Friday’s Rants from the Soap Box in MY living room!

Welcome to my Friday’s Rants from the Soap Box in my Living Room. A small space in the week where I can have a chunter about things that have made me twitch with annoyance or made me question if the world has gone mad or not….
I also  linked up with MummyBarrow for her Ranty Friday. You can find her blog and link up here if you’d like to join in. A good rant can be therapeutic.

This week, my rant is about adverts and e-mails that promote online gambling.  Please note, I am not against the odd flutter on the horses, or buying a lottery ticket, or whatever, but I am getting FED UP with what seems to be a continual barrage of adverts promoting online Bingo, card games and encouraging people to spend money on Lottery tickets because it’s a “Health Lottery”, which makes people think their money, if they don’t win, is going to some good cause.

My Nana, my Mother’s mum, liked her Bingo game. She actually went to a Bingo hall, twice a week, and would join in with all her mates, playing a few games, having a cup of tea and a biscuit, and occasionally she won, but never very much, that I remember. We stayed with her for 1/2 terms and weekends, because my brother and I were at boarding school and she looked after us, when we couldn’t fly home to be with our parents. She used to take us to the Bingo Hall, pop us into the cafe, leave us with enough money for a drink and a cake, and some reading books from the library, and the cafe lady kept an eye on us for an hour while she went and had her Bingo flutter. I don’t think we were legally actually allowed to be in the hall, because we were under-age  and actually, we had a jolly time, the cafe lady used to feed us chips and give us cups of tea, and let us sit in a corner, and keep ourselves busy, and it perked my Nana up for the rest of the week. No harm done, I don’t think. I am sure it is totally frowned upon, nowadays! 😉

So, back to my rant. Literally, every time I turn the TV on, and it’s a channel with adverts, I am subjected to some cheesy spiel for on-line Bingo, or Lotto, or whatever. It seems these adverts are aimed at what they perceive to be an audience of  bored, stay at home housewives and mothers, and are positively encouraging us to spend (waste) our money on gambling, which is basically what it is. They offer free or discounted time if you spend x amount, and give you the impression that everyone is a winner. Sure, at the bottom of the screen, in writing you have to squint to see is the “gamble aware” disclaimer, but basically, I think it is irresponsible and ruthless marketing and it is getting my goat!

In this economy, with the dire financial situation a lot of families are in, should these companies be allowed to advertise and promote gambling? It’s actually a very serious problem for some people, and can become a life destroying addiction.

When you watch videos like these

SunBingo Advert or get e-mails offering you stuff like this “Spend £10 and get £30 to play with only at Sunbingo.co.uk” then it’s no wonder people get drawn in, and their cash sucked away!

Tell me how this is not encouraging gambling? You can download apps, and even play from your phone, and they make it seem to be a big social, friendly thing, that will change your life, and make you happy. What utter nonsense! (I would say something ruder, but this is a family blog)

LSH now laughs at me, because every single time an advert comes on promoting gambling, I yell at the TV  and he has taken to confiscating the remote, in case I throw it at the screen in my rage.

I am sure my Nana probably would have loved to be able to play Bingo from the comfort of her arm-chair, whilst puffing away on her cigarettes, using her Iphone, but then she used to make us eat Vicks Vapour Rub when we had colds, so whilst I loved her dearly, I am not sure I would agree with her on this one.

I’d love to hear what other people think, and if there is somewhere we can protest about it? I would be very happy to bombard a few companies with complaints, if it reduced the number of adverts on the TV!

Click on the linky to read more Rants and join in! Have a good weekend!