Gambling Discussion on Claire Byrne Show

I'm sure some have gambling addiction, and the stories make good television.
It will be a first when the interviewer asks how they make their selections and how much research they do.
Instead they sympathise and ask about getting help.
You never see winning gamblers on a TV show saying they have a gambling addiction.
I could be wrong but my idea is the addicts are unsuccessful in other areas and are trying to make up for those failures.
Ask questions about their education, qualifications, job training, job position (if any), property, friendships, relationships.

Can we have a program about people who gambled buying holiday homes, properties to let, properties abroad?
We criticise bankers and mortgage companies but not the borrowers, the middle-class family men?

Are we averse to teaching risk assessment in our schools?

The discussion is wide-ranging and and concerns more than simply Davy Glennon's gambling addiction.

I saw the show and I have spoken since the show to one of the speakers.
It was a rinse and repeat of all the gambling addict TV shows I've seen.

i felt sorry for davy glennon  but i wonder if annie power had won would he have been on it?  i agree a lot of problem gamblers are poor ones..i see them regulary any time i visit a pp..

You make valid points kincsem although clearly have little sympathy for the losers. I have the hopeless qualification of saying "I haven't seen the show".

If you accept some gamblers are addicts you could hardly apply your reasoning to alcohol, drug or sex addiction i.e. what school did you attend??

Context is everything: I would be right behind any programme that makes a serious attempt to restrict the pervasive and insidious influence of bookmakers in society today-watching empty shops looking for the last euro at 9pm on a rainy night is something to be avoided. I would ban all adverts on TV and impose limits on amounts that can be bet, if possible. Betting is now mainstream and lottery numbers, bingo and roulette are there to suck you in.

If you are a "gambler" you haven't a prayer of making the game pay. If you take any betting seriously - specialisation, the key - you are investing just like a Davy's investment strategist. You don't have to win but, obviously, if you fail your career will be short-lived. Plenty of betting strategies that may win you modest amounts (or contain losses) but the gambler wont be interested in this, its far too predictable and boring. For him/her the rush of the impetuous act, the chasing, the reality and the ultimate self-loathing.

On the question of addiction Ger Gilroy eviscerated some football head and his autobiography (principally, about gambling)last night on his sports programme. This was a rehash of an identical interview some weeks ago (same author) and how he wasn't prepared for the same line of questioning (apparent lack of remorse over an affair with an underage girl) beggars belief. Thank god he didn't confess to being a convert to Islam.

Feel sorry for Davy in ways but at the same time I don't.

Got absolutely cleaned here betting in-running on a race from Fontwell on Stephen's Day 2012, a complete moment of madness that I knew was intellectually wrong while I was doing it. I'd been skating fairly close to the wind for 6 months prior with similar ****, think it was because I was very unhappy in my job at the time. Hadn't a bean till I was paid the end of January. Always bet within my means since.

Kincsman makes some very valid points; lot of these lads are up the town polishing walls with the seat of their pants, fck-all else to do. Glennon has other options being who he is, he should avail of them.

Just on the Annie Power story I read just there when I googled him, I'll always remember one of the O'Hehirs on Morning Ireland the following day saying that the Mullins 4-timer was a stupid bet; what a pr!ck! That year was the culmination and Mullins will probably never have a string like that again, nor will anyone in National Hunt in Irealnd.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/hurling/davy-glennon-i-wasnt-trying-t...

Cant all be diciplined maths shrewdies

I'm getting on the moral high ground again.

These TV programs are nothing about gambling addiction imo.
They are car crash television (a bit like Jeremy Kyle) where viewers like to gloat on the trouble of the unfortunate.
You will only see personalities with gambling problems on these shows: GAA and soccer stars the usual guests.
These shows are also a showcase for psychologists and psychiatrists.

The gambling star gets publicity, often for a book. 
The gambler gets to tell their story, but the questions are mild,  the answers vague, and the anecdotes told.

One person who regularly appears I knew years ago.
The person might have the qualifications and position, but my guess knows little about gambling.

^ i wish I was a maths shrewdie

I agree with RoyalAcademy's point about the bookmakers getting  a very easy time.
What about a TV program that lists their practices, and the strong targeting of problem gamblers.
Anyone that loses an average industrial annual wage should be barred online and in the shops permanently.
I'm sure they have face recognition and cameras in the shops that could identify every punter if the will was there.

I have a Nikon camera.  Most of my images are landscape/street scenes.
When I loaded free photo software onto my PC (Picasa) it automatically tried to name 3,000 faces in my image files.

Bookmakers already download snooping software to your PC if you bet with them, and know all sites you visit.

Once upon a time most of the bookies were sportsmen who liked the challenge of backing their judgement against others . Times have changed though , even if the regulations ( non existent essentially) have not kept pace with a moral society .  Too easy for punters to gamble these days , 24/7 , and there are also the pernicious numbers games and slot crap . Nowadays the bookies essentially have a licence to print money , all their efforts are geared to luring punters into situations where the bookie has a guaranteed profit . Government presumably gets a cut of their profits .

Hence the restrictions being applied to punters who know where they have a chance . Mug punters are easily identified , and are encouraged to indulge their addiction / lack of judgement .

Longer term I see some government assessing the real situation and banning the more nefarious elements of betting / gambling. Writing is already on the wall for the bookies re shops which increasingly are devoid of stand around punters . Over the weekend I was in a number of bookies where I was the only customer  ( in the middle of the days Saturday racing ). Main interest on Saturdays seem to be soccer , not racing which was the tradition many years ago .

It should be a fairly easy exercise for any government to monitor peoples gambling , if the bookies can track them then it should be simple for those who are in a position to monitor internet activity . Big Brother .  Harder to identify cash customers , although I suspect that some bookies will resort to technology to limit cash punters .

don't know