A muted cheer: football is here. Euro 2020 matches are mostly being shown on the BBC, so I can watch them at home, alone, or in the pub, surrounded by guys with their smartphones and betting apps, bonding over their losses. Even as they’re losing money, they are still producing the adrenalin and endorphins which gives them the gambling ‘high’.
Punters who have the audacity to win more than they lose may find their accounts limited or even closed. With no legal obligation to take a bet from any individual, the betting companies do everything they can to weed out professional gamblers, while welcoming mug punters with open arms, free bets and loyalty bonuses. Beyond that counterfeit ‘high’, the punters have plenty to lose: money, job, house, marriage, reputation, prospects and, in extremis, their lives. The betting companies, on the other hand, have what is effectively a licence to print money.
Licenced over the weekend: Salt's Mill reflected in the Leeds & Liverpool Canal...
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