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Child Item

How big a problem is gambling in Ireland?

Kermit.de.frog

Had reason to drop in to a betting shop last week and thought it was a bit sad seeing the sheer numbers in there with warped eyes fixed on the betting screens and other delights.

The thing is most of them were young men and quite a few of them, i'd hazard a guess by their appearance, probably in low paid work or not working at all. They did not seem like the types just dropping in for a quick bet.

I know of one family that has been ripped apart by compulsive gambling on behalf of one member who blew everything, destroyed his life and is now homeless. I suppose the gambling places don't give a sh!t and why would they? They make plenty of dosh out of misery.

I'm just thinking perhaps we need more regulation of gambling holes in this country? They are so cynical too in the methods used to exploit the vulnerable. They are often situated in numbers around pubs for example so you get the alcoholic and the gambler.

I have never gambled but I do despise the culture they promote, their methods and the real consequences and I think we have a real serious issue in Ireland that is not being discussed like it should be - like smoking or alcohol for example.

And before the "it's only a minority, why punish everyone" - I get the argument - all I am suggesting is more regulation, not stopping people. I believe if someone has a visible problem the onus should be on the betting shop to tell that person enough is enough - same with a bar man for an insanely drunk customer.

Just sayin.

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ohbygod

kfallon wrote: »

Jesus, brave man/woman! I know you are looking out for them but I know how quickly certain punters can turn nasty on staff

Yes guys can turn nasty but they soon realise that u did it for a good reason

muppetkiller

I had a massive Gambling problem too and only in recovery now.
Lost every penny I had chasing that big win, only to win it and lose it all again.
The biggest issue I have is that Gambling is everywhere now. There are Bookies all over Galway. Every Street you turn to there are 2 or 3. They now open at 9am too which is madness and close at 9pm. There simply is no escape if you are an Addict. I think they should implement a simple ID CARD facility where you can only bet if you have your card. And those who have decided to call it a day can simply cut up their card and inform some Bookmakers body that they no longer wish to Gamble. This would prevent problem gamblers from obtaining new cards and also allows regular punters to continue to gamble.
It should also be banned from Sporting Events along with half-time live better ads etc. Too easy to get your kids interested.

SEPT 23 1989

ohbygod wrote: »

I work in a betting office and ive offen refused guys bet if i think there betting too much

amounts or frequency?

ohbygod

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

amounts or frequency?

Amounts. I hate seeing a bookie win

ancapailldorcha

mdwexford wrote: »

Well that's the key.

Using things in moderation is the way to go for anything.
Personally I have drugs/alcohol/smoking in a different bracket to gambling because they directly affect health but I do drink myself so I'm not looking down on those people or anything.

Excess of any of the above will certainly cause issues.

I used to work in a betting shop and I've seen a portion of people who weren't able to do it in moderation and how it turned out for them which is why I'd be inclined to treat it in the same manner as cannabis and other "soft drugs".

Backstreet Moyes

ohbygod wrote: »

I work in a betting office and ive offen refused guys bet if i think there betting too much

I don't believe you for two reasons.

You have no right to do that once the person is of legal age and has money.

You would lose your job fairly fast if your boss finds out your turning away customers.

folan

Nuts102 wrote: »

I don't believe you for two reasons.

You have no right to do that once the person is of legal age and has money.

You would lose your job fairly fast if your boss finds out your turning away customers.

1) the right to refuse service.
2) potentially. unless the boss has stated it (barring people from bookies is more common than you think)

diomed

The people who disapprove of gambling are the types who will borrow €500k+ to buy a house, and/or make million euro decisions with other people's money.
I believe we need more people who can assess situations, not less.

Grayson

I read an article that suggested that up to 1/3 of people who bet online are addicted to gambling.

There was a girl I grew up with who married a gambler. She had no idea at the time. It was only after a couple of years that she found out. His whole family knew before they got married. They'd been covering up for years. Apparently he had loans going into the hundreds of thousands that his family had co-signed for him. She found out when the house that she had bought before they had married, but was now their joint property, was being repossessed. She left him and who can blame her.

Gambling's nasty. Unlike other addictions which are physical and generally show some outward physical symptoms, gambling is so easy to hide. It just eats away at families.

Not to say it's not fun to pay a couple of quid to play the lotto or pay a tenner to buy into a poker game, but it can get out of hand so fast. There should be limits on bets that can be placed, but the number of buts and the monetary amount.

Grayson

diomed wrote: »

The people who disapprove of gambling are the types who will borrow €500k+ to buy a house, and/or make million euro decisions with other people's money.
I believe we need more people who can assess situations, not less.

Want to back that up? Buying a 500k house is no riskier than buying a 100k or even a 1 million euro house if you have the right earnings and savings and you aren't over extending yourself.

K-9

mdwexford wrote: »

Yes because taking drugs which damage your health and are illegal and having a bet or a game of poker are the same thing.

Oh wait, they aren't even close.

Ah come on, gambling when taken to addiction levels can be extremely destructive too. Many who know stuff about addiction would argue it's one of the worst types.

folan

Grayson wrote: »

Not to say it's not fun to pay a couple of quid to play the lotto or pay a tenner to buy into a poker game, but it can get out of hand so fast. There should be limits on bets that can be placed, but the number of buts and the monetary amount.

the issue is that regulated markets (italy for example) have had so much trouble with illegal gambling that even imposing limits can be very troublesome, and make existing illegal gambling seem the easier option.

mdwexford

K-9 wrote: »

Ah come on, gambling when taken to addiction levels can be extremely destructive too. Many who know stuff about addiction would argue it's one of the worst types.

Yes if you run up tons of debt which you cannot pay back.

I'd still prefer it to drug or alcohol addiction though because at least you aren't damaging your health.

Of course sometimes these go hand in hand and a lot of the guys that are in the bookies every day are nipping in from the pub to do bets.

Backstreet Moyes

folan wrote: »

1) the right to refuse service.
2) potentially. unless the boss has stated it (barring people from bookies is more common than you think)

What right does he/she have to refuse service. If an adult comes in with cash and is doing nothing wrong then you can't refuse to serve them. If an obese person goes into the shop buying a 6 pack of crisps does the employee have the right to refuse because they feel sorry them being fat no they don't.

I know barring people from the bookies is common enough yes for abusing staff, for abusing customers, but seriously are you trying to tell me you can refuse somebody because you feel sorry for them.

No boss would stand for an employee allowing a staff member refuse somebody because they are losing to much.

Why well

Why would the boss want to refuse money coming into the business.
An addict will not thank you but react angrily causing a disturbance for other customers.
Word of mouth would put people off going into a shop where they might be refused because a staff member refusing bets for no good reason.

He/she is lying because if they were doing this they would be out the door so quick for losing business customers and income.

ohbygod

Management has the right to refuse without giving a reason.

folan

Nuts102 wrote: »

What right does he/she have to refuse service. If an adult comes in with cash and is doing nothing wrong then you can't refuse to serve them. If an obese person goes into the shop buying a 6 pack of crisps does the employee have the right to refuse because they feel sorry them being fat no they don't.

I know barring people from the bookies is common enough yes for abusing staff, for abusing customers, but seriously are you trying to tell me you can refuse somebody because you feel sorry for them.

No boss would stand for an employee allowing a staff member refuse somebody because they are losing to much.

Why well

Why would the boss want to refuse money coming into the business.
An addict will not thank you but react angrily causing a disturbance for other customers.
Word of mouth would put people off going into a shop where they might be refused because a staff member refusing bets for no good reason.

He/she is lying because if they were doing this they would be out the door so quick for losing business customers and income.

wow, that sounds like a ****ty place to work. I wouldnt work there. Boss sounds like a dick.

ancapailldorcha

Barring customers in a betting shop? The only time my place even considered this was when 2 female members of staff were threatened with violence and the Gardaí got involved. The guy never appeared again thankfully. I had to put up with anything from rudeness to threats. I've never worked in any place as depressing in my life to be honest. Betting shops are just dens of misery in my experience.

Shanotheslayer

In regards to the person who refused somebody from betting. If I was refused I would be raging. Say I came into a bit of money and decided **** it €1k on so and so to win. And it won but you refused my bet. What happens then? I'd be livid.

ancapailldorcha

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

In regards to the person who refused somebody from betting. If I was refused I would be raging. Say I came into a bit of money and decided **** it €1k on so and so to win. And it won but you refused my bet. What happens then? I'd be livid.

If the best is on, they have to pay it unless they can prove it violated the rules in which case it should not be accepted.

MUFC91CS

If people want to gamble then let them. I genuinely don't see why changes should be made to an industry that creates thousands of jobs and provides people with entertainment just because some people do it to excess.

Backstreet Moyes

folan wrote: »

wow, that sounds like a ****ty place to work. I wouldnt work there. Boss sounds like a dick.

No it's called the real world. Any boss who see's an employee causing a business to lose money would fire them on the spot.

Not some fantasy land where an employee can decide to refuse somebody because they feel sorry for them.

Backstreet Moyes

ohbygod wrote: »

Management has the right to refuse without giving a reason.

You said your an employee so i don't see what point you are making here. Unless you ring your boss to confirm you want to refuse somebody because you feel sorry for them.

ohbygod

Im co owner

Germancarfan

Deleted User wrote: »

I think bets are taxed anyway. I remember years ago adding 10p to my bet for tax when I was a young fella
I think the bookies just waive it these days, or maybe its abolished?

it does exist (called bettign duty) , the bookie covers the cost at point of bet placement in most cases. It's 1% presently.

Backstreet Moyes

ohbygod wrote: »

Yes guys can turn nasty but they soon realise that u did it for a good reason

This is clearly gives it away you are making things up. No addict is going to soon realise you done them a favor. You refusing them a bet is going to make them see the light maybe in a nice dream. The reality is they will get angry and aggressive resulting in them and customers being put off going into the shop. I can only imagine the anger if the selection they wanted to back won.

Germancarfan

muppetkiller wrote: »

I had a massive Gambling problem too and only in recovery now.
Lost every penny I had chasing that big win, only to win it and lose it all again.
The biggest issue I have is that Gambling is everywhere now. There are Bookies all over Galway. Every Street you turn to there are 2 or 3. They now open at 9am too which is madness and close at 9pm. There simply is no escape if you are an Addict. I think they should implement a simple ID CARD facility where you can only bet if you have your card. And those who have decided to call it a day can simply cut up their card and inform some Bookmakers body that they no longer wish to Gamble. This would prevent problem gamblers from obtaining new cards and also allows regular punters to continue to gamble.
It should also be banned from Sporting Events along with half-time live better ads etc. Too easy to get your kids interested.

good idea except a lot of retail punters want to remain anonymous. Hence why the channel is still alive in a thriving online period

diomed

Grayson wrote: »

Want to back that up? Buying a 500k house is no riskier than buying a 100k or even a 1 million euro house if you have the right earnings and savings and you aren't over extending yourself.

Buying a €500k house is riskier than buying a €100k house, and less risky than buying a €1 million house.

I tried suggesting to someone in 2006 that buying a €500k house with a 100% mortgage was not sensible.
My point is most people are not practiced in assessing situations. They often make financial decisions based on emotion, decisions made without any practice making smaller financial decisions. They have no idea of how markets can fluctuate, or how interest rates can change. My attitude is a little experience of uncertainty, of gains and losses, can alert people to the need to assess.

There is a mentality that all gambling is for the challenged, but people expect businesses provide them with a living, businesses that are gambles by others. Some experience in assessing situations is helpful, and that is gained by experience.

I invest in shares, and gamble.

seamus

I wonder how many people actually gamble in this country, and whether there's some social or cultural niche thing.

What I mean is, I have never met anyone who has said that they spend any time whatsoever in a bookies. As far as I can tell the closest most people come to any form of gambling is the once-a-year attempt at betting on the grand national, the random work do at the greyhound races and the odd lotto ticket.

I once worked with a girl who had previously worked in a bookies. That's the only person I can think of who ever said they'd spent more than ten minutes in a bookies.

Maybe I'm the exception? Or maybe people just don't talk about it? I don't know a single person who bets on the horses. Yet the country seems to be pouring obscene amounts of money into it. Who actually does it?

forgotten password

RayM wrote: »

I'll bet you €50 that it's not a problem at all.

raise you to 175 that it is

foggy_lad

There is always going to be some poor misguided soul who will tell you about the big win when he took a grand off some bookie with a super yanky deluxe or some other random bet, no doubt he will be able to take out an otherwise empty wallet and produce the ticket from 8, 12 or 20 years ago!

He will tell about how it felt to stick it to the man and how the lads in the bookies shop all cheered as the cashier counted out the winnings. About how for one short moment he was no longer just another donkey but was like a boss when he walked into the bar and called a round.

No mention of the hundreds of thousands the same person will feed into gambling in their lifetime or of the Christmas eves when they went home without a pot to piss in after putting Santa Claus and the Christmas food shopping across the counter. But they already know and will tell you that it is a mugs game and the only winner is the bookies!