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Paul Merson... Gambling Addiction

Krule

Carpe Diem
Jun 4, 2017
4,534
8,686
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47570217
Paul Merson: Former England midfielder thanks fans after revealing gambling addiction

Never liked the guy myself .......and certainly do not rate him as a pundit but sorry to hear his 'demons' have returned.

PS
Post edited because as so many of you say "I wouldn't wish it on anyone". I remember working with a guy and his wife used to collect his salary at the end of every month directly from the wages office because he would just blow the lot in one afternoon at the bookies.
 
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'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Whatever you think of him as a bloke or a pundit, I wouldn't wish gambling addiction on my worst enemy. Destroys lives not just for the addict but also their family who often stand to lose everything as well.

I often wonder how much worse things need to get before we say enough is enough and ban advertising of gambling just like we did with tobacco. The level it's got to is just ridiculous, in particular in football. I'm not in favour of banning gambling altogether but benning advertising would make a huge difference IMO.

I'd also go one step further and create some sort of centralised gambling account that could be kept track of across multiple bookies, with a limit on how much you could bet using a phone app/website each day/week/month etc. so you'd have to physically go down the bookies to place any more bets after you reach the limit. Then I'd have strict penalties for bookies who let people bet away the kind of sums that ruin peoples lives so that it would be a self-policing thing in a way because the bookies would be held more accountable. Ultimately you can't always save people from themselves but I think it's absolutely vital that we stop it being so easy to just piss away tens of thousands just with a few clicks on a phone app. The more effort we make it to put the bets on the harder it will be for people to accidentally slip into addiction IMO.
 

spurs mental

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2007
25,075
49,234
Doesn't help that he works for Sky and with the old boys brigade who push SkyBet every Saturday, from Super 6 to getting on which way the wind is going to blow.

They best take a long hard look at themselves. Hope he gets the help he needs
 

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,147
Whatever you think of him as a bloke or a pundit, I wouldn't wish gambling addiction on my worst enemy. Destroys lives not just for the addict but also their family who often stand to lose everything as well.

I often wonder how much worse things need to get before we say enough is enough and ban advertising of gambling just like we did with tobacco. The level it's got to is just ridiculous, in particular in football. I'm not in favour of banning gambling altogether but benning advertising would make a huge difference IMO.

I'd also go one step further and create some sort of centralised gambling account that could be kept track of across multiple bookies, with a limit on how much you could bet using a phone app/website each day/week/month etc. so you'd have to physically go down the bookies to place any more bets after you reach the limit. Then I'd have strict penalties for bookies who let people bet away the kind of sums that ruin peoples lives so that it would be a self-policing thing in a way because the bookies would be held more accountable. Ultimately you can't always save people from themselves but I think it's absolutely vital that we stop it being so easy to just piss away tens of thousands just with a few clicks on a phone app. The more effort we make it to put the bets on the harder it will be for people to accidentally slip into addiction IMO.

I’ve seen it ruin a few lives. It’s crazy how something that used to be considered a major vice has become so normalised. It gets mentioned all the time in the match threads, and for me that’s not much different to promoting crack.

I remember when the government changed the laws on advertising gambling. Most of the ads during football matches would say things like ‘it matters more when there’s money on it’, and it hasn’t changed much since apart from a lightning fast ‘when the fun stops, stop’ obligatory message. It’s a vile industry that has convinced a lot of people that it’s cool to piss away their money like absolute mugs.
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
13,603
58,005
I feel sorry for the guy, I think he unfortunately bounces from one addiction to the next because he is never getting the right help. They try and cure what he's addicted to rather than why he is so prone to being an addict and the sad thing for him as he says, he's hit 3 addictions which can have such a damaging impact on his life.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
I've always considered regular gambling to be a mugs game.
I buy the odd lottery ticket once in a blue moon, but that's it.
That being said, I completely understand how someone can become addicted to it. Even when you lose, there's that nagging voice convincing you that the next bet will come in.
The amount of variations in betting doesn't help either. Gone or the days of it just being the result of a football match, or the first goal scorer. Now you've got almost every event than can happen in a match covered - corners, bookings, free kicks, thrown ins and so on.
I actually find Merse to be a likeable bloke, even if he is a former Gooner and has some bizarre opinions.
I just hope someone finds a way to get him treated properly.
 

thebenjamin

Well-Known Member
Jul 1, 2008
12,164
38,545
Doesn't help that he works for Sky and with the old boys brigade who push SkyBet every Saturday, from Super 6 to getting on which way the wind is going to blow.

They best take a long hard look at themselves. Hope he gets the help he needs

Spot on
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Doesn't help that he works for Sky and with the old boys brigade who push SkyBet every Saturday, from Super 6 to getting on which way the wind is going to blow.

They best take a long hard look at themselves. Hope he gets the help he needs

Amazed that his longstanding
mates /colleagues
have studiously avoided
showing any kind of solidarity.
In fact they have done precisely the opposite.

Banning ads for gambling, smoking and drinking
on publicly available TV
is not the same as banning them
in the wider society.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Banning ads for gambling, smoking and drinking
on publicly available TV
is not the same as banning them
in the wider society.

No it isn't but surely you can see how having someone telling you either indirectly through a banner or directly through the voice of Ray Winston to put money on something, anything, is likely to massively increase the likelihood of someone spiralling into addiction or harder for them to overcome their addiction? Or how the way they make out like it's just "what you do if you're a proper footie fan" makes kids grow up thinking it's normal to piss money up the wall every time there's a match on?
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
No it isn't but surely you can see how having someone telling you either indirectly through a banner or directly through the voice of Ray Winston to put money on something, anything, is likely to massively increase the likelihood of someone spiralling into addiction or harder for them to overcome their addiction? Or how the way they make out like it's just "what you do if you're a proper footie fan" makes kids grow up thinking it's normal to piss money up the wall every time there's a match on?
Absolutely.
These ads are not aimed at youngsters
they legally can't do any of these things
but they grow up in this environment
doubly harmful in the context of sport.
Shirt sponsorship should be a target too.

Kids need protecting
for their own safety and for the wider society.
Merson an ex professional and successful footballer
is the living proof of this.
 

SpaggyBoy

Well-Known Member
Sep 22, 2003
1,303
3,782
Amazed that his longstanding
mates /colleagues
have studiously avoided
showing any kind of solidarity.
In fact they have done precisely the opposite.

Banning ads for gambling, smoking and drinking
on publicly available TV
is not the same as banning them
in the wider society.

Is it wrong that I read this as if it were a poem? I especially like the way you introduced the rhyming scheme into the final stanza.

As for Merson, I hope he gets the help he needs. But I can't help think that if Sky can support him by giving him a job, can't they do the same for Gazza?
 

Mr.D

Old Member
Dec 2, 2014
4,262
7,876
My dear, departed Father knew some, ahem, unsavoury types that were heavily involved in the London crime gangs in the 60s.
One of them said to him once "Brian, if you want to wish anyone any harm wish them a gambler". This from a bloke that kneecapped people for pleasure.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,388
One of my pet hates is the slogan 'When the fun stops, stop'. What a load of utter bollocks. It's like saying to an alcoholic 'When you feel yourself getting a bit tipsy, swap over to soft drinks'. Will have zero effect, and they know it.
 
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spurs mental

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2007
25,075
49,234
One of my pet hates is the slogan 'When the fun stops, stop'. What a load of utter bollocks. It's like saying to an alcoholis 'When you feel yourself getting a bit tipsy, swap over to soft drinks'. Will have zero effect, and they know it.

When the fun stops you're most likely chasing your losses would be more apt
 

Thewobbler

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2016
3,814
5,701
I wish him the best. There is nothing worse then going in to a betting shop, to put on my acca's on, and seeing the same people playing those roulette machines, going out to the bank and come back and feeding them more. It's a horrible watching it.
 

Mattspur

ENIC IN
Jan 7, 2004
4,885
7,257
One of my pet hates is the slogan 'When the fun stops, stop'. What a load of utter bollocks. It's like saying to an alcoholis 'When you feel yourself getting a bit tipsy, swap over to soft drinks'. Will have zero effect, and they know it.

Agreed. Especially when it's written the way it is. All you see when it flashes up is the word FUN right in the middle of the screen.

public-news-206924-senet--2x1--855.jpg
 

CoopsieDeadpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2012
18,257
70,419
I feel sorry for the guy, I think he unfortunately bounces from one addiction to the next because he is never getting the right help. They try and cure what he's addicted to rather than why he is so prone to being an addict and the sad thing for him as he says, he's hit 3 addictions which can have such a damaging impact on his life.


I think @spurs mental hits the nail on the head in his response (a couple of posts before yours).

The guy is surrounded by everything addictive & it just can't help. It's probably a safe assumption that each and every one of them enjoys a flutter, a drink etc etc.

As much as he probably loves the sport (it's been his entire life) , it seems he just can't resist the vices that come with it. So, as much as it would undoubtedly leave a massive hole in his life, the best thing he could do is step away from it & confine it to the past.

Gooner or not, nobody deserves to permanently fight the demons within. I wish him all the best.
 

DJS

A hoonter must hoont
Dec 9, 2006
31,261
21,760
Doesn't help that he works for Sky and with the old boys brigade who push SkyBet every Saturday, from Super 6 to getting on which way the wind is going to blow.

They best take a long hard look at themselves. Hope he gets the help he needs

Yeah I’m not so keen on how they push skybet with Jeff Stelling aggressive staring at us lol (and a bit insensitive getting Merson to help advertise it).
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Is it wrong that I read this as if it were a poem? I especially like the way you introduced the rhyming scheme into the final stanza.

As for Merson, I hope he gets the help he needs. But I can't help think that if Sky can support him by giving him a job, can't they do the same for Gazza?

'Stanza'
Spotting half rhyme.
Prime candidate for Poetry Corner.
methinks

It's prose chopped up
Not really poetry.
The rhyme was unintended
 

Houdini

No better cure for the blues than some good pussy.
Jul 10, 2006
56,723
78,453
I've known Paul since he went to school with my bruv in law...they were in the same school football team in Greenford High and for as long as i can remember he has loved a bet and a drink.
A nice enough bloke and altogether harmless, a shame he was a gooner, we had the temerity to ask him to open our betting shop over in west drayton a good few years ago...he fell off his stool laughing.
I could name 60/70 prem players from back then who had problems with gambling, drinking and sex and drugs.....plenty of normal people had the same problems.
Wives coming into the shop to drag their husbands out but its the gaming machines now and not so much the betting.
 
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