Panorama tonight 12 August 2019

Thanks for the heads up. Ive set it to record.

It would be dishonest not to say that I fear programmes like this just dont have enough influence to change things.

Those that think the addiction is just being silly with money will probably continue to feel that way

The government dont want the boat rocking and Ive seen programmes about gambling addiction before and nothing seems to change in response to them .

I just dont think the programmes are made with enough strength of feeling but thats my point of view about a monumental issue

Best wishes to everyone on the forum

It was sobering viewing , and no doubt very difficult and uncomfortable viewing for the industry. The statistics were very eye opening.

Yeah I thought the programme was pretty good. It's never gona be exactly how you would like it but it got the message across pretty well.

The message of how insidious its become in our society and in football fandom in particular.  It exposed how unethical gambling companies are - which is no surprise to us but might be an eye opener for many.

It also highlighted how self-regulation simply doesn't work.

I thought that the President of the Gambling Commission came across poorly and like a lackey of the Industry.

They used fairly extreme case studies - people who lost figures rarely seen on these forums.  I did worry slightly that the sheer amount of loss (people losing literally millions or one woman lost her entire savings and house worth about £500k) - that the sheer scale made these people somehow unrelatable to the Joe Bloggs viewer.

I also didn't buy the idea that so-and-so addict was perfect 'but for the gambling addiction' - as this simply is never the case. Gambling addiction doesn't happen in a vaccum but is a symptom of a deeper problem.

It made me think that I've been pretty unlucky with my addiction.  My addiction was from something like 2002-2013.  This was peak de-regulation without any public awareness of this being a major social problem. There's far more awareness of the dangers now and there's now clear widespread support in favour of taking on the Industry.

On the other hand, no doubt I would've found some other outlet to express my disatisfaction with life.  Perhaps a more harmful one.

Yes, they've sponsoring more sport than ever.  But I really think their glory days are numbered.  Heavy sponsorship of sport has often been the pariah's form of sponsorship.  The death throes of sponsorship before being banned.  Think B & H/Embassy and their sponsorship of snooker.

Thank god we still have the BBC which is capable of doing serious journalism on important social issues which otherwise aren't getting sufficient airtime.