected from our media for some time now.
DeV.

"Your tears say more than real evidence ever could?"

I didn't think that it was as bad as that now, I thought it focused more on the regulation issue and gave plenty of airtime to the Paddy Power communication's guy who told us all that actually having gambling online allowed them to better identify and get help for problem gamblers
Virtually all television current affairs and newspapers focus on negatives in society no matter what they are dealing with, and I thought that they could have done a *much* harsher hachet job if they wanted to. I wish they had had the insight and balls to attack the real and only significant disgrace in relation to gambling in this country which is the total lack of help for, or even recognition of, the large numbers of gambling addicts.
I think I'll play that sinister music next time I play a cash table, it'll make the river more sensational.