Gambling with lives at the World Cup

THE Mail today reveals how the World Cup is being exploited by online bookmakers to bombard football-mad teenagers with TV advertisements, designed to lure them into the dubious world of internet gambling.

On ITV alone, one in every five ads during match coverage will be for betting firms, many at prime viewing times for schoolchildren.

But what really sticks in the craw is that their seductive message that gambling is just harmless fun is being reinforced on Twitter by some of the BBC’s most trusted soccer pundits.

As handsomely paid ‘ambassadors’ for big online bookies, ex-internationals including Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage are cashing in on their carefully polished TV image to make betting seem normal.

What they don’t say in their chatty tweets is that gambling can destroy lives. And the young – for whom these men are significant role models – are particularly susceptible.

A recent survey showed 25,000 children between 11 and 16 are ‘problem gamblers’, with 36,000 more ‘at risk’. Campaigners say the numbers are growing and that TV and social media advertising is a major factor.

The main culprit, of course, is Tony Blair, with his disastrous Gambling Act of 2005, which allowed bookmakers to advertise before the watershed during live matches.

The Mail doesn’t want to be sanctimonious about a pastime which can give innocent pleasure to millions. Gambling is not harmful per se. Indeed, this newspaper carries bookmakers’ adverts.

But the relentless barrage of ads aimed at the young has got to be troubling, especially if it’s given a veneer of respectability by pundits employed by our national broadcaster – which is paid for by us.

This is positively wrong.