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UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

theguardian.com

41–50 of 103 posts

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#41
post #33

I'm in the UK and have been applying for dev jobs over the last six months. I've had at least five approaches from recruiters representing gambling companies. They seem to have a lot of money to spend on salaries, and promise experience of languages like Go, and also ML, data science, etc. I always give them the same answer: no. I don't work for parasites. I remember the time before the Blair government unwisely dere…

I hate them, but I'd probably work for them. There's a lot to hate about places like big tech, finance, energy, and basically every other sector. It would probably soul crushing, but so is my current job.

My opinion is that gambling crushes other people's souls. I'm not going to do that.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#42
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a Midwest state that allows gambling completely unrestricted, including apps where you just give a credit card and press a slot machine button and (inevitably) lose all your money. I also watch the local news each morning as part of my morning routine. It’s utterly ridiculous how many gambling ads are on tv now. Like outside of election season with political ads, it feels like 9 in 10 ads are for some gambl…

Not sure of your location, but it seems many rural areas have turned completely to vice. It seems every other new business is a smoke shop, dispensary, bar, tattoo parlor, etc. Many other businesses are shutting down, like bowling alleys, hobby related stores, etc. And gambling has been added to some that stick around, including stuff like "skills based" games. But the most obviously bad change I've seen is the drugs…

I think heavy drug use is more a symptom of hopelessness than the other way round

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#43
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a Midwest state that allows gambling completely unrestricted, including apps where you just give a credit card and press a slot machine button and (inevitably) lose all your money. I also watch the local news each morning as part of my morning routine. It’s utterly ridiculous how many gambling ads are on tv now. Like outside of election season with political ads, it feels like 9 in 10 ads are for some gambl…

Is there anywhere I could watch a livestream of this kind of channel? I would like to get a feeling for just how bad it is. I live in a country where betting and advertising of betting is legal. I don't like it, but it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad here and what you're describing.

I second this request. The words all make sense, but seeing would be useful.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#44
post #33

I'm in the UK and have been applying for dev jobs over the last six months. I've had at least five approaches from recruiters representing gambling companies. They seem to have a lot of money to spend on salaries, and promise experience of languages like Go, and also ML, data science, etc. I always give them the same answer: no. I don't work for parasites. I remember the time before the Blair government unwisely dere…

I hate them, but I'd probably work for them. There's a lot to hate about places like big tech, finance, energy, and basically every other sector. It would probably soul crushing, but so is my current job.

I don't think me hating my current job would make me more willing to work on products that have a very real, measurable harm to the population as a whole, just for some more money.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#45
post #21

I've never made a bet before, on an app or in a betting shop and have no inclination to ever do so. However, in the UK I'm bombarded with gambling (bingo and 'games') advertisements on daytime TV aimed at trying to convince me it's actually in some way fun to pittle away my money. Then if I watch anything after 10pm on a UK streaming service or live advertising funded TV, I'm absolutely battered with endless gambling…

It's pretty rampant in the US too. I don't think a little gambling is bad, but the endless ads are a huge problem. They should really make all advertising of commonly addictive stuff banned - gambling, alcohol, etc. They should also do a better job of educating kids in school about the dangers and tricks. They were going you $100+ to open an account, or doing a deposit match up to $1k here. It's exactly what drug dea…

I think sports betting is obnoxious and stupid but I do worry about this moral policing some seem to want to do.

The people I know losing money to online sports betting are the same people who thought they were going to become pro online poker grinders 15 years ago.

If you got rid of online sports betting they would go play slots at the casino more and waste their money on the lottery.

If you get rid of all games of chance for money, there is a good % of people who will find a way to squander their savings somehow.

If anything, people I know waste far more money going out to eat than sports betting.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#46
Once again, we see that deceptive marketing is one of the great legal evils.

Their marketing department assuredly pulled long hours carefully and intentionally crafting statements meant to cause the recipient to believe something false or at the very least different than what they actually believe, i.e. deception. They almost certainly ran focus groups verifying that their targets would, in fact, believe the untrue things they wanted them to believe that would enrich themselves.

In court they will say: "Technically, your honor, the words used could, in the most contrived and worst of all possible universes, actually mean something true; so our deliberate and intentional actions to make sure that they would be misinterpreted by our victims can not be held against us." If you carefully crafted a statement and verified its reception and interpretation, and only after it has been misinterpreted as intended then claim that "technically, your honor..." you should be guilty of false advertising or equivalent. You had plenty of opportunity to make sure that the standard interpretation of your statements would be accurate, but you intentionally chose to make it deceptive for your own enrichment.

The more time, money, and effort spent on a message, the more accurate, truthful, and only unintentionally misinterpretable to your benefit it should be. All of that effort now spent on focus grouping how to make it intentionally deceptive must instead be focused on making it intentionally truthful. This would reward true, accurate, and helpful marketing that seeks to inform at the cost of hampering false, deceptive, misleading marketing seeking to separate society from its money for garbage or actively harmful products and services.

"Technically, your honor..." should be met with "Go directly to jail".

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#47
post #31

I've never made a bet before, on an app or in a betting shop and have no inclination to ever do so. However, in the UK I'm bombarded with gambling (bingo and 'games') advertisements on daytime TV aimed at trying to convince me it's actually in some way fun to pittle away my money. Then if I watch anything after 10pm on a UK streaming service or live advertising funded TV, I'm absolutely battered with endless gambling…

I'm glad it's not just me that's noticed this. I thought it was targeted advertising because I also see lots of 'old people adverts' :) It's horrific really. I change channels as soon as one of those adverts come on. Premier League football teams are sponsored by them, and I suppose F1 cars probably are as well. But not cigarettes. Then again, I've never seen cigarettes ruin an entire family and for them to end up in…

> Then again, I've never seen cigarettes ruin an entire family and for them to end up in financial ruin and without a house.

In the US, your hypothetical mother who smokes and gets lung cancer could easily bankrupt the family and leave them in financial ruin (you know, if your family tries to pay for the treatments so she doesn't die).

Oh yeah, we're talking about the UK here...carry on.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#48
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty rampant in the US too. I don't think a little gambling is bad, but the endless ads are a huge problem. They should really make all advertising of commonly addictive stuff banned - gambling, alcohol, etc. They should also do a better job of educating kids in school about the dangers and tricks. They were going you $100+ to open an account, or doing a deposit match up to $1k here. It's exactly what drug dea…

I think sports betting is obnoxious and stupid but I do worry about this moral policing some seem to want to do. The people I know losing money to online sports betting are the same people who thought they were going to become pro online poker grinders 15 years ago. If you got rid of online sports betting they would go play slots at the casino more and waste their money on the lottery. If you get rid of all games of…

For me personally, It's not a moral thing. It's more of the militant nature of the current state of gambling advertising in the UK. It's predatory and aimed at the very people seemingly unable to have fun gambling. Those spending a little on a flutter now and then aren't really a concern of mine, it the ones struggling with gambling addictions having all this garbage shoved in their faces 24/7.

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#49

I've never made a bet before, on an app or in a betting shop and have no inclination to ever do so. However, in the UK I'm bombarded with gambling (bingo and 'games') advertisements on daytime TV aimed at trying to convince me it's actually in some way fun to pittle away my money. Then if I watch anything after 10pm on a UK streaming service or live advertising funded TV, I'm absolutely battered with endless gambling…

I have made exactly one actual bet for money.

In December 2020 I bet that Donald Trump had lost the US Presidential Election, which he had done the previous month.

Ordinarily of course you can't make bets like that because nobody wants the other side of the bet†, but there were plenty of takers for "No, Donald Trump actually won" so I got paid off, it wasn't a huge profit but it was meaningful.

† There are two ways you could be betting, sometimes you can bet "against the house". A company is trying to adjust the odds such that whoever wins, they end up benefiting, it can be tricky to do this and requires expertise so... the other way is you're betting against other punters like you, which works like the buy/sell orders on a stock exchange and the house just gets a percentage no matter what happens. Political gambling tends to be on the latter basis.

[Edited: I originally wrote December 2021, but obviously it's December 2020 when I made that bet, he lost in November 2020, not November 2021]

Re: UK betting giant's unlawful marketing kept suicidal gambler hooked

#50
post #25
post #3

I work in advertising and defend tracking, targeting, Meta, etc all the time as largely harmless. But I think one exception is when they promote products which are bad. Tobacco ads are already banned - gambling should 100% be a banned ad category. So should mobile apps that are basically gambling in disguise.

> I work in advertising and defend tracking, targeting, Meta, etc all the time as largely harmless. Perhaps tell that to one of my friends that has a shopping addiction. He buys endless amounts of running gear, and then resells it, basically burning thousands of pounds every year. His phone does nothing but show more and more running gear adverts. We've told him to stop but he reckons he doesn't have a problem. No ru…

Your friend needs to youtube review them - preferably honestly and decently. Experience across a market of products is valuable!
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