Important note: When a split results in a hand consisting of a 10-value card and Ace, the value we should not ban gambling now counts as 21 since blackjack is only possible on the two original cards. The name of the show is the address of the detective agency, 33 Half Moon Street.
Good morning/ good afternoon everyone my name is John and today I would like to talk to you about Chris. Chris was a 23 year old man, who up until about 5 years ago lived a totally normal life. He lived an average childhood in an average house. At the age of 18 he moved out of his home to live in an apartment with his friends. On his 19th birthday his friends took him out for some fun, and that’s when everything changed.
They went to a casino, and for the first time since in his life, Chris made a bet, then a second, a third and a fourth.
Each time, thinking about all those ads he saw on TV and read in the paper growing up. He thought “wouldn’t it be great if I won something”. Little did he reaslise how unrealistic that scenario would be…and why not? It looked like people seemed to win everyday. (PAUSE) Just over 5 years later Chris committed suicide.
He was diagnosed with overwhelming depression due to an unpayable debt made by the gambling problem he developed all those years ago. You see, Chris grew up in an age where the advertising of gambling had no regulations.
Tattersalls and Intralot were able to advertise the splendor of gambling and Chris kept thinking he would win big. Then THE NEXT TIME would fulfill all his wishes. Then it became THE NEXT TIME would solve all his problems. Then he though desperately that THE NEXT TIME would pay off all his debts. Or THE NEXT TIME, or the next. He could not stop thinking that he was going to win. And how could he? He was only ever shown that he couldn’t lose, that the next time he would win…but he didn’t. He never did. I believe that the advertising of gambling in the media should be banned.
I am not here on a crusade against gambling itself, ill leave that to the politicians, I just want to talk about how we are allowing this disease to be so freely advertised in all forms of our media. In Australia over 70% of people gamble each year, and over 40% of these people gamble regularly, at least three or more times a week. The majority of these people are classified as problem gamblers, or ludomaniacs as the Australian Psychological Association has diagnosed them. People who still gamble despite devastatingly harmful and negative consequences.
Problem gamblers not only affect themselves, but all those around them as well, including their family members. This results into not only many broken Australian families but also it can ultimately lead to homelessness and like Chris, suicide. One in five suicides worldwide are related to gambling. One in five deaths I said. We are allowing the advertising of a franchise that leads to the deaths of 1 in 5 people EVERY DAY. Is this right? If we did stop all advertising of gambling this would be the first step in helping reduce Australia’s nation wide gambling problem.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics declared that in 2009 Australians lost over 15 billion dollars due to gambling. What is so sad is that the majority of these gamblers were aged between 19-24. The new generations that are turning 18 immediately turn to gambling as a form of entertainment because it has surrounded them all through their childhood. Jeff Kennett, former premier of Victoria recently said on 3AW that “there ISN’T a child today that ISN’T confronted with the concept that gambling is good. ” What is unfortunate is that as a country we are not doing anything to solve this problem.
Every child is exposed to this advertising at a young age, they are shown statistically unlikely events of people winning millions. This is creating the misperception that there is no downside to gambling, that these perfect scenarios happen all the time with no negative consequences. This is what in later years leads to the breakdown of families and even the suicides of the victims of gambling and gambling advertising. I ask you, why do we let these GREEDY, FACELESS companies get away with showing this POISON on TV?
I’ve just talked to you about this problem our nation has, now let me tell you about another problem our nation faced and dealt with, that of the advertising of smoking. We forced the ban on the advertising of cigarettes and tobacco because of many factors, all of which are shared in common with gambling. They both posses immediate health risks such as stress and depression and they break up a lot of Australian families. Neither of the two are promoted by the Australian federal government due to their knowledge of their negative ramifications.
Furthermore, they are both known to be heavily addictive, requiring extensive management in the recovery of their victims. Also the cost of both tobacco and gambling is high, both financially and familial. They are both SO similar, but we have treated them SO differently. 95 % of the Australian public believes that cigarettes do more harm than good, so we banned the advertising of cigarettes. Well according to the ABS, 70% of Australians that think that gambling does more harm than good, so why have we done nothing about ITS advertising.
Why are we cracking down so hard on cigarettes, yet allowing nothing to be done about the advertising of gambling? It’s just not good enough! I’m sure that we have all seen those Tattslotto ads that depict the perfect dream scenario, or those guys at the TAB who go crazy when they win. Don’t get me wrong, I think they are well constructed ads, however they are essentially false advertising. They present an unrealistic idea of gambling. How many gambling ads have you seen of someone losing? Those ads would be more realistic as more people on bets, than they win.
It is actually more likely that you will die going to CASH IN your first division Tattslotto ticket than it is to actually win it in the first place. People may say to me that everyone already knows that they are not going to win. Then why do we even allow these corporations to publish these LIES in the first place? Why even allow these RIDICULOUS commercials to surround young children? Why are we encouraging something that we KNOW is wrong, that we know hurts us and is unrealistic and fake. Do we hate each other so much that we allow ourselves to be lied to and deceived?
It is up to the government now, to put an end to all this. It is up to Julia Gillard to help dramatically reduce the extraordinary sickness of our nation. The government will still receive their money from pokie machines and other forms of gambling regardless of the advertising, I’m sure of this. But how about somewhere along the way we stop cramming those ads into the Australian family home. Maybe we can stop some of the devastation from occurring by preventing our young being exposed to this. Maybe eventually prevent people from ending up like Chris.
Cite this page
Year 12 English oral gambling ban. (2017, Apr 27). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/year-12-english-oral-gambling-ban-essay
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Posted March 17, 2017 14:45:32
The Turnbull Government is reportedly considering banning the advertising of gambling during televised sporting broadcasts.
Debate-- We Should Not Ban Gambling
This is not a new idea: Senator Nick Xenophon has long championed a ban, as have many who work with problem gamblers.
It has been reported that more than one-in-six ads shown during AFL matches are gambling-related.
So, could advertising be linked with rates of problem gambling?
Evidence suggests ads have an impact
Increases in problem gambling linked to sports betting have been reported in recent years, particularly among young men.
The numbers of 18-to-25-year-old men with problems related to sports betting doubled between 2012 and 2015 at the University of Sydney's Gambling Treatment Clinic (where I work).
At the same time, gambling odds and prices have become a central part of sporting culture.
Why Should We Not Ban Gambling
Campaign to dissuade young gamblers
An awareness campaign that ran during the AFL finals series aimed to counter a rise in problem teenage gamblers.
The 'gamblification' of sport is now seen as both a normal and central component of it.
In pre-game reporting, the prices and odds are seen as being as important as player injuries and weather conditions.
Being able to draw a clear line between increased promotion of gambling and rates of problem gambling is not easy.
Given there are always multiple factors why someone develops a gambling problem, it is never as clear-cut as blaming advertising.
However, some evidence exists to suggest advertising has impacts on problem gamblers.
Interview research and large-scale survey work have both suggested that gambling ads during sport strongly affect many problem gamblers by increasing their desire to gamble when trying to cut down.
Therefore, restrictions on advertising may be effective in helping those with problems to manage their urges to gamble.
Another widespread concern about gambling advertising during sports broadcasts is the impact it might be having on young people.
There is evidence this advertising can have an impact.
A study of Canadian adolescents found the majority had been exposed to gambling advertising.
It also found this advertising was leading to the belief that the chance of winning was high, and that gambling was an easy way to make money.
These findings are particularly concerning. In our work with problem gamblers, we have found these beliefs are crucial to the development of gambling problems.
Typically, when examining a problem gambler's history, we find they were exposed to gambling at a young age and developed positive attitudes toward gambling at the time.
In particular, a distorted belief in the likelihood of winning appears to be a key driver in many of our patients who developed problems.
Thus, advertising that promotes the idea that gambling is an easy way to make money is likely to prime our kids for developing gambling problems in the future.
What we can learn from tobacco ad bans
Would a ban on the advertising of gambling during sport broadcasts change attitudes toward gambling and gambling behaviour?
Here, evidence on the impacts of tobacco advertising is instructive.
Tobacco advertising has been progressively restricted or banned in many countries. Thus, considerable evidence is available to make conclusions.
There appears to be clear evidence that tobacco advertising does result in increased rates of smoking in adolescents.
It has also been found that bans on tobacco advertising appear to be effective in reducing tobacco use — but only in the case of complete bans.
In contrast, attempts to limit bans on advertising to certain mediums — such as banning ads on TV — appear not to be effective, as this simply results in increases in tobacco advertising in non-banned media (in print or on billboards, for instance).
This suggests that for any restriction of gambling advertising to be effective, it needs to be widespread.
Such displacement has already been seen with gambling. There is evidence of increased social media promotion of gambling, which has resulted in increases in positive attitudes toward gambling in those exposed to these promotions.
There is not yet any demonstrated definitive link between increases in gambling advertising during sports and problem gambling.
However, the research that has been conducted indicates that advertising may result in increased gambling by problem gamblers and increases in distorted beliefs about gambling in young people.
If the Government chooses to go down the path of increasing restrictions on gambling advertising, it is important that any restrictions are wide-ranging enough to have a clear impact on gambling behaviours and attitudes.
Support is available through the Gambler's Help website gamblershelp.com.au or by calling the free Gambling Help Line on 1800 858 858.
Dr Christopher Hunt is a clinical psychologist working at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology. He has worked at the University's Gambling Treatment Clinic since 2007.
Originally published in The Conversation
Topics:gambling, government-and-politics, community-and-society, australia