Lowering the addiction odds

There’s slim chance, really almost no chance, of winning Lotto, but people keep doing it. Gambling, that is, despite almost impossible odds. In fact, the likelihood of winning New Zealand Lotto’s Powerball is about one in 38 million. The phrases ‘‘snowflake in hell’’ and ‘‘when pigs fly’’ spring to mind.

But whatever our collective obsession, or let’s say dream, of winning Lotto, it’s nothing compared to the frenzy that exists around gambling in Britain, where I’ve just been.

The millions put into marketing gambling mean it’s pretty much wall-to-wall promotion over there. You can bet your shirt on anything, at any time.

Want a flutter? You can bet on the gender of some celebrity’s unborn child, the colour of the outfit the Queen will wear to Ascot horse races, when alien life will be proved to exist, the date and weight of Prince Harry and Meghan’s first-born child, whether it will be a white Christmas and, of course, millions of variants of sporting outcomes.

You can literally come up with something you’d like to bet on and you’ll find a bookie somewhere who will give you odds.

The options for parting you from your money are truly endless and it’s pushed at you constantly.

Since legislation over advertising relaxed in 2008, there’s been a 65 per cent increase in TV advertising.

Gambling companies take about £15 billion (NZ$29.5b) from their customers each year, so they’re clearly fighting hard to get market share and the government makes billions in taxes.

With the boom in popularity of gambling apps, more than half of those gambling in the UK now do it online via a mobile or tablet, up from 43 per cent at the end of 2016.

It’s probably no surprise that more than two million Brits are estimated to be problem gamblers, or at risk of addiction.

It’s getting so bad that the Labour Party has just pledged that if it is elected next time round, it will ban gambling ads during live sports games and the use of credit cards to place bets, among other things.

It’s been a joy to get back here and see nothing more than the odd benign ad for Lotto.

Along with smoking and gun ownership, I’m pretty sure that gambling should not be encouraged here.

Personally, I occasionally succumb to buying a Lotto ticket, go to the races about once every five years and place the odd bet on the Melbourne Cup. That seems like quite enough for me.

Quite seriously, I think I’d soon develop a bad habit if I got started. I downloaded the CandyCrush game app while I was travelling to give me something to do to while away the hours while stuck on planes, buses and trains.

I became obsessed and started playing it whenever I could. After a few weeks, I deleted the app and I’m back to relying on my book or a podcast for entertainment.

While it’s not the only game in town, Lotto is the most popular form of gambling in New Zealand after ‘‘pokie’’ machines.

In the past three years, the Lotteries Commission’s marketing budget has increased by $10m and it’s looking for new ‘‘products’’ to launch to encourage us to play and spend more.

That trend towards more marketing to encourage us to gamble is ominous.

Whatever the odds, let’s hope the chance of the Government relaxing legislation and us seeing more gambling ads is low.

1. What is notable about the house at 12 Fife Lane in the Wellington suburb of Miramar?

2. Carl Dean, owner of an asphaltlaying company in Tennessee, is married to what celebrity?

3. Krispy Kreme is a multinational brand of what?

4. What city in New South Wales shares its name with one in the northeast of England?

5. In which national park would you find the Murchison Mountains?

6. What Hollywood celebrity was