With the world’s technology advances in the past decade, gambling has become so much easier, for anyone anywhere, to place a bet. Paddy Power was founded in 1988 when three existing Irish bookmakers merged. There are now 212 shop outlets around Ireland. They also have an iPhone App, Telephone Betting, and a YouTube Channel.
While asking around almost everyone agreed that of course betting on a game makes it better. If you’re a non-gambler like me you may not have known this. If you regularly bet on games, then you’re probably rolling your eyes like the others I questioned. I continued on to ask why this is.
James, a regular gambler, says it’s “Totally better, way more interesting when you’ve placed a bet,” even if you lose the game he still thinks it’s better. When asked what you do when you lose, James replied, “Try winning it back,”
What if you lose again?
“ Yeah but you might win, that’s the only thing gamblers have to look forward to, no matter how many times you lose, you will keep trying to win, that’s how the bookies get ya.”
Philly, 21, has been betting on premier league games and horse races since the age of 16. He agrees with James, “It makes the game more exciting for me to watch,” However he would never place more than five euro on a bet because then he would feel like he is wasting too much money. “I do lose a good bit of money to gambling. If I went down [bookies] once a week with twenty euro each time, I realise it does add up. It’s the risk, it’s very addictive.”
Evan, 19, was the only person who told me that “when you lose a game you’ve bet on, it does ruin the game even more than it would if you didn’t have money on it.”
Disturbing as it is that all of these people don’t see any harm in gambling or the affects in the long term, it wasn’t surprising to hear that even young teens are taking part. Research has indicated that eight in ten teenagers have gambled in the past year and these are the people most likely to develop gambling problems.
Philly mentioned that he often sees underage teens in his local Paddy Power, “There’s more excitement for younger people going down to the bookies than one might think, especially since they usually only bet a couple of euro on a few races, so they don’t feel as though they’re losing much.”
It’s hard to see the harm in placing small amounts of money on different games just once or twice a week. Although some peoples gambling habits have escalated to a point where they’re in debt and their lives are falling apart. Proof of this is the fact that sites such as ‘gamblingtherapy.org’ exist. It could begin with a small bet on your favourite football team to win, and then rises to a much larger issue.
On the site mentioned above, Steve is a sports gambler who is so addicted he just wants to end it all. He is “Filled with anxiety and with insomnia and continuous thoughts of suicidal.” Since the age of ten, he has been very interested in professional sports and soon developed an interest in knowing about sports. At 16, he began to gamble and he states, “These 10 years I have been going through hell haunted by gambling.”
Searching on Google you can find so many more stories just like Steve’s. Endless links to stories of families and lives destroyed by gambling. It’s only when you start to read them you realise how big of an issue it is.
Lisa, who is against gambling for her own personal reasons, says “Well personally, I have an addictive personality so if I started gambling I’d find it hard to stop. I think it’s a loser’s game. You always hear about their [gamblers] wins, and never about their losses.”
For someone who doesn’t gamble, it’s hard to understand the buzz and the adrenaline rush that you get when you place a bet, even if you lose. Even hearing about it from all sides, it’s still difficult to comprehend. Does the prospect of knowing you may win outweigh the problem of losing? Can people watch their favourite team play a game without placing a bet, and still enjoy it as much as those with money on it? I would assume so since there are many people who do just that. However I find it hard to believe that the gamblers out there would agree.
LAURA CONNOLLY JOURNALISM 