I certainly wouldn't consider myself a puritan (even if Aintree is my sole annual punt), and bookmakers' odds often prove as useful to political prognostication as any opinion poll, but has the influence of betting become overly pervasive? Hardly a radio broadcast passes without commentators delivering "in-play" odds, betting apps appear to have replaced tobacco and alcohol as sports sponsors of choice, and of course, no Super Sunday would be complete without Ray Winstone' s disembodied head imploring his employer at the half-time break. And of course, where once one had to make an effort to make a wager, the sheer breadth and ubiquity of betting apps tilt the balance of power even more firmly in favour of the turf accountant. Of course, most people have sufficient willpower to indulge in moderation, but does the industry itself have the corporate social responsibility to temper its newly-burgeoning earnings and influence?
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
Internet gambling with casinos recently became legal in New Jersey. I am interested to see how that goes in terms of tax revenues.
As for advertising, the sponsorship from gambling firms only follows tobacco and alcohol sponsorship being restricted. I don't think that means social acceptability more than it means the next in line for restriction. -
Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
I think that your opening post is, perhaps, at odds with your thread title. Gambling has, for all of my life time, been socially acceptable from the betting on dogs, horses to gambling games and the football pools. What it has become is, as you say, more pervasive and easier to gamble. It also has become less class-stratified. I mean, gambling on the horses has always been fairly classless but, about 20 years ago, betting on greyhounds became more fashionable (partly due to the social nature of the dogs being more appealing). Betting on football has really taken off. I think that the pools used to be far more prevalent that actual betting on matches etc. Of course, the most prevalent and, I would say, dangerous (through social acceptance) is the lottery and scratch cards.
Specific gambling such as poker and casinos has certainly increased. Well, I say that, poker has always been a big deal in America but it is getting there in the UK. Casinos were once seen as the refuge of the more moneyed but they certainly have become more egalitarian in their fleecing of the masses. Fruit machines have always been widespread. If anything, I would say that, anecdotally, you see less and less of them in pubs in the same way as you do pool tables and skittle alleys. Probably because there are more ways to gamble now.
I never bet. I sometimes put this down to knowing a couple of gambling addicts and also religious reasons. I have to say that it is probably more because eI just can't see the point, don't get any thrill from it and know that the odds are stacked against you with pretty much all forms. After all, I have known people who have died from alcohol (including one of the gamblers) and that never puts me off the sauce and there are a fair amount of religious prohibitions that I don't adhere to.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
a (gambling) friend of mine saying that he had a problem with those betfair "cash out?" ads which show a guy staring at a TV with his finger poised over the cash out button while around him his mates are all watching the game, throwing beer and crisps around the room in slow motion and other things people apparently do when they watch sport. he said it would be more true to life if the gambler was instead shown sitting at a picnic with his wife and kids, who are totally oblivious to the cash out drama taking place.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
The new Ladbrokes Life ads make me feel uneasy, although it is aimed at adults with free will.
Selling betting as a cool lifestyle ... and pushing irrational "gut" choices.
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/04/25/ladbrokes-moves-away-screaming-odds-marketing-ladbrokes-life-advertising-pushComment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
Growing up in the USA if you wanted to legally gamble, go to Vegas. Then Atlantic City got into the act. Today there can't be too many states that lack cookie-cutter, outwardly glitzy casinos to piss away your $$$. I've wandered through a few and only come away feeling dreary and clothes smelling of cigarettes. I can't stand the gambling culture and would not shed a tear if they all folded.
That said, I am probably in the minority as it is definitely a socially acceptable vice here. Casino commercials are tailored for the young and beautiful, the Hispanic population, the middle-aged, the retirees and more. States don't have a "Gambling" commission, but a "Gaming" commission. Many places make major bucks going the resort route - fancy lodging, golf, conferences, but the survival of any casino is the profit from gambling (mostly slot machines).
If gambling can proliferate in the bible belt, then it is definitely a socially acceptable vice.
New Mexico is awash in 30-odd casinos, but they have nothing on nearby Oklahoma.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
The ladbrokes life ads make me want to burn down a bookies. And crucify paddy power. I know it's a different company but he has it coming.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
The near complete reversal of attitudes towards gambling in the US during my lifetime has been very striking, and as Cal and dglh imply it is largely driven by the fact that state and local governments have discovered that it can serve as a significant source of revenue in a context where "taxes" are anathema.
Though it must still seem very strange from a European perspective that the massive sports betting market remains underground, except in Las Vegas. The hypocrisy of the NFLs position on gambling is staggering.
Even by contemporary advertising standards, the complete disconnect between the vision of casinos promoted in ads and their reality is striking. You just don't see images of seniors in mobility scooters playing slot machines for 12 hours at a go.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
If abortions became a lucrative money spinner for large corporations they would become sociAlly Acceptable In the Bible Belt.Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
Well, the state runs a gambling scheme called National Lottery. Can you get any more respectable?Comment
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Has gambling become a socially acceptable vice?
Our office Christmas Do was in a local casino one year. Someone thought it would be fun and James Bond like for all the men to wear black tie and women evening gowns.
The reality was we were over-dressed. The desperate-looking people trading cash for gambling chips were all wearing rather threadbare tracksuit bottoms and worn out trainers.
I thought it was incredibly sad and I will never go to one of those places again.Comment
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If you don't let us exploit gambling addicts, we are going to take our money (offshore) and go home.
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/1146712163345735681
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Well, quite...Comment
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Oh no, it'll be the heroin dealers and child pornographers we drive away next!
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Some years ago, my dad had to visit the home of a bookmaker on business and the guy's idea of an icebreaker was to refer laughingly to his new extension as "the Merson wing". Just repulsive, whatever the level of truth underpinning the joke might have been.Comment
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A major reason why gambling was profitable for casinos in Vegas and Atlantic City was because casinos in the US were scarce. They are no longer scarce.Comment
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You can't watch TV here (NJ) without seeing ads for online gambling. It struck me the other day that it removes the social activity part of going to a casino in person, which makes it kind of like drinking alone. If you sit in your living room gambling on your phone, you might have a problem.Comment
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Spare a thought for the poor schmucks who are driving to Fort Lee and betting on their phones from parking lots because one can do more on your side of the river.Comment
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That's just beyond sad.Comment
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The ads here are bizarre. I think that they are trying to emphasise the convenience of being able to gamble anywhere without recognising, or more likely caring, that showing people sneaking a few spins or hands in during cab rides and breaks at work suggests compulsion. There are big efforts to suggest that there is a social and community aspect to online gambling, again pushing back against what potential customers' intuition might tell them about the situation. Playing online slots is the mark of a James Bond-esque man of action and destiny. It is staggering what they are allowed to get away with.Originally posted by Femme Folle View PostComment
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I Wasn’t aware of how quickly you could lose cash on these roulette machines until I was in a bookies in Glasgow one day and I watched a chap squander £90 in 15 seconds.Comment
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There are huge skyscrapers in cities all over the globe full of people watching dice roll on stock prices or currency values. This is a good thing, apparently.Comment
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To Benjm's point, the elegance/affluence angle is always played up in the ads. We sometimes have to walk through a casino to get to a concert (Rama, outside Orillia) and the sadness oozes out of the carpet. If your idea of elegant is busloads of elderly Asian people pulling around their oxygen tanks, this is your Monte Carlo.
The ads for mobile play are also quite something, suggesting a communal online experience rivaled only by those 1-976 party lines full of beautiful single people that used to be all the rage.Comment
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Gambling pusher ads are probably the worst ads. And you know how much I hate all ads.Comment
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