Paul Merson

[Foulthrow]

Did anyone listen to The Price of Football podcast with Kevin day and Keiran maguire? They had a professional gambler on. He cannot open an account with any bookmaker because their software can spot that he is making “added value” bets in a matter of seconds and blocks him. If they have the technology to do this then I guarantee they know exactly how to milk the addicts dry.

[Jakubclaret]

Possibly, but I suspect the point is as Merson put it… you have to make an effort to drink or take drugs, and you can only put so much into your body… gambling addiction uses the chemicals already in the body. He had the strength to beat external addiction but not internal… making, for Mers at least, gambolling the far most dangerous of the three addictions.

I have no background in gambling.. but surely the stock market apps can be potentially another cause for concern, for the same reasons as on-line betting? I am lucky in that I can go years not even thinking of gambling… but when I visit Casino’s on holiday I embrace the hobby with elan… but only for the duration of the holiday and then return to my also Puritan attitude once home without issue, in that at least I am blessed.

Betting apps should be far more strictly regulated. If I wanted to I could have signed up to a betting firm and spent ‘this weeks money’ and more in less time than it took to write this… Despite a medical history including a mental breakdown and borderline Manic depressive episodes…Natasha would have no idea I had spent the weeks pot… that cannot be right.

Until you identify the root cause of any addiction you are wasting your time, alcohol doesn’t make people drink & the betting shops don’t make people bet, people drink & people bet, an alcoholic tasting his/her first alcoholic beverage didn’t become an alcoholic there & then it was a step on a ladder, people can shout & try to force change but until you identify the root cause of any addiction you are wasting your time.

[elwaclaret]

Until you identify the root cause of any addiction you are wasting your time, alcohol doesn’t make people drink & the betting shops don’t make people bet, people drink & people bet, an alcoholic tasting his/her first alcoholic beverage didn’t become an alcoholic there & then it was a step on a ladder, people can shout & try to force change but until you identify the root cause of any addiction you are wasting your time.

Quite agree. To look at any problem in isolation is bound to failure. There are triggers, commercial triggers imposed and wider cultural and societal triggers are all at play, stress boredom, desperation, need all have to be given equal weight to the fun and the challenge of gambling before a reasoned argument can be made for either position.

[kentonclaret]

alcohol doesn’t make people drink & the betting shops don’t make people bet, people drink & people bet,



If an alcoholic doesn't call in to his local for a drink he is not bombarded with "special offers" and "inducements" to encourage him to start drinking again. If a compulsive gambler with an online betting account places bets less frequently there will be offers and inducements sent to his mobile or on the app. The parents of the boy that tragically took his own life spoke of the betting company messaging their son after his death stating that due to a lack of online activity he would not be receiving his "awards" for that month. Only a very small fraction of betting turnover these days is done through a betting shop, mainly via a mobile app or online.

[Devils_Advocate]

I wonder how many kids in the 80's got addicted to fags because of that Nick O'Teen fella

[aclaretinstevenage]

I can't help wondering whether some of these comments would be different had Merson been from the North and maybe played for Burnley?

I worked with his brother-in-law from his first marriage (he was actually my apprentice) and a young Merson was reported as being a "sound bloke".

Having two girls with Mental Health issues myself I have sympathy for Merson and his battles ahead and wish him well.

[Jakubclaret]

So alcohol promotions & happy hours must not exist then, it was only awhile ago on here somebody posted about a promotion involving a free 4 pack of brewdog which in order to receive the offer you needed to supply a email address & ever since I think I’ve been bombarded with marketing offers which I rapidly stopped, no industry is better than the other when you go in the pubs you see posters advertising free shots subject to certain offers.

[Lowbankclaret]

Didn’t watch the programme but did read an article last week.
Interestingly Mersin went to buy his son his some new football boots for around £100.

The bank blocked the transaction.

Like he says where were the bank when he put £10000 into a gambling account.

He has a point,

[Wile E Coyote]

william hill advert on ITV just now with ferdinand, Janus, and savage. I find it degrading and disgusting.
these ***** will stop at nothing to inflate their salaries.

[bfccrazy]

So alcohol promotions & happy hours must not exist then, it was only awhile ago on here somebody posted about a promotion involving a free 4 pack of brewdog which in order to receive the offer you needed to supply a email address & ever since I think I’ve been bombarded with marketing offers which I rapidly stopped, no industry is better than the other when you go in the pubs you see posters advertising free shots subject to certain offers.

I got an email from a betting company in the last couple of days ….. upon further inspection, I’d self excluded from the site for about 5 years and was still excluded when they emailed me.

[Wile E Coyote]

yet another ad for another company on ITV, this time its man of the people Cantona, trying to boost the coffers of his already massive bank account. It really is despicable.

[Grumps]

william hill advert on ITV just now with ferdinand, Janus, and savage. I find it degrading and disgusting.
these ***** will stop at nothing to inflate their salaries.

I'd rather them do that than pretend to be football pundits

[Jakubclaret]

I got an email from a betting company in the last couple of days ….. upon further inspection, I’d self excluded from the site for about 5 years and was still excluded when they emailed me.

If people want your money there’s no stopping any of them trying, we shouldn’t be trying to turn this thread into some sort of a contest who’s the most scumbag of industries, I’m not implying you are by the way but others seem to be.

[Grumps]

yet another ad for another company on ITV, this time its man of the people Cantona, trying to boost the coffers of his already massive bank account. It really is despicable.

I see adverts every 15 mins for all types of products, doesn't make me go out and buy them, unless I want to, just seen an advert for cheap wine at asda... Think I need to turn the TV off, I might become an alcoholic

Get a grip..

[Wile E Coyote]

I see adverts every 15 mins for all types of products, doesn't make me go out and buy them, unless I want to, just seen an advert for cheap wine at asda... Think I need to turn the TV off, I might become an alcoholic

Get a grip..

I am getting a grip, another one 10 mins later with podcast hero crouchy advocating paddy power.
if you think youre special for seeing through it , well done, but if you think betting isnt a problem then your are deluded or apathetic to a major problem in this country. also, saying get a grip is pathetic.

[Jakubclaret]

I see adverts every 15 mins for all types of products, doesn't make me go out and buy them, unless I want to, just seen an advert for cheap wine at asda... Think I need to turn the TV off, I might become an alcoholic

Get a grip..

I agree to a certain degree we need to take responsibility for our own choices in life & that’s without dismissing or diminishing the betting problem or any problem which constitutes some form of an addiction. I think when the realisation that something will never disappear dawns with certain people then we can constructively work towards mitigation, similar to the Twitter abuse incidents which will continue I seriously think some people don’t realise just how much control there have & how things can be stopped in an instance.

[Wile E Coyote]

I agree to a certain degree we need to take responsibility for our own choices in life & that’s without dismissing or diminishing the betting problem or any problem which constitutes some form of an addiction. I think when the realisation that something will never disappear dawns with certain people then we can constructively work towards mitigation, similar to the Twitter abuse incidents which will continue I seriously think some people don’t realise just how much control there have & how things can be stopped in an instance.

like grumps, you totally miss the point , the pair of you have NO concept of addiction, therefore your comments are so far wide of the mark as to be thoroughly irrelevant. You might as well have replied about orange sales in 2016. This debate requires common sense sadly for you.

[Jakubclaret]

like grumps, you totally miss the point , the pair of you have NO concept of addiction, therefore your comments are so far wide of the mark as to be thoroughly irrelevant. You might as well have replied about orange sales in 2016. This debate requires common sense sadly for you.

I do I understand completely I just disagree on the action/answers required in solving something, the concept of identifying the root cause is to find out the triggers & what can be done from that point onwards in reducing or ideally eliminating them triggers.

[Grumps]

I am getting a grip, another one 10 mins later with podcast hero crouchy advocating paddy power.
if you think youre special for seeing through it , well done, but if you think betting isnt a problem then your are deluded or apathetic to a major problem in this country. also, saying get a grip is pathetic.

I don't think that betting isn't a problem, for some, and I've never said that it's not.
My issue is that if you read the posts on here the majority of the blame for people becoming gambling addicts is focused on advertising, when clearly there are other, more complex reasons why people end up addicted

Like I've said previously many millions of people are addicted to substances, or activities that have never been advertised anywhere

[Yearofthefox]

That fact that come the end of this month will be six years since i last gave a betting company any of my hard earned cash.

They dont nearly anything enough to tackle problem gambling at all and yes the minute someone wins big they'll find the smallest loophole to avoid paying out.