A ‘problem gambler’ who spewed £250,000 on online casinos and sportsbetting has called for all gambling operators to shut down on Christmas Day!
Alex Macey, who founded the Nobet364 ‘movement’, says:
"The Christmas period compounded and brought together everything that was wrong in my life".
Macy, an ex-police officer, claims to have burned through £250,000 while gambling, once even playing online roulette while at the cinema with his daughter.
He claims that ‘online casinos’ are ‘the sole reason for the distress and loneliness that many disordered gamblers feel on Christmas Day’.
Macey tweeted recently:
"The comparison to crack cocaine cannot be ignored any longer when looking upon the extreme harms of online gaming, particularity the casino products."
This rather extreme view is part of his argument for online platforms to follow land-based ‘casinos and high street bookies’ in closing on December 25th.
“After all”, he says, “there are no sporting events to bet on (unless you seek them out in some obscure game in an overseas league – which, of course, is in itself a sign of disordered gambling)".
Ignoring the global nature of online gambling, and that more than half of the world don’t celebrate Christmas, almost every sportsbettor could likely trot out multiple reasons why Christmas Day is in fact a winning day for them.
Macy, as with other sad cases of online gamblers with problems, has had his life devastated by his addiction – but as with many, many others, that addiction could have been anything.
Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, pornography, eating… the list goes on – some are illegal, most not, but none of them have outright bans on Christmas Day.
Nor Easter, nor during the summer holidays, nor weekends for that matter, with reference to the ‘special time for families’ Macy is fond of quoting.
If this all sounds uncharitable, or dismissive of addiction, it’s not meant to be, but Macy’s idea is seriously flawed in many ways.
Those who don’t celebrate, or even remotely care about Christmas have to do without.
Those who can gamble responsibly – i.e. the vast majority of people – have to go without.
Poker players, who will inevitably be lumped in with any future ‘law’ on this, will have to do without.
There are many ways to combat addiction, but regulated ‘free days’ shouldn’t be one of them.