I’m proud to work for the Guardian, a newspaper that doesn’t take betting adverts

After I started reporting on the playing sector in 2015, I didn’t have any preconceptions in regards to the business. In spite of everything, it not often appeared to make front-page information.

One cause for this, I’d later be taught, is that downside playing and dependancy typically fly underneath the radar, not simply at a societal degree however even inside close-knit households.

An addict can plunge their entire household into punishing debt with a couple of faucets of their cell phone, whereas their companion sits beside them on the couch, blissfully unaware.

Friday noticed the beginning of Euro 2024, an enormous second for the business to attempt to entice new prospects via adverts. Nevertheless, you gained’t see any within the Guardian. One 12 months in the past right now, we announced a global ban on gambling advertising. We may solely do that as a result of our journalism is powered by the monetary assist of our readers.

Playing adverts aren’t only a concern for individuals who have already got a playing downside. We stay in a world formed by the 2005 Gambling Act, which unleashed a tidal wave of betting adverts, first via TV and radio however later via social media and on-line. Almost 20 years later, little is understood in regards to the impact that such publicity is having on younger individuals who have grown up surrounded by these adverts.

As I started to dig into the playing sector and be taught extra about it, tales of exploitation and distress got here effervescent up at such a price that, having at first been jaw-dropping, they grew to become nearly routine. I’d see the identical patterns: comfortable, carefree individuals pushed to despair, crime and even suicide, whereas highly effective firms lined their pockets, rarely questioning the place the cash was coming from.

No person gave the impression to be doing something to curb the worst excesses of the business, least of all politicians. Certainly, many lawmakers appeared to stroll arm in arm with the playing firms, even taking lucrative second jobs with on-line bookmakers and casinos.

Through the years, the Guardian has sought to shine a lightweight on the darkish facet of this business, offering a counterbalance to the hundreds of millions spent yearly on adverts that give the impression that it’s all only a little bit of enjoyable.

We dug deep into the dangers associated with fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which had been ultimately curbed in 2019, their stakes reduce from £100 a spin to £2. Focused use of freedom of knowledge laws allowed us to uncover the extent to which playing firms relied on controversial VIP schemes, which reward the biggest gambling losers with freebies.

We revealed particulars of the MPs who received hospitality and even salaries from gambling companies, whereas ready to affect coverage. The entanglement between football and betting is a topic we’ve returned to again and again, together with our revelation that English soccer golf equipment had been taking a cut of their fans’ losses.

From high street slot machine farms exploiting weak individuals to video game loot boxes that educate kids the mechanics of playing, from the Russian business links of the nationwide lottery’s proprietor to the addictive facet of crypto trading, each facet of playing regulation within the UK has featured on our pages at some stage.

These tales could be tough – virtually, emotionally and legally – to inform. In-depth reporting takes money and time, as does the countless job of heading off pushback from the themes of that reporting. Usually, we meet with resistance from extremely paid public relations consultants or regulation companies who need to manipulate what we write, or stop it from being written in any respect.

Fortunately, the Guardian’s reader-funded mannequin signifies that reasonably than give attention to low cost clicks, we are able to commit time and sources to unbiased journalism, figuring out that we have now the complete pressure of the Guardian and its readership behind us. In case you’re capable of, we’d significantly recognize it when you may be part of us in our mission right now. You can support all the work we do from just £4 a month, or even with a one-off payment.

Help from readers allowed the Guardian to take that landmark choice final 12 months to stop accepting gambling advertising, a selection I used to be comfortable to be consulted on and which ought to give readers additional consolation that we’ll by no means pull our punches in terms of holding the business to account.

We couldn’t have taken that call, and we couldn’t do the sort of journalism we do, with out the continued assist of our readers. That’s why we serve them above anybody else, reporting with out concern or favour, typically towards the chances.

Thanks.