Perceptions of betting and online betting.
Introduction.
Despite being an activity carried out by people all over the world and from all levels of society; it never ceases to amaze me that some forms of betting and gambling are seen as socially acceptable and glamorous whilst others are looked down on and pretty well considered sordid. Some of these polarized views on betting and gambling are associated with the venues in which it takes place, which in turn is heavily influenced by the way the media portrays them. Using the internet for online betting actually affords the gambling industry an opportunity to give itself an image make-over; however it needs doing sooner rather than later - as online betting is virtually as old as the world wide web itself.
The acceptable faces of ‘real life’ betting and gambling.
Just about everyone has seen images of the Casinos and gambling tables in Mote Carlo. Portraying a lifestyle of wealth and opulence beyond most peoples’ means, the impression given is that “if you can afford to gamble here - you can afford to lose here”! I have never yet seen any portrayal of gambling in Monte Carlo that is anything but ‘positive’ and fun - absolutely no hint of criminal activity here, a perfectly acceptable face. Major horse-races around the world attract ‘punters’ from all levels of society. English horse-racing classics are attended by royalty, stars and celebrities attend the Kentucky Derby and seemingly the whole nation has a wager on the Australian Melbourne Cup. Both at major and minor horse-races using a track-side bookmaker, rather than a national tote or book-making chain, is seen as just a bit of fun, where TV coverage is present - even the TV companies are constantly relaying the ‘latest odds’ to the viewers, whether interested in gambling or not. Of course it’s not just the sport of horse-racing that attracts gamblers, but with the one possible exception of boxing, it’s very rare to hear gambling spoken about alongside a sport by TV companies. The point I’m making here of course is that ‘noble’ sports or games played in elegant Casinos are never portrayed negatively in terms of their associations with betting and gambling. After all amongst such wealthy and well-bred people, how could anyone have a gambling problem?
The unacceptable faces of ‘real life’ betting and gambling.
It is, of course, a truth that betting and gambling has an unacceptable and sordid face to it. Whilst any trade or business will, and does, attract a criminal element; gambling seems particularly prone to accusations of criminality. Anyone becoming involved with a gambling or betting activity that is not operated by a licensed and, therefore, legal company is of course putting themselves at risk of having their money stolen by handing over money for a bet, not then having any winnings paid back; or becoming involved in games that have been ‘fixed’ in some way. Unfortunately the media does not only portray illegal gambling and betting operations negatively. For some reason local and unfashionable Casinos and gambling houses are treated as if they too were illegal. Whether participating in illegal gambling or even just not being wealthy but known to visit Casinos etc - seems to automatically put you at risk of ruination due to gambling addiction. A thought here - two guys are playing golf, one says to the other I bet you $10 that you don’t hole that putt - are they involved in illegal gambling?
Perceptions of online betting.
Opportunities for online betting and gambling websites to establish their legal credentials are quite straightforward. By stating their terms and conditions clearly, insisting users set limits to their accounts, having an easy to follow ‘appeals’ procedure and publishing user statistics and company finances online will all help here. Of course building up a good reputation counts a lot and having good reviews in blogs and forums is essential. However, combating the accusations that online betting will encourage people into obsessive and addictive gambling patterns is more difficult. Perhaps its time for the online betting and gambling industry to look at how they could better use the statistics that they gather on their customer’s usage; to introduce ‘customer monitoring systems’. Such a system should be designed to prevent a user from being able to gamble for a period of time after exhausting the limit that they had been forced to set when registering on the web-site. Now the really ‘smart’ thing would be if that person could then also be prevented from simply registering on another online betting and gambling web-site!