Betting firms sink to greedy new depths
DISPLAYING breath-taking cynicism, bookmakers – who claw in £14billion a year – are using gagging orders to silence punters lured into crippling addiction.
In one shameful case, Ladbrokes paid £1million in hush money to the victims of a high-roller who stole to fund his habit.
By forcing them to sign non-disclosure agreements, the betting firms conceal the dubious deals from the Gambling Commission.
Why the cover-up? Because the regulator can punish companies who break rules by profiting from customers who place huge wagers they cannot afford.
The deceit is contemptible. But why wouldn’t they deploy such tactics? After all, silencing a customer who complains of exploitation with £50,000 here, £100,000 there, is (to them) money well spent if they can wriggle out of a multi-million-pound fine.
Big-name gambling companies also keep high-spending punters hooked by handing out free holidays and tickets to major sporting events as part of ‘VIP schemes’.
In their adverts, bookmakers urge people who gamble: ‘When the fun stops, stop.’ Yet customers treated to a luxury sports trip have fun – even if they squander thousands on bets in the process.
Shockingly, there are 480,000 serious gambling addicts in Britain. As many as two people every day take their lives because of their addiction. And a damning survey found 55,000 children were ‘problem gamblers’.
If there were doubts about the pernicious consequences of Labour’s 2005 Gambling Act, surely they are dispelled now.
Under Tony Blair’s free-for-all, betting firms could bombard fans with adverts during live matches, luring them into internet gambling.
Firms claim to be taking action, including curbs on adverts which entrap the most vulnerable in society. But this appears to be tinkering.
The Mail is not sanctimonious about a pastime which gives pleasure to millions. But when the stakes are debt, family breakdown and homelessness, irresponsible betting companies should display moral fibre – and stop gambling with people’s lives.