By: Richard Hardcastle
We all like to have a little flutter now and then. It appeals to something deep within our human nature, and the vast majority of people recognise that any money you win is pretty much a random bonus, so we only spend money we can afford to lose. There’s no harm in your Gran going to the bingo, or having a fiver on the Grand National; Gran mostly goes for a night out with her friends and everyone seems to bet on the National.
And so with that in mind, am I the only person who finds the proliferation of ways to gamble in Park Parade and its environs, slightly alarming? This is one of the poorest areas in Hampshire, where a large proportion of households receive benefits in some form or another. Yet the gambling industry seems to be targeting it, whether inadvertently in response to low rent; or deliberately, in the knowledge that poorer people are their best customers, and don’t seem to care what message they are sending out, so long as the money keeps rolling in.
I’m sure the industry would argue that they are going about their lawful business, and they are deeply concerned by problem gamblers and offer a number of alternatives to help them resist temptation. But the sad fact is that they only care about the bottom line.
So next time you’re walking round the shops, count the ways that people can lose substantial amounts of money, and ask yourself if that is a positive image to send out to visitors, and what message are we sending to our kids?