Shocking information we need to know

Thank you, Rob Davies, for your detailed research. You have shone a light on a gambling industry which is bound to worry all fair-minded people.

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Devastating exposé of UK's gambling problem

Well researched, written and read. Let's hope this book gives policymakers, punters and those who shamelessly promote and profit from gambling addiction more pause for thought

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Interesting read

Interesting read on a murky subject. I would recommend to anyone seeking a better understanding of the UK gambling industry.

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Aimless one sided criticism

Will start with the positive, Davies does a good job narrating but some poor pronunciations; Milngavie in particular sounding like a comical American take.

Somewhat problematic book, those already with strong negative views will of course appreciate this and feel vindicated but otherwise I am unsure of the intention here. I have worked in this industry and was hoping for a balanced forward looking view with the relevant history to give context but this is incredibly one sided and falls foul of a few mistakes the author ironically says the industry and regulatory bodies make.

Without going into all the details there are facts here, some very painful ones, but also a fair few leaps the author feels able to make as he does say (one example) there is no evidence of *something* but here is a hypothetical which takes significant liberties. The use of data also makes the mistakes he himself points out around causation & correlation; ultimately data can often be skewed any way you wish should there be an agenda (another thing that is also highlighted as a devious tactic by the gambling industry), so for this to work you need that balanced view or go with a bayesian model and bake in some degrees of confidence for all possible conclusions. I wont go into too much detail on data analytics, but the author also says this is not a data driven book type statement but then is a willing to be selective on what to use depending on the conclusions he has already drawn. I would suggest the author (and anyone reading this actually) to check out The Perils of Perception which is a fantastic book on how data is gathered and used across a spectrum of areas/cultures/time etc which I would argue is a starting point for anyone wanting to wield data in their work.

Another major mistake is lambasting everyone for their lack of foresight (for example rise and dominance of online) whilst focusing on the current and past, the ‘casino in your pocket’ point is made very frequently and the general launch of smartphones but as much as this is still the most popular platform for gambling (and majority of any activities), to criticise on the one hand folk not understanding the times/future whilst using a 15 year old technology as evidence doesn’t quite hold up and only shows why regulation (self or government imposed) is incredibly difficult. There is a passing mention of how some within the industry do take steps to attempt to predict but as this is more on the positive side of the industry its not further explored.

Also had to chuckle at making this all sound like a more exciting form of investigative journalism when mentioned going 'undercover' at a gaming industry event... this is a public, well advertised event (ICE) anyone over 18 can attend by registering online :-p

Won’t go on any further as this is already more than anyone is likely to read so the final point I will make is how this approach can be counter productive in the ways the author themselves eludes to. Journalism is also a business and follows practices that are very questionable (like how the gambling industry is argued to be) which the author themselves admits is guilty of ‘click bait’ and sensationalism to get attention which means readership / exposure which means profits and all the workings within this will mirror what gambling (and all industries) adopt with the same dangers like Facebook algorithms for example. This then creates the problem of an industry being forced to act on immediate public opinion rather than a more informed approach for preventative measures, as predicting and addressing future problems will never get the same attention as the tragic individual cases you read today. This is so the writers & papers can proclaim victory when (potentially arbitrary) changes are made directly on the back of their headlines.

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