Read on Twitter
Here's the gambling industry lobby group complaining about "fiction", via the platform of a website edited, until recently, by its chief press officer. A few things that might be considered fictional... https://twitter.com/BetGameCouncil/status/1347822921167720448
1. The claim, made repeatedly by the BGC, that the industry's whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling ads during sport has reduced the volume of gambling ads seen by kids by 97%.
That simply isn't true. The 97% reduction only refers to the time period covered by the ban. The overall reduction is 70% (according to an industry-commissioned report anyway). Some might say that's a decent result so I don't know why they feel the need to misrepresent.
It should be noted that, shortly after the ban, we got 8.15 Premier League kick-offs for the first time. The ban no longer applies from 9pm, so do theaths on that.
2. The BGC has loudly claimed that the industry supported a ban on credit card betting. See for yourself....
3. The BGC recently commissioned a report suggesting black market gambling is a £1.4bn-a-yewr operation, the implication being that tougher regulation would make this worse. Now, I'm not saying that's fiction, although the industry won't let me see the report. But...
They managed to plant a story about it in the Sun on Sunday that made a number of claims with zero supporting evidence, such as that "thousands" of teens are betting on the black market.
So it feels a bit rich for the BGC to be lecturing anyone about fiction.
Don't forget that the BGC started paying a Tory MP £2000/month for advice on safer gambling weeks before a government gambling review kicked off. Now that really does feel like it ought to be fictional.
Don't forget that the BGC started paying a Tory MP £2000/month for advice on safer gambling weeks before a government gambling review kicked off. Now that really does feel like it ought to be fictional.
4. I suppose I should add that the BGC repeatedly refers to gambling reform campaigners as "prohibitionists". This is a PR strategy intended to create a fictional narrative. I've never met anyone who wants gambling banned and I've met most people in this area of campaigning.
