It's amazing how gambling can divide people. As far as I'm concerned, today's announcement that the new Vegas-style 'Super Casino' will be sited in Manchester is bad news for all. Not that I particularly care where it's sited, I just don't want it anywhere. If you look at some of the reports and comments about it today, though, you'd think that it was going to do nothing but good for the local and national economy.
To me gambling is more than just a waste of money - it's the source of personal, family and societal ruin and is generally a really sad way of occupying one's time. I've never seen anything remotely glamorous in it (just look through the windows of a local Ladbrook's when the racing is on and all you see is a bunch of tatty, tired-looking blokes staring at screens). I have far better ways of wasting money than hanging around an airless, windowless cavern surrounded by people in sweatpants losing their hard-earned cash at roulette and Black Jack tables.
Also, as a nation in close to £1.3 billion of debt (nearly 3 billion of it non-mortgage debt) I think we need more opportunities to gamble like we need a hole in the head. Already 4 million people gamble online every month and that's not counting the millions who gamble on horses and anything else that moves. Come September when online gambling will be thoroughly endorsed in this country there will be more millions falling under its spell. It's nasty, it's addictive, it destroys lives, families and futures. I don't see how anyone could rejoice in yet more opportunities to be miserable.
But the Nationwide, among others, seems to be. In a press release that I've just had sent to me they say "This could be good news for house prices in Manchester. It will bring new jobs to the city and the decision clearly represents a vote of confidence in Manchester's infrastructure and the city's ability to support a new super-casino. New jobs will lead to an increased need for housing which will support local demand and house prices." Maybe. But while some may get a job or see a few extra thousand on the price of their house, many more will be losing their homes, their families, their self-respect.
What makes me angriest is the fact that this Government (like the Tories) is blatantly encouraging the increase in ways to make people miserable and destitute. The 'Culture' Secretary Tessa Jowell says the government has modernised and tightened the laws on gambling, which would now be "the most protective legislation in the world". Yeh right - protective of all the lovely tax revenue it will be getting from the casinos and the online gambling companies that will be welcomed with open arms onto our shores.
To me gambling is more than just a waste of money - it's the source of personal, family and societal ruin and is generally a really sad way of occupying one's time. I've never seen anything remotely glamorous in it (just look through the windows of a local Ladbrook's when the racing is on and all you see is a bunch of tatty, tired-looking blokes staring at screens). I have far better ways of wasting money than hanging around an airless, windowless cavern surrounded by people in sweatpants losing their hard-earned cash at roulette and Black Jack tables.
Also, as a nation in close to £1.3 billion of debt (nearly 3 billion of it non-mortgage debt) I think we need more opportunities to gamble like we need a hole in the head. Already 4 million people gamble online every month and that's not counting the millions who gamble on horses and anything else that moves. Come September when online gambling will be thoroughly endorsed in this country there will be more millions falling under its spell. It's nasty, it's addictive, it destroys lives, families and futures. I don't see how anyone could rejoice in yet more opportunities to be miserable.
But the Nationwide, among others, seems to be. In a press release that I've just had sent to me they say "This could be good news for house prices in Manchester. It will bring new jobs to the city and the decision clearly represents a vote of confidence in Manchester's infrastructure and the city's ability to support a new super-casino. New jobs will lead to an increased need for housing which will support local demand and house prices." Maybe. But while some may get a job or see a few extra thousand on the price of their house, many more will be losing their homes, their families, their self-respect.
What makes me angriest is the fact that this Government (like the Tories) is blatantly encouraging the increase in ways to make people miserable and destitute. The 'Culture' Secretary Tessa Jowell says the government has modernised and tightened the laws on gambling, which would now be "the most protective legislation in the world". Yeh right - protective of all the lovely tax revenue it will be getting from the casinos and the online gambling companies that will be welcomed with open arms onto our shores.
posted by Jasmine Birtles @ 10:24 AM
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