Safe gambling
While many online gambling sites are perfectly reputable, there are some sharks out there - and you should be very wary of paying money to any site you can’t trust.
The basics of online shopping apply equally well to online gambling: make sure the site is from a company you’ve heard of (and do a web search to find out what other people think of the company), never hand over financial information to a site you don’t trust 100%, and if you have the slightest misgivings about a particular site then go elsewhere. There’s no shortage of online bookmakers, so there’s no reason to stick with a site that you’re not completely comfortable with.
Be particularly wary about online casinos: until recently they could not be based in the UK, which means that most casino sites are based in other countries. That’s not a problem with reputable firms (for example, www.ladbrokescasino.com is owned by the Hilton Hotel group, which is hardly a bunch of fly-by-nights), but you should be particularly careful when looking at companies based outside the UK. If something goes wrong or worse, the whole site is a scam, getting any problems sorted out could be difficult or even impossible.
It’s also important to remember that while gambling can be fun, it also has a dark side. Gambling can be incredibly addictive, which means that you should never gamble money you can’t afford to lose (and you should never go onto gambling sites when you’ve had a few drinks).
We’ve all seen the people ploughing tenner after tenner into the pub fruit machine, desperately trying to win back their wages; if you think that’s bad, just imagine the trouble you could get into with your credit card - or cards. As “Darren” writes in the Gamblers Anonymous magazine, “I was sick of phoning up banks and credit cards to increase my loans and credit limits to pay off gambling debts, whilst always lying and leaving a couple of grand spare to blow yet again…. I currently owe £50,000.” Bernard P amassed £40,000 in debts in just a few weeks. Then there’s the story of Matt Carlisle: “On the last day I gambled, I was out of a job, about to be declared bankrupt and the building society had taken out papers to repossess my flat.” All three men racked up their debts in real-world betting shops and on the phone, but the very things that make internet betting so convenient - you can bet 24/7, you don’t need to leave the house, it’s a private rather than a public activity - also make it more of a temptation, and easier to hide any problems from partners or family.
Of course, the examples we’ve given are extreme ones, and most people can gamble without getting into trouble or becoming addicted. However, if you’re spending money you can’t afford - or worse, spending money you don’t have in the first place by running up your credit card - then you’re heading for disaster. Gamblers Anonymous (www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk) has a checklist of danger signs to watch out for (spending your last pound, spending more than you planned, staying up until the wee small hours in a state of panic, and so on) and if you recognise yourself in the checklist, they can provide free and confidential advice.
The Gamblers Anonymous checklist: are you a compulsive gambler?
Most compulsive gamblers will answer YES to at least SEVEN of these questions:
1. Do you lose time from work due to gambling?
2. Is gambling making your home life unhappy?
3. Is gambling affecting your reputation?
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
5. Do you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or to otherwise solve financial difficulties?
6. Does gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
7. After losing, do you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses.
8. After a win do you have a strong urge to return and win more?
9. Do you often gamble until your last pound is gone?
10. Do you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
12. Are you reluctant to use gambling money for normal expenditures?
13. Does gambling make you careless of the welfare of your family?
14. Do you gamble longer than you planned?
15. Do you ever gamble to escape worry or trouble?
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
17. Does gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
18. Do arguments, disappointments, or frustrations create an urge within you to gamble?
19. Do you have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours gambling?
20. Have you ever considered self-destruction as a result of your gambling?
