This is a great article on the impact that expansive gambling has had on UK’s citizens, and what we can expect here in the US if we continue to expand gambling.
There have always been gambling addicts. Go back in time to Britain’s official inquiries into gambling in 1978, 1951 or even the 1930s and you will find the same concerns being expressed about the dangers it posed to the public, particularly those on middle or lower incomes. As late as the 1970s, the Rothschild Royal Commission concluded that some paternalism was “desirable” and fretted about “housewives being deflected into prize bingo establishments during their morning shopping in the high street”.
But that was an analogue age when betting was confined to a few somewhat staid outlets. Macey came of age at a time when the gambling industry was not only going digital but becoming ever slicker about selling its wares. From 1999, powerful new machines started to appear in bookies’ shops. FOBTs allowed punters to stake large sums — up to £100 on a single spin — on games that offered fixed odds and paid out a set proportion of the takings as winnings. Best of all, they were super-fast. Spin succeeded spin within seconds, helping to induce the trance-like state in which punters obediently emptied their wallets.
https://www.ft.com/content/cde538be-a821-11e9-b6ee-3cdf3174eb89?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6&fbclid=IwAR3Dt1AnfskJAOKH2Iw15AI-0yGxuCFKg1Ph6Ximp26Apt2TCsHIH_DBAg4
