My name is Anthony Franklin and this why I support the @stopthefobts campaign.
I started gambling on 'slots' when I was 11 years of age, I was completely hooked by 13 years. So I was still a child. I progressed with my gambling addiction through my teens and into my adulthood playing the slots in the pubs, arcades, railway stations and working mans’ clubs.
Through this time I undoubtedly lost a lot of money but there were limits restricted by the stakes, and the knowledge that jackpots came around infrequently. I was not able to stay off the machines per se but I was able to come off playing one machine and move to another with breaks in-between.
When the FOBTs started to appear in the betting shops I was very quickly completely hooked on them. I would only ever play the roulette and I would always play the same numbers – 3, 15, 26, 28, 29, and 32.
With roulette it was possible to hit one of your numbers in concurrent plays (obviously not a probability) and win a substantial amount of money in a short space of time. For the addict mind this was absolutely disastrous as it reinforced irrational thinking that you could beat the system and win money. This, the high stakes, and the speed of play is why FOBTs are so dangerous.
In addition the industry has in my view circumvented the ‘spirit’ of the Gambling Act 2005 by opening multiple betting shops in close proximity to get around the 4 FOBTs per shop rule. It would be wrong not to also mention internet gambling and online casinos where it is also possible to lose vast sums of money around the clock. And indeed I did.
Playing FOBTs, EGMs and online casinos I have lost £100,000s. This was money I could not afford to lose and included in small part my earnings but also huge amounts of debt that I could never pay back.
For most addicts there are no ‘sane’ limits to the amount of cash that you can feed into FOBTs, I have lost on many occasions a months earnings (several thousand pounds) in one session. I knew that I had a problem but couldn’t admit it to others, so the pain and devastation of losing this amount of money and the feelings of stupidity and subsequent depression I cannot describe.
I want to talk about my loved ones a little too, what did my children do to deserve going without food or clothes as a result of living with my ‘crack cocaine’ gambling addiction. My wife had no idea of my gambling addiction when she met me and even when she knew about my problem, it took her a very long time to grasp the scale of the issue and not before she had also accrued huge debts to try and bail me out. She didn’t really understand the issues either and I was very good at hiding the problem and its scale as well as feeling ashamed.
These machines have input from psychologists in the design process, they are designed to hook people into play, and they are extremely dangerous for some people. It is right and proper for the government to legislate appropriate restrictions for dangerous products, as we regulate drugs, guns etc.
For reference there is a good piece of research by Dr Luke Clarke (Cambridge University) – ‘Near Misses’ that provides some insight into what goes on in the addict brain.
I have had many periods of heavy losses but the last time I had a huge period of losing was in the summer of 2008 when I lost approx. £100,000 playing on FOBTs, EGMs, and online casinos over a two month period.
I lost my home and as a result I now live separately from my wife and son for practical reasons although we are still a family. Nearly five years on I am still penniless, in debt, and for eighteen months unemployed. This is what gambling addiction does to people, it causes pain, misery and it splits families up.
If you are reading this I do hope it convinces you to support the Stop the FOBTs campaign.
You can follow me on twitter @ www.twitter.com/gamblinghurts
You can follow me on facebook @ www.facebook.com/gamblinghurts
I campaign for the following:
1. Lower FOBT maximum stake from £100 to £2.
2. Increase minimum age for Category D machines to 18.
3. Remove FOBTs from betting shops.
4. Tax online casinos at point of access.
5. Ban the use of credit cards for gambling transactions.
I started gambling on 'slots' when I was 11 years of age, I was completely hooked by 13 years. So I was still a child. I progressed with my gambling addiction through my teens and into my adulthood playing the slots in the pubs, arcades, railway stations and working mans’ clubs.
Through this time I undoubtedly lost a lot of money but there were limits restricted by the stakes, and the knowledge that jackpots came around infrequently. I was not able to stay off the machines per se but I was able to come off playing one machine and move to another with breaks in-between.
When the FOBTs started to appear in the betting shops I was very quickly completely hooked on them. I would only ever play the roulette and I would always play the same numbers – 3, 15, 26, 28, 29, and 32.
With roulette it was possible to hit one of your numbers in concurrent plays (obviously not a probability) and win a substantial amount of money in a short space of time. For the addict mind this was absolutely disastrous as it reinforced irrational thinking that you could beat the system and win money. This, the high stakes, and the speed of play is why FOBTs are so dangerous.
In addition the industry has in my view circumvented the ‘spirit’ of the Gambling Act 2005 by opening multiple betting shops in close proximity to get around the 4 FOBTs per shop rule. It would be wrong not to also mention internet gambling and online casinos where it is also possible to lose vast sums of money around the clock. And indeed I did.
Playing FOBTs, EGMs and online casinos I have lost £100,000s. This was money I could not afford to lose and included in small part my earnings but also huge amounts of debt that I could never pay back.
For most addicts there are no ‘sane’ limits to the amount of cash that you can feed into FOBTs, I have lost on many occasions a months earnings (several thousand pounds) in one session. I knew that I had a problem but couldn’t admit it to others, so the pain and devastation of losing this amount of money and the feelings of stupidity and subsequent depression I cannot describe.
I want to talk about my loved ones a little too, what did my children do to deserve going without food or clothes as a result of living with my ‘crack cocaine’ gambling addiction. My wife had no idea of my gambling addiction when she met me and even when she knew about my problem, it took her a very long time to grasp the scale of the issue and not before she had also accrued huge debts to try and bail me out. She didn’t really understand the issues either and I was very good at hiding the problem and its scale as well as feeling ashamed.
These machines have input from psychologists in the design process, they are designed to hook people into play, and they are extremely dangerous for some people. It is right and proper for the government to legislate appropriate restrictions for dangerous products, as we regulate drugs, guns etc.
For reference there is a good piece of research by Dr Luke Clarke (Cambridge University) – ‘Near Misses’ that provides some insight into what goes on in the addict brain.
I have had many periods of heavy losses but the last time I had a huge period of losing was in the summer of 2008 when I lost approx. £100,000 playing on FOBTs, EGMs, and online casinos over a two month period.
I lost my home and as a result I now live separately from my wife and son for practical reasons although we are still a family. Nearly five years on I am still penniless, in debt, and for eighteen months unemployed. This is what gambling addiction does to people, it causes pain, misery and it splits families up.
If you are reading this I do hope it convinces you to support the Stop the FOBTs campaign.
You can follow me on twitter @ www.twitter.com/gamblinghurts
You can follow me on facebook @ www.facebook.com/gamblinghurts
I campaign for the following:
1. Lower FOBT maximum stake from £100 to £2.
2. Increase minimum age for Category D machines to 18.
3. Remove FOBTs from betting shops.
4. Tax online casinos at point of access.
5. Ban the use of credit cards for gambling transactions.
Excellent article Anthony. I share your gambling addiction though thank goodness it is now just a 'mad memory' mostly. The pain I went through to rebuild my life was an indescribable period of anguish, anger, learning, coping, dislocation and reorganizing that took me many years to move beyond. My heart goes out to you but also my thanks.
ReplyDeleteHad I been able to see and read such articles now that are on the net, like yours is here, I could have saved myself a lot of heartache. My recovery would have been so much faster. More to the point I believe that I would have 'woken up' a lot sooner, as well. My addiction that raged for well over a decade would have been more quickly addressed. As it was I buried my head and pretended that I had no problem! Too ashamed to confide in anyone, I did not know that anybody else had the same problem as I had! Problems shared are problems halved and getting over gambling addiction is much more possible when we talk together. Your site provides that gateway. Congratulations!
I do hope that others reading this site might be encouraged to know that a vast global network of helping / sharing resources is being developed as people across the world who have all dealt with gambling addiction band together more visibly, to share, discuss, support and research and to actively fight together to stop predatory gambling.
FOBT's [UK}, VLT's [Canada], Slots [USA] and Poker Machines [Australia]...whatever we call these dangerously addictive machines...we all know them to be the same mind-blowing, destructive and predatory consumer products that destroy lives.
You are a brave man for speaking out, Anthony Franklin. The world is the better for it. Thank you from all of us. xoxo