Paul Merson Documentary

One of the things that really shocked me was the profiling the betting companies do on individuals, and label them in ways such as “win back”. They could tell how much debt people have and how often they gamble. The statement at the end of the programme stating that betting companies don’t target the vulnerable was shocking as the evidence was clearly there for all to see.

Hopefully this is just the start, and through the various campaigns and a full and proper review of the Gambling Act then there will be some level of reform.

Merson has spoken out in the past, but it’s clearly got a hold of him, and he was talking like it’s only a matter of time before he goes back to it. Peter Shilton has also recently spoken publicly about his gambling addiction. It needs a higher profile and would be great to see football clubs, including our own, make a stand against betting advertising in sport.
 
One of the things that really shocked me was the profiling the betting companies do on individuals, and label them in ways such as “win back”. They could tell how much debt people have and how often they gamble. The statement at the end of the programme stating that betting companies don’t target the vulnerable was shocking as the evidence was clearly there for all to see.

Hopefully this is just the start, and through the various campaigns and a full and proper review of the Gambling Act then there will be some level of reform.

Merson has spoken out in the past, but it’s clearly got a hold of him, and he was talking like it’s only a matter of time before he goes back to it. Peter Shilton has also recently spoken publicly about his gambling addiction. It needs a higher profile and would be great to see football clubs, including our own, make a stand against betting advertising in sport.
The betting companies are licensed to print money, don't forget they also put stops on and investigate the accounts of people who they think win too much or too frequently. Nothing similar with those losing too much as far as I know!
 
One of the things that really shocked me was the profiling the betting companies do on individuals, and label them in ways such as “win back”. They could tell how much debt people have and how often they gamble. The statement at the end of the programme stating that betting companies don’t target the vulnerable was shocking as the evidence was clearly there for all to see.

That's just customer segmentation and using focused marketing which is common in most commercial organizations across the world whose purpose is to make money, and will use all available tools & techniques to do so. Rather than focusing on this, it needs bigger changes than simply blunting their tools by outlining focused marketing techniques, as they can simply move onto other ways of attracting and retaining customers.
 
Merson by doing the documentary may help bring pressure to reduce the pervasiveness of gambling in our sporting culture. I am as guilty as the next man for having a go on the fixed odds and big sporting events and like to think I know when to stop, but can see when hovering over South American World Cup Qualifers how easy it is to get suckered in beyond your comfort. Some people don't have that off switch when it comes to gambling, the same with other addictions. The way betting has become so intertwined with sport in the internet age has coincided with the ban on tobacco advertising, hopefully the government will go the same way with the betting industry.

As for the personal beef with Merson, he was a fantastic player for us in his one season, yes he said some silly things when he left, but remember the club was culpable in some ways too.....fantastic idea to have Gazza and Merse living together!
It was a strange move to put him in a house with Gazza but how do we know that Merson hadn't personally requested this at the time? Weren't he and Gazza already mates before he came to the club? And it's not as if they lived together during his entire stint with the club. In fact, I'm sure I remember reading that they'd fallen out, as Gazza was bitter towards Merson due to Merson making the World cup squad.

Gazza not once came out after leaving the club and blamed the club for his own problems.

I seem to remember Gazza spending some time in the Priory during his time here, and no doubt he'll have been given the full support of the club. I wouldn't be surprised if the club even paid for his treatment.
 
Alcohol and cigarette consumption has gone down. Ban on advertising was just part of the reason. Ban on smoking indoors, the millennial generation rebelling against their hard drinking and drug taking parents and the general Californiacation of life more a reason I think.
 
That's just customer segmentation and using focused marketing which is common in most commercial organizations across the world whose purpose is to make money, and will use all available tools & techniques to do so. Rather than focusing on this, it needs bigger changes than simply blunting their tools by outlining focused marketing techniques, as they can simply move onto other ways of attracting and retaining customers.
I knew it went on, but not to that level of detail, especially for betting “customers”.
 
The betting companies are licensed to print money, don't forget they also put stops on and investigate the accounts of people who they think win too much or too frequently. Nothing similar with those losing too much as far as I know!
Quite a common misconception that, albeit it’s done to varying standards across the industry. Where I work we do a lot to identify and prevent gambling related harm
 
Quite a common misconception that, albeit it’s done to varying standards across the industry. Where I work we do a lot to identify and prevent gambling related harm
Glad to hear that, is that common across the industry?
 
Glad to hear that, is that common across the industry?
I worked at Tombola in Sunderland a while back and they also did quite a lot of work (and put staff through training) to try and identify people who were in a bad way - right down to training the game admins to spot players who were talking about gambling away money they were supposed to be using on other stuff (one example was supplies for a soon-to-be-born baby) and put controls in place to stop them playing until a sensible plan was put in place (e.g. deposit limits agreed and implemented for minimum time)
 
I worked at Tombola in Sunderland a while back and they also did quite a lot of work (and put staff through training) to try and identify people who were in a bad way - right down to training the game admins to spot players who were talking about gambling away money they were supposed to be using on other stuff (one example was supplies for a soon-to-be-born baby) and put controls in place to stop them playing until a sensible plan was put in place (e.g. deposit limits agreed and implemented for minimum time)
I'm thinking one of the issues these days is that there are so many on-line platforms that a problem gambler may be protected on some, but can just open another account, or is it co-ordinated across the industry?
 
It isnt coordinated across the industry no, although that is being talked about in the Gambling Act Review. There is something called Gamstop that allows someone to self exclude from all licenced operators in the UK in one go.
 
He is a hypocrite. He's saying he hopes this documentary helps at least one person, well him advertising betting companies in the past will have influenced people the other way. Its like Gazza doing adverts for John Smiths there would be uproar. He should have referenced this and maybe admitted it was a mistake.

Im sure Merson could make money without having to resort to this whether he works for sky or not. It's a sad state of affairs and the government needs to do more.
 
He is a hypocrite. He's saying he hopes this documentary helps at least one person, well him advertising betting companies in the past will have influenced people the other way. Its like Gazza doing adverts for John Smiths there would be uproar. He should have referenced this and maybe admitted it was a mistake.

Im sure Merson could make money without having to resort to this whether he works for sky or not. It's a sad state of affairs and the government needs to do more.

Addict makes mistake. Shock horror. Cut him a bit of slack ffs
 
Uncomfortable to watch him play that red/blue disc game.. you could see he was totally gone. obviously something in his make up that helped him be a top top player.. same with gazza no doubt.
 
As someone who watches little tv, I was flicking through the channels at the weekend and was shocked at the sheer amount of adverts for gambling companies. Every second one seemed to be about betting. Has it been like this for some time or is a new thing?
 
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