code99 Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 Gambling has been a ‘vice of choice’ in many societies for generations. But online betting has taken this so called tradition to a whole new level, especially for young people (24/7 e-gambling/ e-gamming is becoming an international epidemic without borders) to gamble away the little money they do have on online sports betting sites, etc. Of course, innumerable pragmatic arguments were made previously to justify the other morally dubious activities in the UK such as weapons sales to the Saudis, cosying up to the Chinese Communist Party, rolling out red carpets to the Russian kleptocrats etc, etc. Unfortunately, the familiar old tropes (‘if we don’t do it somebody else will’, ‘don’t bite the hand feeds us’) which are dished out to justify morally dubious activities mean that if our number one industry is immoral we must have immoral people running the IOM, and at some point in the future the Island will have to pay a ‘price’, even though we may not know exactly when or what that price will be…e.g., one day, e-gambling industry will potentially end up in the ditch as ‘our’ film industry. Therefore, residents should not be surprised that nobody in government seems to want to be accountable for the other unsustainable policies that exist here. Nobody wants to sort out £150m annual structural deficit in the IOMG’s finances, nobody wants to make the National Insurance Fund long-term sustainable. Our MHKs want to leave everything for the next trance of elected peoples’ representatives to sort out. Some of the Island’s current politicians probably think that they can get away with doing very little; after all, they reason to themselves, ‘if someone else is in my place, they would (sensibly) do as little as I am… and doing things would make me unpopular’. This dearth of moral fibre will only result in greater political and economic decline. Very sad. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banker Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 Uk to introduce mandatory levy on gambling companies to help fund addiction services, as I’ve mentioned previously any payment from gambling companies are voluntary https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65249542 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Anderson Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/19/2023 at 4:00 PM, Amadeus said: What? There is gambling duty and there is also an annual requirement to contribute to an addiction charity. Neither are voluntary. For someone who makes their money from the gambling industry you don't half twist the facts. It is an expectation as part of the gambling licence to contribute an amount of money to gambling charities however this is not a fixed amount calculated against profits which is something you and your chums are dead against. Many gambling companies make huge profits with some increasing the amount given to charities in an attempt to stave off any regulation on the minimum amount of donation as a percentage of profit. Keep pumping the industry Frank but at least accept that this industry profits from addiction illnesses but I guess the misery and suicides caused through gambling addiction doesn't bother you too much when you make your own money from the industry. As for the Isle of Man the gaming businesses here are not obliged to give any money to local charities that provide support to addicts and their families, they all send their charity money to the UK which is a bit ironic given IOM local charities struggle for funding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BriT Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Widow whose husband set himself on fire in front of their son, 16, after running up £250,000 gambling debt says ministers should crack down harder on the gaming firms https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12024891/Widow-husband-set-fire-says-ministers-crack-gambling-firms.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 1 hour ago, Jimmy Anderson said: As for the Isle of Man the gaming businesses here are not obliged to give any money to local charities that provide support to addicts and their families, they all send their charity money to the UK which is a bit ironic given IOM local charities struggle for funding. If you look at the figures I quoted from the latest GSC report on the previous page you'll see that about 34% of the amount donated went to the Isle of Man. Given that the vast majority of their clients won't be based on the Island, you could argue that this is more than a fair share. (Whether the total amount is fair and enough is another matter). I think at one time the enforced donations did all go locally, but the companies complained, both because it meant it wasn't going to help most of those affected and because it mostly went to Motiv8 who mainly deal with other addictions, so again those affected weren't being helped. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offshoremanxman Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 A very timely reminder in todays newspaper of the damage caused https://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/gambling-addict-jailed-for-nine-years-611047 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hissingsid Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Gaming companies over here give a lot of support to local events and charities. No one forces a person to gamble, drink, smoke or take drugs, we are not a nanny state. People are accountable for there own actions and that is how it should be otherwise we would live in a zombie zone. More wars are started by religion than anything else . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hissingsid Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 What about the stock market I know of two Manx families who lost millions years ago are you going ban that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 2 hours ago, BriT said: Widow whose husband set himself on fire in front of their son, 16, after running up £250,000 gambling debt says ministers should crack down harder on the gaming firms https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12024891/Widow-husband-set-fire-says-ministers-crack-gambling-firms.html maybe they should clamp down on petrol sales ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genericUserName Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 1 hour ago, hissingsid said: No one forces a person to gamble, drink, smoke or take drugs, we are not a nanny state. Online gambling companies do not passively enable play. It's all about encouraging people to keep on playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hissingsid Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Like the breweries encourage us to drink, like the gyms encourage us to keep fit, like dieticians encourage us to eat sensibly it does not mean we have to follow their advice. If someone told you to put your hand in the fire….would you. At the end of the day we are all responsible for our own actions, tough but true. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genericUserName Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 (edited) 10 minutes ago, hissingsid said: Like the breweries encourage us to drink etc No. Since the breweries do not have the ability to track your behaviour. Wouldn't it be great if the breweries gave away free beer if they hadn't seen you for a few weeks. Edited April 28, 2023 by genericUserName Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hissingsid Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Every time you go to the supermarket and see special offers on large packs of beer etc that is encouragement surely ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expat. Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 2 hours ago, hissingsid said: More wars are started by religion than anything else . No they're not. Wars are started by money, property and the desire for power. There have been just under two thousand conflicts in recorded human history of which one hundred and twenty odd have been either a Holy war, as in started by a religious leader like the Pope, or were a religious war as in started by a secular power like a King or Queen using religion as a pretext. That's under 7%. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banker Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 1 hour ago, hissingsid said: Like the breweries encourage us to drink, like the gyms encourage us to keep fit, like dieticians encourage us to eat sensibly it does not mean we have to follow their advice. If someone told you to put your hand in the fire….would you. At the end of the day we are all responsible for our own actions, tough but true. The gaming companies have adverts running constantly on many prime time tv shows, all football matches, social media etc, alcohol &?tobacco advertising is banned in most places 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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