It’s always puzzled me why there’s still such a taboo around gambling in the UK. If you count people who play the national lottery, more than 50 per cent of us have had a flutter over the past four weeks. And if you like to think of playing the lottery as making a charity donation rather than gambling (are you sure about that?), there’s still almost one in three of us who have gambled in the last month.
Like most things, gambling needs to be done in moderation. Lose control and it can have disastrous life-changing effects. But the majority of people who enjoy a flutter manage to do so without becoming homeless or owing money to a shady guy who says he’ll break their legs if they don’t repay the cash.
But the bad reputation of gambling – and the shame that many people feel for doing it – means that gambling companies get away with all sorts of shenanigans which wouldn’t be tolerated in any other sector.
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