Online Gambling Discussion On Talksport Radio With Mike Dicken
Gambling on the internet is becoming big business. That can only mean 1 thing. People are losing big money. It is a seedy pastime, for nerds only says "My Health Is Not In Question" - Mike Dicken
Andrew Poole the Young Persons Education Officer of Gamcare is the first and probably last expert on the show. Andrew Poole is not really saying very much I would not already know, but certainly stuff non internet gamblers would not.
Main point of concern is youngsters gambling online. Andrew has spoken of a few instances where kids have got online to gamble, some even with their parents credit card.
Another point of discussion Mike Dicken is having with Andrew Poole is the payout and depositing methods. Mike Dicken is fully aware that gambling debts are not recoverable by law. Mike is not sure why people bother pay the debts actually.
Andrew says that some online gamblers have lost houses and that online gamblers have had marriage break-ups and relationship problems. Quite worrisome actually.
Mike Dicken thinks that the internet is the next dangerous thing since the invention of the hydrogen bomb Internet gambling is one of the main problems with the internet and Mike Dicken reckons the problem is reachine "epidemic" proportions. Especially with the lack of regulation. Mike has a solid point there. The lack of real online gambling regulation is a crying shame in my opinion.
The first live caller from the general public to the Mike Dicken show called "Ted", says online gambling should be regulated. Ted says internet gambling is not a major problem. Mike un-humbly disagrees.
The next caller to the online gambling discussion, "Gavin", reckons gambling in general is lunacy. Cartoon racing in the bookies and online (ie virtual racing), dogs, virtual roulette, sports betting, horses, football and even "rapido" (lotto) amongst other things are ridiculous.
Caller 4, Andrew, says he recently lost 16 grand in 1 hour while waiting to go to work. Andrew says he went from 10 pound to 20, to 40, to a hundred and to 500 quid a hand on blackjack. Andrew says he cannot believe he did such a thing and reckons his brain must have turned to mush for a hot minute. Andrew says once one goes on the chase after losses, the thing can just steamroller from there. Andrew is now a member of
gamblers anonymous and is currently working weekends driving a lorry up and down to distraction, to recover the debt, money taken from the family account.
Caller 5 on the radio is Joe. Joe is a compulsive gambler. Joe used to run a betting shop. The 2 did not mix, ie being a compulsive gambler and running a betting shop. Joe says his father was a compulsive gambler too, who lost his money, his marriage and his sanity..
Joe says poker rooms are advertised everywhere. On tv, on train stations, on taxis and everywhere else he looks and probably should'nt be. I think Joe has a point. Joe is concerned the general public do not realise the dangers of gambling online.
Caller 6 is "Francine" who used to run a betting shop for years. Francine says she used to get wives coming into the bookie she ran begging her to refuse their husband's bets, as the children don't even have shoes to wear. Francine says it was heartbreaking. Francine says she sometimes used to refuse gamblers who had lost too much in the bookies.
Caller 7 to the Mike Dicken show - Mike (2) - is concerned about underage gambling on the internet. Mike disagrees with online gambling because it is too easy to do, too accessible. Mike says if gamblers want to bet, they should have to go to a casino onland. Thereby making gambling less accessible. Mike cannot see what anyone gets from online gambling. Mike reckons atleast going to a casino for a meal and a drink, then a gamble, is atleast entertainment.
Mike says online gambling offers neither of those things apart from a medium to lose your money, all too quickly at that.
Caller 8 to the internet gambling discussion is "Christine". Christine disagrees with gambling alltogether. Christine thinks gambling should be barred by the government. Christine says she wants something for her money and does not consider losing money gambling as getting anything for her hard earned money.
Caller 9 on the radio gambling discussion is Robert. Robert says the problem with internet poker is it is a con and the government know it. Robert says the way to win at poker is to get 3 friends, with 3 mobiles, on a multiplayer poker player table and collude with your friends by telling each other what cards you have via the mobile phones, thereby fixing the game.
Caller 10 to the online gambling discussion is Silvia. Silvia says she grew up watching her father gamble and he won nothing atall. Silvia says gambling just makes people miserable, because they get addicted. Silvia says her father gambled and drunk all his money away and just became bitter.
Advert break..
Caller 11 on Mike Dicken's internet gambling discussion is Dave from Ealing. Dave spent 4 years as a chauffuer for 2 casinos. Dave says he saw 1 punter gamble away everything he had. In the end, the punter came to the casino via the bus. In the end the casino staff felt sorry for the punter. He still gambled the little he had left from his giro I guess, every day. The punter was once gambling 300k a night, 5k a hand, 3 hands at a time at blackjack (pontoon or 21 in the UK). Dave says 80% of the large gamblers in the casinos were from overseas.
Caller 12 on Mike's radio gambling discussion is Danny from Sunderland. Danny says his dad was part of the Falklands war and was on 1k a week wages. While he was in the Falklands he never gambled obviously. When Danny's dad came back, he gambled all the money away.
I must admit, to risk ones life fighting a war, to blow the lot upon ones safe return, is pretty grim. Very grim actually.
Danny says his dad still works very hard and gambles it all away. Danny's mother and father are now divorced. Danny did not say whether the marriage break-up was due to gambling, but I believe that was the inference.
Caller 13 on the online gambling radio discussion is Michael from London. Michael says "this online gambling thing will only get bigger".
Michael says the professional gambler will go into a casino to win a set amount of money and will walk out. Once the casinos spot a professional gambler, Michael says the punter is ejected from the casino by staff. Michael says the casinos frown upon card counters, but cannot see what is wrong with card counters, apart from the fact the counter tries as hard as the casino to win money.
I count the cards when I play rummy for fun with my family, you have to watch what cards are gone no? So I do not think there is anything different with card counting either.
Advert Break.
Funnily enough, Mike Dicken, as per his job, now has to call out an advert for getminted.com and is currently rolling the ball on a roulette wheel as a promotion. Most likely via a sound effect, not a real roulette wheel, who knows. A caller called Jesse won £ 200. I think someone is pulling Mike Dicken's plonker on that one.
End Of Mike Dicken's Online Gambling Radio DiscussionGamblog Comment >> About as negative a discussion re gambling online and offline as I have ever heard. Some very sad stories of gambling woe.
All said and done, Mike Dicken agrees that gambling online or off, is up to the individual. Mike Dicken does not and will not gamble online.
Mike Dicken does however, gamble on the horses every now and then. I actually recall Mike Dicken calling out some decent horseracing tips of his own choice, when he was on the radio between 10am and 1pm, before "My Health Is Not In Question Mike Dicken"s health actually was called into question via a heart complaint and he was shifted from his weekly daytime slot to the weekend evening slot, friday to sunday, 11 pm till 2am.
Non internet gamblers, will surely listen to that online gambling discussion and will be put off of gambling online and off for life. Probably not a bad thing for the majority of listeners. Gambling online on the games, is not a game, it is a serious business with serious consequences for the ill-informed, non knowledgable potential gamblers.
