Lewis Pek Editor
Comment October 2016
Flicking through Netflix I recently came across a Bill Hicks comedy show, a comedian I hadn’t watched or even thought about for 20 years. I have to say that I sat through it mostly grim-faced, the material very much of its time and jokes about smoking and lung-cancer feeling especially brutal given Hick’s death aged 32. I mention this as on the same night I also watched an hour-long news programme examining Fixed Odds Betting Machines in the UK and their affect on players.
The next day I received an article from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which gleefully dismissed all the aspects of the FOBT piece that were balanced and explanatory, and focused on the negatives, calling for a review and ultimately a ban on the devices.
What strikes me about the call to ban anything is that there’s never a plan B. Looking back 20 years to the once thriving AWP sector in the UK, similar natured campaigns drove hardcore players out of the pubs as intended, but instead of being a “cure,” the diaspora of players headed straight to licensed betting shops and ultimately to FOBTs.
If the campaigns are “successful” and manage to remove the terminals from LBOs, or even cripple the stakes and prizes to ensure they’re as unappealing to hardcore players as AWPs, is there an expectation that a problem will have been solved? What comes next? If you stifle LBOs
I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW A BAN IS A SOLUTION TO ANYTHING. PEOPLE RESPOND BADLY TO OTHERS DICTATING WHAT THEY CAN DO
are the High Streets in the UK suddenly going to see a resurgence of greengrocers, butchers and bakers? And will players be satisfied with a watered-down product, or failing that - no product at all? How does that work? Where do they go - and why’s that any better than now?
I don’t understand how a ban is a solution to anything. People respond badly to others dictating what they can and can’t do, even if it’s in their best interests.
Hicks knew he should stop smoking, he understood the arguments and did the exact opposite, instead bragging that he’d cut down to just two lighters per day. At the time that seemed pretty funny, but not with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I’d like to think the campaigners have a plan B for all those players they’re seeking to protect from LBOs once they’re out in the wild again. Hicks said: “When two or more people agree on an issue, I form on the other side.” I reckon that will be true here too.
EDITORIAL
G3 Magazine Editor Lewis Pek
lewis@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0) 1942 879291
G3Newswire Editor Phil Martin
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John Carroll
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