The betting business is booming in Britain. But is it problem gamblers who are paying the price? We meet the punters who’ve lost everything. The gamblers who don’t know when to quit. And we ask, Are betting companies doing enough to protect problem gamblers? Panorama: Addicted to Gambling, BBC 2019
Around 0.7% of the population is thought to be addicted. That’s approximately 430,000 people, but there could be many more. ibid.
Britain is gambling more than ever before. ibid.
High stakes at the table: a British poker ace is taking on the world’s best … The Rio hotel is putting on a very special event: each year, Vegas hosts the richest playing card tournament on the planet: the World Series of Poker with over $200 million in total prize money. Secret World of Las Vegas 24/7 III, Channel 5 2019
Las Vegas, the home of gambling, is the destination for visitors wanting to splash some serious cash. ibid.
Winner winner chicken dinner ... It’s Vegas law. 21 2008 starring Jim Sturgess & Kevin Spacey & Kate Bosworth & Aaron Yoo & Liza Lapira & Jacob Pitts & Josh Gad & Laurence Fishburne et al, director Robert Luketic, opening commentary
You’re sending collectors to fuck with me at my office? Are you out of your fucking mind? … The watch they took from me is worth $20,000: I want that deducted from the $100,000. Uncut Gems 2019 starring Adam Sandler & Lakeith Stanfield & Julia Fox & Kevin Garnett & Idina Menzel & Eric Bogosian & Judd Hirsch & Keith Williams & Jonathan Aranbayev & Noa Fisher & Abel Tesfaye & Mike Francesca, Howard on dog-n-bone
That’s a million-dollar [black] opal you’re holding. Straight from the Ethiopian Jewish town. This is old school. Middle Earth shit. ibid.
Bookie: It’s the dumbest fucking bet I ever heard of.
Howard: I disagree. ibid.
By the end of the 13th century it had been overtaken by an influx of secular newcomers that had stayed with us to this day: this is when Chess, Draughts and Backgammon made their way into Games Britannia. Benjamin Whoolley, Games Britannia I: Dicing with Destiny, BBC 2020
There was another game: a game Chaucer was playing in the devil’s temples. It was said it was the making of a man or it undid him in the twinkling of an eye. It they called it Hazard. ibid.
What was so dangerous about it? Simple. Gambling … Hazard was condemned by the Church. ibid.
By the end of the 18th century the problem of gambling had become one of the most important social and political issues of the day. ibid.
The gaming tables of London were laden with the huge inheritances of aristocrats. This club Crockfords was a the epicentre of this speculative mania gripping Britain. It was London’s leading gambling hell. ibid.
1845 Gambling Act: This was to regulate gambling for the next century and a half. ibid.
A group of takeover men grew up who began to break up the old paternalist world that had dominated British industry. The social centre for the takeover men was the Clermont Club, a gambling club in Berkeley Square in Mayfair. It was run by a right-wing aristocrat called John Aspinall; he was a ferocious professional gambler, and those he admired and let into his club were those he described as risk takers. Adam Curtis, The Mayfair Set II: Entrepreneur Spelt S.P.I.V ***** BBC 1999
Goldsmith now became a close friend of Slater’s. Goldsmith specialised in targeting food companies. ibid.
To the establishment, the Clermont set were a group of destructive gamblers. They were tearing up British industry and fuelling a dangerous boom in the stock market … ibid.
1921: Britain’s first ever gangland war between two gangs from different cities. Throughout 1921 hundreds of gangsters fight brutal running battles for control over illegal racecourse rackets. Thugs from Birmingham and south London on one side, Italian and Jewish mobs on the other. And at the root of these racecourse wars is a man called Billy Kimber, Britain’s first nationwide gangland kingpin. The Real Peaky Blinders II: The Racecourse Wars, BBC 2022
Just like prohibition of alcohol spurred the rise of organised crime and gangsterism in America, prohibition of gambling will have the same effect here. ibid.
The real money to be made in gambling in the 1910s is at the races themselves. These are the only places where respectable punters can legally go to bet. And where large amounts of cash is changing hands, gather the thieves and the rogues. ibid.
The Birmingham gang gets wind very quickly that Darby Sibini’s going to be coming in to support the Jewish bookmakers. ibid.
The so-called Battle of Epsom propounds the racecourse wars into the limelight. ibid.
Gambling’s got nothing to do with making money. It’s about winning and losing. Smoking Guns 2017 starring Daniel Caltagrione & Count Prince Miller & Ewen Macintosh & Paul Anastasi & Andreas Karras & Jamie Crew & Tommy O’Neil & Mem Freda et al, director Savvas D Michael
Britain’s online betting boom. But are we gambling with addiction? And will government reforms do enough to reduce the risk? Tonight: High Stakes: Britain’s Betting Boom, ITV 2023
There’s an uncomfortable marriage we can no longer afford to ignore … Football & Gambling: who’s really winning out of these deals? And at what cost? Now the law on gambling is up for review. Dispatches: Football’s Gambling Addiction, Channel 4 2021
An estimated 1.4 million aged 16-34 gamble regularly on football, mainly online. ibid.
So how did we end up with this 24/7 football betting culture? ibid.
Troy Stolz is a gambling industry whistleblower who knows his time is running out [cancer]. Four Corners: High Stakes ABC 2023
‘They didn’t want to stop the money laundering.’ ibid.
For decades ClubsNSW has been one of Australia’s most influential lobby groups notorious for attacking its critics. ibid.
Troy Stolz exposed secrets of the club industry emboldening other insiders to speak out. ibid.