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05 Oct 23
13:58
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Date Joined:
10 Jan 02
In today's paper I think, though may be earlier. The elephant in the room that newspapers/racing/bookies can't question openly for fear of being labelled heartless.
I've done a bit of statistics digging as personally I think that figure is complete BS. And as it is central to the argument for ACs it's worth looking to see if general data supports that.
According to Eurostat the UK had one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe in 2015 (the year I have data from, not picked or chosen) and also perhaps the most lenient attitude towards gambling in Europe, so there's no correlation there.
Since 1981 to 2020 the suicide rate has fallen from roughly 15 to 10 people per 100,000. So it's fallen. Year by year it fluctuates but the general progression is down. If you draw a straight line between 2020 and 1981 and hit 1999 (when roughly online gambling started) 1999 falls exactly on the straight line. So there is no supporting evidence there either that online gambling leads to increased suicides.
There were 5,219 suicides in 2019. So implying 400 of them wouldn't have happened if they didn't gamble (online?) is quite a claim, especially when the overall suicidal statistics for the UK show no correlating increase whatsoever. What even does "gambling related" mean? According to the government (laugh) 43% of the public gamble monthly and 26% of people gamble online. So a loose definition of gambling related can easily be estimated at 400, but that doesn't mean anywhere near that figure were caused by gambling or indeed any at all. Deaths with COVID and deaths from COVID spring to mind. Quite different.
Then there is the argument (likelihood imo and supported by overall suicidal figures) that it is a common personality type that commits suicide and gambles recklessly, and it is the personality type that is the causal factor and not gambling, and these people most likely would've committed suicide whether they gambled or not. I don't doubt there are a few isolated cases where gambling was the clear trigger, but it will be nowhere near the ridiculous assertion that it is 400, and as the overall figures for suicide show no correlation to the advent of online gambling, I suspect that those that do, do so in a similar percentage to the 80s and early 90s when there was no online gambling.
I've done a bit of statistics digging as personally I think that figure is complete BS. And as it is central to the argument for ACs it's worth looking to see if general data supports that.
According to Eurostat the UK had one of the lowest suicide rates in Europe in 2015 (the year I have data from, not picked or chosen) and also perhaps the most lenient attitude towards gambling in Europe, so there's no correlation there.
Since 1981 to 2020 the suicide rate has fallen from roughly 15 to 10 people per 100,000. So it's fallen. Year by year it fluctuates but the general progression is down. If you draw a straight line between 2020 and 1981 and hit 1999 (when roughly online gambling started) 1999 falls exactly on the straight line. So there is no supporting evidence there either that online gambling leads to increased suicides.
There were 5,219 suicides in 2019. So implying 400 of them wouldn't have happened if they didn't gamble (online?) is quite a claim, especially when the overall suicidal statistics for the UK show no correlating increase whatsoever. What even does "gambling related" mean? According to the government (laugh) 43% of the public gamble monthly and 26% of people gamble online. So a loose definition of gambling related can easily be estimated at 400, but that doesn't mean anywhere near that figure were caused by gambling or indeed any at all. Deaths with COVID and deaths from COVID spring to mind. Quite different.
Then there is the argument (likelihood imo and supported by overall suicidal figures) that it is a common personality type that commits suicide and gambles recklessly, and it is the personality type that is the causal factor and not gambling, and these people most likely would've committed suicide whether they gambled or not. I don't doubt there are a few isolated cases where gambling was the clear trigger, but it will be nowhere near the ridiculous assertion that it is 400, and as the overall figures for suicide show no correlation to the advent of online gambling, I suspect that those that do, do so in a similar percentage to the 80s and early 90s when there was no online gambling.
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bookies still giving monthly bonuses for whoever gets the most people addicted to the FOBT ??
Bit like the C19 death figures......someone who got run over by a bus but tested positive for C19 their death was recorded as dying from C19. They can play with the figures all day long to suit their own agenda. Eventually once the public had cottoned on to what was happening deaths were recorded as WITH C19 and not FROM it....massive difference
only way this has anything to do with horseracing is if someone got suicidal about being limited to 12p max take out a race. probably more to do with someone losing £500 a spin on The Slapstick Slots Palace.
so lets not lump all forms of gambling together.
so lets not lump all forms of gambling together.
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