As a number of people, both in and around the gambling industry and others know J4P is struggling with some of the work it is doing, e.g. helping with awful gambling disorder cases and having to keep them private, whilst gambling companies continue to behave badly.
J4P hastens to add that this is the right thing to do unless a person has specifically agreed to speak to the media and even then it’s important to keep checking frequently if a person is still happy.
As parents, grandparents, friends or even as strangers people frequently help toddlers who fall. People pick them up, check if they’re OK and add a plaster or more if needed.
J4P’s social responsibility gambling dispute experience of when adults ‘fall’ (have a gambling disorder) is quite the opposite. It often feel like this:
i.e. It’s more about taking the money and leaving the vulnerable person with nothing than ‘picking somebody up when they fall’.
Even worse when it’s absolutely clear, based on evidence provided by a gambling company, said company still refuses to provide help when a person ‘falls’. You know who you are.
The last two weeks has reminded J4P of how much our current ethically correct policy benefits the gambling industry, e.g. very poor behaviour by gambling companies is frequently kept secret. So, what to do?
J4P will update this blog 12-months from now. There’s no point giving clues.
But, what are the following doing to help in the case of financial settlements where gambling companies have done things wrong; Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Gambling Commission and the Betting & Gaming Council?