Seven Bans The Gambling Industry Needs To Impose On Itself

Despite launching itself onto the clean fresh air of the Internet’s highlands with the enthusiasm of a hungry tiger in a school playground the gambling industry is still reticent to rid itself of the grubby stains on its character that continue to hamper it with negative connotations. Wholesale reform might be prohibitively complex and expensive, but there are some small few changes that could be made that would improve the generally held public perception. Here’s seven.

1. Ban Alcohol

Allowing your customers to be under the influence of drink (or indeed any recreational drug) is, in this day and age, wholly unacceptable. Trackside bookies, betting shops and casinos all need to be rid of this brain inhibitor as it continues to make them appear as predatory as Bill Cosby or Roman Polanski. The days when taking advantage of people who are addled by alcohol are over and the sooner the gambling industry realizes this and creates a zero-tolerance policy of association the better for it’s rep.

2. Ban Sports Sponsorship

The gambling industry is already responsible for fixing most sporting events placing their name all over them is simply rubbing people’s noses in it and there will need to be a divestment of this obviously corrupting influence each has on the other. Those that like to bet on sports in India or the UK or US will have heard the argument that some sports wouldn’t survive the removal of this funding, but honestly if they aren’t popular enough to support themselves or get different sponsors, it’s not sport.

3. Ban Tax Breaks

This is one of the most negatively impacting regularities of the gambling industry as the necessary licensing and regulation compliance brings them into close contact with the criminal world of politics and it invariably involves horse trading on applicable taxation, just ask Donald Trump, and as the gulf twixt rich and poor continues to expand that seemingly uneven playing field they leverage will slowly outweigh the aspiration glamour that is a cornerstone of the gambling industry in numerous nations.

4. Ban Lotteries

One of the oldest forms of gambling in the world it is high time this game for suckers is removed from the gambling industry’s repertoire and ceases its relentless connotation of bloodsucking off the poor that it merrily spills in every direction. US, UK and even Indian gambling laws might permit these ridiculously long-odds wagers but the harm they cause to the image of the industry is magnitudes greater than the profits now the internet and mobile gaming has invaded the small-stake market.

5. Ban TV Advertisements

The “live” or “in game” betting adverts that adorn the breaks in our favorite sporting events have to stop. I don’t need Ray Winstone to bring the gambling industry into my home, if I want to gamble there are a myriad of options for me just the click of a mouse away none of which my children need be exposed to. The invasive nature of this hard sell tactic is self-defeating as it continues to perpetuate the sordid hustling and desperation that so taints the rest of the business and just isn’t acceptable in 2018.

6. Ban Loot Boxes

With games like Overwatch and Star Wars Battlefront II hitting the headlines for their Loot Boxes (a game mechanic of random rewards one can optionally pay for) it is obvious the gambling industry has some competition on their hands, and competition that isn’t so fussy about who it targets. The mercenary video game industry will tar all gamblers with their ham-fisted attempts to addict the young and the gambling industry therefore has a massive vested interest in getting all “loot boxes” banned.

7. Ban Machines From The Gambling Industry

If there’s one thing that makes the gambling industry look bad in the Indian gambling news headlines it’s the machines. From one armed bandits to fruit machines, pokies to FOBTs, it doesn’t matter in what form these automated games take they all appear an inhuman harvesting of cash, and whilst the house might always win, it should at least have the decency of showing a human face as it does so. No one minds losing their cash to a croupier or dealer, but to a bleeping box of binary bits? It has to stop.