In case you missed it, there was an interesting read about those “cheeky chappies” at Paddy Power. Check it out:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/paddy-power-encouraged-gambler-bet-fobts-until-he-lost-jobs-home-access-children-1546642

If you can’t trust a bookmaker to have the highest standards of morals then what’s the point of anything?!

While I’ve made my feelings known about FOBTs before, actively encouraging someone with a clear problem is not cool. To say the least. This is a story about one particular bookie and one “Customer A”, but this is happening around the country on a daily basis to a certain extent. It’s common for shops’ best customers to receive free cups of tea, and I’ve heard of instances where a selection of sweets is made available for FOBT customers. The implication being that losing customers are welcome, and use of highly –EV FOBTs is encouraged. Obviously not all users of FOBTs are problem gamblers in the sense that their problem is with addiction, but they do have a problem in that they are clearly a mug.

This story reminds me of a tale I was told many years ago. A friend of a friend was renowned problem gambler, and one major high street bookmaker’s paid for a golfing holiday to Spain for him and a few of his friends, with the purpose of him solely betting with them. He had a nice time, and he only gambled with them, and he ended up losing around £100k and he’s probably still on his debt management program.