SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary research was an essential part of the process to understand the addiction on a larger scale. I studied reports from the BBC and the Gambling Commission as well as a variety of online sources, in order to analyse recent statistics and determine what I can personally include in my short film to prevent the results from deteriorating. It was also important to research individuals within the gambling industry whom I can personally include in the documentary segment and interview process. There will be a bibliography attached to the bottom of this document to show all sources that were used to conduct this research.
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Statistics from the Gambling Commission are extremely alarming due to the ages that have admitted to actually gambling themselves. ‘Over the past 12 months, 39% of 11-16-year-olds have spent their own money on gambling'. Additionally, they have stated that the ‘the majority of 11-16-year-olds agree that gambling is dangerous (59%), with a similarly high level of agreement that they ‘feel well informed about the risks of gambling’ (62%). In contrast, comparatively few agree that it is OK for someone their age to gamble (14%)'. It is evident that this age group is far too young to be involved with something dangerous such as gambling. This will not be my target audience, however, I will apply a focus to those individuals who believe it is ok to gamble at such a young age. Even though this source is from over a year ago, it is still relevant to my secondary research.
A source from the BBC focuses on the age group that are most likely to gamble within the United Kingdom. The BBC state that '25-34-year-olds are most likely to gamble'. With the addition of my primary research, it is clear that the addiction gradually increases and develops as individuals age from 18 onwards. I will still maintain the age group of 18-35 as my target audience for the short film.
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A gambling report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group examine the problems with gambling and state improvements and commands that they wish to happen in order to improve the addiction. This was an interim report for November 2019, so this source is extremely relevant to my secondary research.
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‘In 2018, £5.6bn was lost by gamblers on online gambling1 and in many cases by vulnerable people.’
‘Online gambling companies have provided estimates to us that only around 20% of these online gamblers are net winners – 80% will lose their money.’
'Unlike the land-based gambling sector, there are no stakes, prize or deposit limits in the online gambling world. It is possible to bet thousands of pounds in a matter of minutes from a mobile phone with no supervision.'
'We do not see the justification for having slot machine-style games online with staking levels above £2. If they are not acceptable in land-based venues they should not be allowed online.'
'The group is deeply concerned that it is still possible to gamble online with a credit card and to use debt to fund the addiction. This should be ended immediately as should the use of overdrafts to fund gambling. gambling with money you cannot afford to lose is a sign of problem gambling. More rigorous affordability checks should prevent operators from allowing gamblers depositing funds from overdrafts or loans.'
'Gambling companies need to significantly improve the measures they take to protect vulnerable or at-risk gamblers. We would like to see online 9 gambling operators act far more sympathetically and return money in cases where money was clearly gambled when it should not have been, for example when a person has been shown to have been vulnerable through an acquired brain injury.'
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As well as political requests, it was also important to research the statistics of suicide and attempted suicide. The Guardian states that 'Problem gamblers are significantly more likely to attempt suicide, according to a pioneering study that has prompted calls for the government to do more to tackle the dangers of gambling'. They also state that 'Nearly one in five, or 19%, had considered suicide in the past year, compared with 4.1% of the general population, while 4.7% attempted suicide, compared with 0.6% in the wider population'. The notion of suicide relating to gambling will also be applied throughout the narrative of the short film. I will be including several alarming statistics at the end of the film, that will create an emotional response on the audience as they begin to sympathise with people who struggle with the addiction. This will also ensure that the main purpose is completed of creating awareness regarding the addiction of gambling.
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An additional statistic that I found alarming states that '18% of adverts on TV are gambling-related.' This shows the level of advertisement that companies go through in order to attract their customers and stimulate the addiction of gambling. One in five adverts is extremely high for television advertisements. Additionally, several statistics show the major effect and harmful consequences of online and mobile gambling. Due to the extreme difference in money being lost on online gambling, I will include this as the focus throughout the short film.
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It was also important to conduct secondary research on people within the gambling industry who have been affected by the addiction throughout their past. By conducting this research, I may perhaps use them as potential clients throughout the documentary segment of the short film.
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Firstly, I began researching a man called Justyn Rees Larcombe. Justyn had a rather successful life with a dedication to the British army as well as a rewarding job in the city of London. He also had two children and a wife, however, he fell into a trap of gambling and subsequently became addicted. As a result of his addiction, he lost a total of £750,000 over the course of three years as well as the expense of his family.
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Justyn has since recovered from his addiction and has written an autobiographical book that describes his experiences with gambling. I purchased Justyn's book Tails I Lose, in order to gain a true insight and a deeper understanding of the addiction. I believed including Justyn within the short film would allow my target audience a clear insight into the consequences of gambling. I contacted Justyn through email however, unfortunately, he did not reply. Nevertheless, during this process, I was able to discover additional clients who I will be able to include within the short film.
Alex Macey is an ex-policeman from Dorsett who has struggled with a gambling addiction.
'In a 15-year career at the slots, he estimates he threw away £250,000 and was at times tens of thousands of pounds in debt. Some of this went on sports betting, but the great majority was lost on Macey’s particular vices: fast, high-stakes fruit machines known as “Fixed Odds Betting Terminals” (FOBTs), and the rest on online casino games. It is not the hope of winning that makes people like him bet so much, he thinks. Regular gamblers understand all too well the iron laws of chance that, in the long run, mathematically doom them to be losers.’
“It’s losing yourself in the excitement of the moment, the moment when you’ve pressed the button and don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says. “It gives you the emotions and the dopamine fixes you are not getting in your normal life. So you want to hit that button again and again.”
‘But that was an analogue age when betting was confined to a few somewhat staid outlets. Macey came of age at a time when the gambling industry was not only going digital but becoming ever slicker about selling its wares. From 1999, powerful new machines started to appear in bookies’ shops. FOBTs allowed punters to stake large sums — up to £100 on a single spin — on games that offered fixed odds and paid out a set proportion of the takings as winnings. Best of all, they were super-fast. Spin succeeded spin within seconds, helping to induce the trance-like state in which punters obediently emptied their wallets'.
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'Stigmatised in the media as the “crack cocaine of gambling”, FOBTs were recently the subject of a high-profile public campaign calling for a sharp reduction in the maximum individual stake, on the grounds that they were feeding the addiction. After a fiercely fought battle, activists succeeded in cutting this to just £2 last year — a ruling seen as a landmark moment by anti-gambling campaigners. The new maximum came into force in April this year’.
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This campaign was successfully accomplished by Matt-Zarb Cousin who also had a problem with gambling from a young age. Due to a total of £1.8 billion lost on Fixed Odds Betting terminals last year, Matt along with other campaigners initiated a scheme that permits people from gambling more than £2 on one spin. This has significantly decreased the losses and has helped suppressed people from losing self-control whilst gambling on the fixed-odds betting terminals.
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Matt, along with Alex is another potential client whom I have personally contacted to meet and discuss my final major project further. He has also offered to help within the documentary stages as well. Matt has stated in an article he written himself that 'gambling nearly took my life: betting terminals should have a £2 maximum stake'. He also compares the addiction of gambling to class A drugs in terms of harm and danger. ‘It’s no exaggeration to call FOBTs “the crack cocaine of gambling”. If we had a gambling product classification, similar to that of drugs, FOBTs would be class A'. It is clear that from someone who has experienced the dangers of the addiction as well as working within the gambling industry, how harmful the addiction actually is. This will most certainly be explored during the short film, in order to complete my main purpose of creating awareness.
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Bibliography
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APPG, 2019. Report from the Gambling Related Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group. [Online]
Available at: http://www.grh-appg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Interim-APPG-Report-November-final-1.pdf
[Accessed 5 December 2019].
BBC, 2019. Gambling: How much do we spend in the UK?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49731701
[Accessed 2 October 2019].
Davies, R., 2019. Problem gamblers much more likely to attempt suicide – study. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/19/problem-gamblers-much-more-likely-to-attempt-suicide-study
[Accessed 14 November 2019].
Ford, J., 2019. The troubling legacy of Britain’s gambling experiment. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/cde538be-a821-11e9-b6ee-3cdf3174eb89
[Accessed 12 November 2019].
GamblingCommission, 2018. Gambling Commission. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/survey-data/young-people-and-gambling-2018-report.pdf
[Accessed 2 October 2019].
Larcombe, J. R., 2014. Tails I Lose. 1st ed. s.l.:Lion Books.
Zarb-Cousin, M., 2018. Gambling nearly took my life: betting terminals should have a £2 maximum stake. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/19/gambling-life-fixed-odds-betting-terminals-maximum-stake-addicts
[Accessed 4 October 2019].