The ‘flutter’ that can destroy lives
YOU recently published three good articles highlighting the dangers of gambling, the most recent by Dr Max Pemberton last Saturday (Mail). The fact that 50 per cent of adults gamble regularly is, indeed, a shocking statistic. This year we are supposed to be ‘celebrating’ 25 years of the National Lottery. This legacy of John Major’s is nothing to celebrate. The gambling bug is caught at a young age, so we set our children a very bad example by queuing at Lottery terminals every week — and that’s just one form of gambling. And this when we are concerned about ‘child poverty’. Is there any wonder? Dr Max says he’s ‘no killjoy’ and that ‘it’s fine to have the occasional flutter’. But then he adds that he’s ‘seen how easily gambling can spiral into a serious problem that destroys lives and families’. It’s not OK to have the occasional flutter — because of where it can lead. There is no real ‘joy’ in having a ‘flutter’, so neither Dr Max nor the rest of us should worry about being killjoys. HOWARDASHTON, Blackwood, S. Wales.
SOMETHING has to be done about the gambling fever that is blighting our country. My son is currently serving a prison sentence — and not for the first time. He is a compulsive gambler who has lied, cheated and stolen to fund his addiction, losing two wives, two children and two homes in the process. There is help for drug users and alcoholics, also clinics for smokers trying to quit, but very little for gamblers. It is an unseen illness made worse these days with 24/7 online gambling available. My family has been torn apart because of my youngest son’s gambling which apparently started in his teens (he is now in his 50s). I am in my 80s and my health has been badly affected by the stress of everything. It is not just the gambler who suffers. This scourge must be combatted by cutting down on TV advertising for gambling sites and casinos. Simply adding at the end of each advert ‘When the fun stops, stop’ is laughable.
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