Gamblers in Brighton and Hove lose an average £343.43 a year each

If you needed any convincing that gambling is a mug’s game, figures released by online casino CastleCasino (and reported in the Brighton Argus) showed gamblers in Brighton and Hove lost an average £343.43 a year each, with punters from the City losing £147,500 each year.  Those in Worthing lost an average of £431.97, in total about £77,000 a year with only Middlesbrough (£479.29) and Liverpool (£482.42) faring worse.

That’s the average.  There are people losing much, much more.

When I was young I used to see, on my way back from school on a Friday evening, migrant workers who worked in the docks in Cape Town, being duped by the ‘pea in the bottle top’ scam.  The promise of doubling their meagre wages was too great, and when in a matter of minutes they had lost their entire weekly wage packet, their distressed pleas for a refund were dismissed.

I am still haunted by the pathetic wailing of a middle aged man whose distress was met by laughter and contempt.

I have a mixed emotional reaction to gambling.  On the one hand I can see the adrenalin charged attraction, a quick win, something for nothing. On the other hand, the plight of that labourer, unable to send money home to his family, remains with me, and I feel sick the pit of my stomach.

During this time of austerity, desperate people do desperate things, but gambling is not the answer. Like alcohol and drugs, for many people it is something that goes no further than a recreational activity.  For others, it becomes the problem, destroying relationships, families and lives.

A stark warning about gambling comes from Dr Richard Bowskill of the Priory clinic in Hove, quoted in the Argus: “It’s an average so there will be people who lose more – it is still high compared to annual disposable income. In that group will be people spending much more which can often be a sign of gambling addiction. When I see people they have already got into trouble, sometimes in the tens of thousands of pounds. I have seen patients have to make themselves bankrupt. Some people have lost their homes, and the problem with an addiction is they keep on doing it.”

There is help available, including the support of Gamblers Anonymous Brighton and Hove:

• To help people with gambling problems.
• Meetings every Friday, 8-10pm on the ground floor of The Allen Centre.
• The Allen Centre, 60 Sackville Gardens, Hove, BN3 4GH [map]
• 01273 595961

What is poverty in the United Kingdom in 2012?

In 1978, my last year before I left South Africa, I did some work amongst the children of migrant workers in an area with incredibly high infant mortality levels. I recall the faces of very young children who were deprived of both maternal care and sufficient nutrition to survive. The area had an infant mortality rate of 20%.

That experience has stayed with me ever since.

While it is not directly comparable, I have found myself involved in discussions in recent weeks regarding poverty in the UK in 2012. At a recent BHT Board of Management away day the issue of poverty was an ever-present theme.

In my opening comments I warned Board members that we can expect to see new forms of poverty over the next few years. In addition to our traditional work of combating homelessness, addressing housing need and delivering specialist services (such as those that address mental ill-health, alcohol and drug problems and worklessness) we need to think about alleviating the worst aspects of this new poverty.

But the question that remained unanswered is quite what we mean by poverty in the UK in 2012. We touched on issues of parents, faced with the introduction of universal credit, housing benefit changes and increasing unemployment, having to make decisions about priorities such as paying the rent, service charge, heating bills and food.

I don’t think that I’m being alarmist. Tough choices like that are already being made.

But what does poverty mean today? I would really be interested to hear your views on this. Please leave a comment on this blog.