Panorama - 10:15 BBC1 this evening

lynzpower

Stompa wrote:

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I thought the programme said that 1 in 10 of the population was taking part in online gambling?

That surely can't be true. I've never ever heard family/friends/colleagues mention online gambling - though perhaps it's something people don't talk about because in general they will be losing.

Not neccesarily. there was a free fiver on news of the world bingo site- which I did - won nothing on the free fiver never bothered again.

Would I class myself as an online gambler- not at all.
Would this put me in the one in ten- probably.

Stompa

lynzpower wrote:

Would this put me in the one in ten- probably.

I guess so. 1 in 10 is a horrifyingly large number though.

moneyman4u

Anybody who says there's 'risk free' money does not know anything worth knowing about gambling. If that were possible EVERYbody would be doing it.

Not everybody can do it, you need to be confident with math and excel, you need to have a few quid to start out, you need to have debit credit cards, but, the most important thing you need is discipline, the discipline to follow the rules and never be tempted to just let the bet ride.

debbie42

I would never have been aware of the possibilities for matched betting without the existence of the MSE forum. It has made me a lot of money, and I am very, very grateful for that.

The comparison with cheap alcohol, exposure to loans, credit cards etc. is a valid one, in my opinion. Although these offers have helped my finances immensely, it is not impossible that it may have "hooked" someone else. Would they have done it anyway: who knows? If the positives far outweigh the benefits, which I think they do, then it's good to make people aware of these loopholes so that we can take advantage of them.

Few things in life are without risk. On the introductory gambling offers, the risks are pointed out very clearly for those who bother to look.

Tim_L

If there was a bank offer listed at MSE that required people to fill in two web forms, deposit £100 and follow some simple instructions to receive a free £50 in cash, there would be no complaints, and in fact the offer would be massively oversubscribed.

Yet this is all matched betting is. It's a mechanical process for obtaining free money. It certainly doesn't lead inexorably into a spiral of addiction and debt, except insofar that it delights most people who do it to the extent that it actually becomes something of an absorbing hobby.

In fact I would say that of all the cash generating activities on this site, it's by quite a long way the most profitable. There's an interesting equivalent discussion to this on the panorama thread where someone points out that's far less work than selling stuff at a boot sale and makes more money: you can even do it in your pyjamas.

Sadly the level of prejudice against any form of gambling is so high that there are those - tracker is a classic example - who never take the time to understand how it works. And this means that people for whom the sort of amount that is easy to get in a first pass - say £500+ - would be a useful boost will be put off even considering it. It is not reasonable, to take another analogy, to forbid discussions on how to get 12 bottles of free wine from Smile because someone had an alcholic relative.

This is not placing a bet on a "banker" and hoping for an outcome. There is no element of chance. No-one who does matched betting gambles - in fact the people doing it are extremely risk averse as a group. And any discussion that advocates anything with even a theoretical intrinsic risk is deleted immediately.

Sadly, tabloid style Panorama exposes don't help anyone. It was inevitable the reporter would lose his money, because the whole thesis was that you win early, get hooked, and then lose everything. Sensationalised examples of big losers really just show comforting "I told you it would end in tears" exceptions, not the rule. Even outside matched betting, there is really no functional difference between recreational gambling and recreational drinking: both are problematic when carried to extremes, but most people who indulge do so to self imposed and sensible limits.

debbie42

Stompa wrote:

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I thought the programme said that 1 in 10 of the population was taking part in online gambling?

That surely can't be true. I've never ever heard family/friends/colleagues mention online gambling - though perhaps it's something people don't talk about because in general they will be losing.

The lottery is gambling, and you can certainly do that online. I'm surprised the number is as low as 10%, if you include that.

I do matched betting, but I don't consider the lottery worth a punt at all, so never do it!

moneyman4u

lynzpower wrote:

there are millions of things Id never done since joining MSE though- quidoc cash back, using online voucher codes, paying off debts & closing them down :rolleyes:

In the same way - people can become addicted to "bargains" we all know someone who buys bargains they cant afford- that doesnt mean we cant have shop but dont drop or grabbit sections. There has to be some personal reesponsibility. Martin and the MSe community cant be responsible for people getting into problem gambling by not reading or understanding matched betting properly- in the same way Martin & MSE community cant be responsible for a user getting a 125% IO mortgage that they cant afford either.

If you want to take a simplistic view then your right, however , its not that cut and dried unfortunatly, its hard to lose £500,000 stolen from your employer on bargains, or grabbits.

Like alcohol, is not the problem for most people, neither is matched betting a problem for most people, unfortuantly this board is not full of most people. it has a high % of vunerable people.

Would you put a wine appreciation section on a problem drinking forum??

moneyman4u

Tim_L wrote:

..........

None of which answers the question

Should MSE introduce vunerable people to gambling sites, when there is a risk that a small % could spiral into uncontroled betting?

finnerty

moneyman4u wrote:

Would you put a wine appreciation section on a problem drinking forum??

The gambling board is seperate to the debt free boards ...and this forum is not just about debt but how best to utilise the money you have ...in the same respect why have the shopping and bargain forums as most people who visit these boards due to debt have got in debt in the first place through overspending on shopping sprees and buying things they do not need!!!

[Deleted User]

ooh what`s this about matched betting!! Making lots of money wow, I think I`ll have a look. Will I be the only one looking? I doubt it. So now the gambling sites catch the corner of the eye, just have one go eh!!

Is that how the slippery slope starts?