Have you ever been waiting for the bus and your eye corner suddenly catches a glimpse of something flashy? You turn around and see a huge billboard with the message that you can be a millionaire tomorrow. You might not be tempted, but several people worldwide would be tempted. In fact, at least 26% of the WORLD’s population has participated in gambling at least once in their life. This is one of the biggest industries, which should be a huge concern. It seems that the dangers are swept under the rug. In the majority of countries, there are no laws to protect the population from gambling. What surprises me is that it is even so encouraged that one can find gambling ads everywhere; on the internet, on the streets, on TV, etc.
The problem with such ads is how easy they make it for people to gamble, and how it appears like gambling is not a big deal. They fool us by using nice pictures, such as a picture of a nice tropical country. As if they are telling you, “Have a look where you could be instead of being stuck in this rainy country”. It is problematic. These ads can mess with our minds, pushing us to gamble because we would be missing out if we did not try our luck. Here is the thing, it also messes with our feelings. Gambling will and does cause anxiety and stress.
It is a trap. I compare it to a carnivorous plant. For an insect, this plant smells amazing. The insect will get closer to it. It will fly around to check it out. Then it lands on the plant and continues checking it out. Suddenly the plant attacks and the insect gets stuck inside, unable to move, waiting for its demise. Gambling works the same way. It is very attractive. I mean c’mon, who does not want to get rich overnight? People are likely to try it out because of the abundance of attractive ads. They try it out, maybe win once, and then get pulled in even further. They end up losing more than they have ever earned from it. Also, because they lost so much, they keep pushing their luck to win it all back someday, which results in losing even more money. It is an extremely vicious cycle, and I cannot understand how the government accepts advertising people into (huge) problems. There should be a worldwide ban against gambling advertisements, just like cigarettes. It should be illegal to advertise something harmful.
Especially in education, it should be compulsory to teach teenagers the dangers of gambling, because teenagers are more prone to be tempted. Understanding the risks leads to making better choices. If money was really that easy to get, then everyone would have been rich by now, but that’s not the case. It is a scam and teaches people subconsciously to strive for more instead of being content with what they have. It is not necessarily bad to strive for more; it is bad when it is illusionary.
Below are the sources I used in this post to back up my statements.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350622003420
I agree with you, and specifically with your closing statement. I feel like gambling is advertised to be a great thing, focusing on winning amounts of money etc. What is not stressed enough is how this mostly negatively impacts your financial wellbeing and how it is highly addictive. A government is not responsible for each and every explicit concern within its country, but like you mentioned this is a very big problem that affects more people than we think (because being addicted to gambling also comes with a certain amount of shame). We massively acknowledge that cigarettes are highly disturbing for your health (people are dying because of it), but what is not let to the foreground enough is that gambling has so many negative aspects as well. It can highly influence your financial and mental health.
I personally can’t see how one would benefit from gambling in any way and merely see this institution for businesses to make a lot of money. I don’t understand why a government would allow such big advertisement on this.