and with that, and you are up to date, but to stick around up. next, we have a documentary examining how online sports betting. firms are cashing in, well, many of their customers struggling with gambling addiction. and remember, if you need more news in the go, you can always check out our website that c, w dot com, american, tilton, berlin. thank you very much for joining us. the growing us interagency as a palestinian and driven on. we don't expect much living with the bare minimum without civil rights and with no cost. this is not a good environment. yeah, no. not for my children. and favorite shadow stats oldest good. on the w, the hello . my name is steve ramsey. i am from the northeast,

i think that fits the something i used to gamble helpful and i can put 3 full 100 pets on every single day. and i'm to worst i was ladies and $1520.00 sided some times every month. so i've been staying the money for a long time and i just listened such a mess and i didn't know how to stop it. and my mind was telling me not suicide was the way out. and it would be the best thing for everybody. the target gamblers and lower them in all over europe. sports betting sites run rampant with a max unit bit bit 365,

b. when and typical the majority of these platforms belong to a powerful multi nationals. their influence extends far and wide from sports clubs to politicians, the sultan, parabolic falsity less so that the also called please beth so. so these are all say the ocean funding is substitute for professional capital supplemental activity projects, but also i go sit in england, 430000 gamblers have a serious problem when it comes to betting 50. 5000 of them are age between 11 and 16. the the

like all major championships. the fee for world cup is a key event for sports, bidding platforms, football accounts for a large part of their revenue the time. and again, large sporting events, likes the world comp, bring and record high sums for bedding companies. the sports bedding is nothing new, but it used to be limited to specialized spreading shops. the there's only on cyprus, 060 to buy gas or oil. in

the early 2, thousands, however, the internet revolutionized the sector. 2 we didn't realize it would explode and that everybody would use their phone for all commercial transactions. you enter your banking through the phone, you do your banking through the phone as soon as they uh, the gambling industry realize the people could place bets on their phones during matches. then there was an opportunity to capture that particular map market. in 2003, a verdict from the european union cleared the way for operators. citing their commitment to free trade, the court of justice decided in favor of liberalizing online gambling. the member states, despite their skepticism,

gradually authorized the creation of online bedding sites which had previously been banned. over the past 20 years, the online market has grown from the millions to the billions. an enormous increase the france and britain, or some of the 1st countries to allow online support. spinning the, it's really a growth industry and it's becoming increasingly global in terms of the biggest companies, they're a relatively few. most of the big players are u. k based companies like entertain flux to william hills,

but 365. the british companies have been very successful in expanding overseas matching with other large companies. to me, it was like, uh like a home requests like an invading army or something in the industry as a grades and a power in the sense that the people who own some of the biggest companies are very, very rich. you're talking about people who become billy and as in the space of a few years. um, quite a lot of those people, uh major fund is a political policies. so they have political influence as well. the national association. i have this time,

but you can pause for good for allowing us to all sort of end here tonight. but quite a few days before the football world comp, representatives of the sports betting industry met with the european parliament to discuss statistics good cars. while the industry has permanent representatives and lobbyist stationed in brussels to influence legislation in all you member states, it was quite in effect and will be great. they clearly have a lot of politicians that they speak to. some of the fan law influential, the gambling industry is, you know, having secret meetings with em pays and ministers and saying, look, we, i want you to do this. you know, i've seen evidence of things that documents that have been written by the governing industry. and you compare that to the text with the text of a speech given by and, and pay this the same. and as an opportunity for the best thing industry to explain to stakeholders and the wider community about how the bad thing is to operate. and

to raise awareness on the work that we undertake to make counseling safe and responsible, is behind the facade of responsible conduct. however, the industry has practices that push the boundaries of what is legal. technically, sports betting is banned for minors. but bidding platforms seem to have no qualms about targeting teenagers more and more players are under $25.00. most of them are men. we are competing indoctrinate and young people. there are some studies that i've read the do show, particularly children, a very, very aware of passing companies. they recognize the logo. they can recite an advert i've seen. they can even talk about on the in the

u. k. is about 60000 children age between 11 and 16 with a gambling problem. mean that that's up. see if that was children over to tech, to, to head away, it would be a public outcry. this is as bad because we cited you an agenda for the rest of their lives. they just liked the story and a supplement for mainly targeting young people in working class areas in the suburbs, typically the 18 to 25 age group. as soon as you turn 18, you can register with us and national was all just little bit teach you how much of the country in that as well. i should go. i saw the few bits will fit, i sucked, which of the single to the 2 bits will fit. yeah, something will this new default to naples, i'm need who work for the. this

is a new way of reaching people and it's much, much more effective. and actually cheaper in a lot of cases than spending you know, 50000 pounds on a 22nd commercial on, on sky sports. sports spinning offices operate the same way in most european countries. they capitalize on social frustration and hopes for a big win. my name is ken robinson, i worked in the gambling industry as an affiliate market to we had access to huge data base. we could use credit card data to target people who maybe are in credit card debt or live in a council of state. they knew these people were maybe on the lower income scale. so we knew that they fit the profile of somebody who would deposit on one of the sites the we would

target them with offers to join different gambling site. so let's say i target somebody with an advertise 10 pound free, and they ignore the ads. we could then read target them with an ad with a bigger office and they'd be as 20 pounds free the next day. or 30 pounds free and getting bombarded with more ads, more ads and more attractive ads until the the person come yeah, they couldn't resist anymore. it was highly, highly effective. these compounds for extremely profitable. there was an awareness within the company that i worked for that we were targeting adults and it was something that we would just brush aside. they know a great deals of about the psychological makeup of, of the human mind. they know how people back them. they know how to explain that. they know how to exploit optimism hopefulness. they nitrate how to exploits the

fact that most people are very bad at calculating from ability. and of course, they exercise that power very cleverly. this power of manipulation can drive people into a diction the sides, operators, or bookies, as they are called use various incentives to create an urgent people to keep on playing again and again. and again. there's a lot of vocational sus, i'm speaking out so that people know what's going on. it's on call. as someone who worked behind the scenes for over 5 years, i have the inside track on how these things work. and that's it, ada kline know all too well that the image portrayed on tv. it's the complete opposite of what actually happens. all they're lying to everyone to my name is sebastian jones, who was saying that used to work for the betting side unit best and device voltage in that uni bed is one of your

leading operators. it's owned by kindred group, a swedish multi national that's ranked as one of the largest gaming groups in the world. or shift for the family. so they've initially sales figures for a single day might be in the 10s of thousands of yours. by the end, we were making millions every day i saw some bottom on the you. so there was a race to see who could offer the most bad. it's for the biggest range of sports. the previous book was when i joined the unit that for example, they didn't offer ping pong so bad and our bowls shipping from. but, i mean, the net stuff got at it. bit by did they talk to, you know, top chemist at san diego families office now the platforms all had one goal make more bidding available around the clock every day of the week. a foot in football you can base on any possible outcomes. one goal,

234, or even a goal in the 1st or 2nd time a hit or a free kick, a penalty. but that's just one second. but it just exploded. if there would be 2 or $300.00 per match. used to be one or 2 events and that was, it is so sorry that i say i want it to like to talk to. it was a direct line with the marketing department today. they keep sending out push notifications on. you'll find things like tell us what you think of the match or here are some exciting opportunities for you and the top one who came uh, move in the end. we were harassing veterans to play the yearbook and you genuinely encourages addiction, gambling and over consumption. why would toss it the 1st winning batch, the 1st rush of adrenalin. it's something that most seasons players remember. for many it's the beginning of a downward spiral. and there's so much from the tele, an implant that is always advertised. and one of the pick loudest website is going

to be a go, okay. and i just put a ton of time quite i, i looked up and there was a got the letter this call soon as soon as i put in the buy off. and i just looked in my phone, it said, but when i'm and it was just an instant saying it was 6 such a bank post number 2nd. now it says start up at the post office. they opened, let people wait a little at the start. but after that, there is no escaping. you might have won a bit of money that you lose it just as quickly your re credited so you can try and we may even more money, except it doesn't work anymore. and then beat my beat near lose money. a little here, little live, but by the end of the year you're looking at huge losses. all the

to start with. uh, i obviously just use my money. i went through my size and i still found labor. why? but what happened? what then was the operate? it's when just came to me, frank, that's hundreds of pounds with the free bats. because i'd stop down and hang for a few days. i'm. yeah, i'm not going to be back in the st pulling down. mm. every time they take they can escape. they don't. so it's something to entice some pocket. it's like, given a drug object, 3 drugs, i'm saying these are free. you can walk away after you've used them. if you've got a problem for them, you can't walk away. so it is same. all right? not a problem. 6 protocol on and then i was talking to catalog it

became a never ends and a cycle of trying to find the money to pay of tents. and i'm just kidding. i'm going out for the options and not was when i took the 1st transaction, i work, i substituted my bunk accounting. i folded my work now money came and it went straight to pay. that's. ringback tell them i was just on the 119000 pounds. and that was, i think it by 60 transactions of that full. yes. and it's off, but i didn't buy test between stockton it's, it's all new york. no, i've never seen an operator band or even contact to plan because they gambling too

much. i've never seen bookies do anything with regards to prevention despite also the operators are required by law to identify players who have developed an addiction and to prevent excessive gambling offices buying. yeah, spend the face to face as long as the player doesn't come forward and leave a written paper trail. they're not going to do anything on the test on. so that's how they think it's not our responsibility. you know, our job is just to provide entertainment. at that point, i will turn a blind on to the players gambling addiction. put us in about 2 issues where we could really make a huge breakthrough on gambling addiction if we sacrifice 15 percent of the prophets. i did propose to the board over numerous years that we should take more or more measures about addiction. but i should have been wise, i was only talking to the wall and the truth is they are looking for

a solution that doesn't cost the money. and if there were, since they are, they would change the product. steward, kenny co chair, flutter, one of the largest online gambling groups in the world. in 2016. he's company sales topped a 1000000000 pounds but he's suddenly made the decision to resign from the board of directors. i've been booked my car for 45 years. i don't feel present. in fact the truth is i've been cutting myself for a long time. i was no longer proud of what i'd create of the mail within a few days. i'd sell it all my shares. i have a choice. i speak up for a shuttle in mid in his field steward,

kennedy is seen as a trailblazer, a man who modernized sports betting. he opened his 1st offices in ireland, called patty power. back then bouquets made most of their money via bidding on horse races. the steward realized that this image was becoming outdated and launched advertising campaigns that left quite the impression highlights shocking. so one of the 1st advice to was one with granny is true, granny is going to cost a pedestrian crossing at $1.00 of them on a zimmer frame. and there was a big jape coming towards them. now we were saying which brand new would win going across the pedestrian crossing, but was quite clear when it really was, was official and we got knocked down and

a junction run up all the newspapers and said i'm going to the face on post our on behalf of a traction it was on the front page of all the newspapers. we want expensive. that's all we wanted. so are the powers now known as fletcher, the overall holding company. and they have taken over numerous bookmakers and it is a totally different business. a. so that's a, is a global corporations, and it is now become pretty much the biggest gambling company in the world that's grown so much over the past 1520 years. you're now looking at a global operation with a stock market value of, i think more than $25000000.00 and, and that is comparable to some of the largest companies listed on the london stock exchange. if he takes a test code is the biggest supermarket jane in britain flats, it is bigger than not me. the gambling industry now

takes almost 15000000000 pounds every year from people in the u. k. but it's the clear link between betting and mental illness which a spark demands for rich and talk should to cook this addiction. the in recent years, organizations in the u. k. had been trying to curb the growing power of these bookmakers with petitions, marches, and public appeals. they demanded the government to provide greater protections. finally, politicians to come to the pressure. on february 4th 2020, the hands of britain's biggest, multi national gambling corporations, were called to parliament and to show that she may

i think it would be very helpful to offer something to offer us some thoughts on what you think the benefits of the sector all for u k, p o c, for consumers, we're an industry which supports unemployment is a 107000 people in this country. we contribute mold in 14000000000, so you kind of come to me. we make a contribution to the treasury of 3500000000 pounds every year, the custom to operating in the shadows. here these companies were publicly held to account sufficient evidence results to accept including all of you that you happens to uh, protect it and get safe, all of your customers. we need to know what your commit to today. so i'm grateful to hear what you know. i'm clearly is not enough. like i'm not going to sugar

coated with you. you know, 99 percent of the customers who plan of sites will lose. so when you know that you can play more, you probably losing more always call. i'll just be very straightforward. i do think some of the gambling ones have got to aggressive. we are the, you have to incentivize to play more more and more, to get better tickets, more bonus, easy cetera, et cetera. we're working with the, the gc and the 14 other operators on it. and we will be suggesting changes the seat on game if you win to offer the operator, we'll put a number of measures in place to prevent you from winning more than it. yeah, that's is necessarily or that please. of course it's changing. they want to keep the people who make the most money and eliminate those who lose them the most of their state profiling people. there's a service dedicated to it, which they use the profile players and categorize them according to the bidding style and oil in the valley. if it's in fact there's

a screen which shows old, but it's taken by old players in real time. players who's being profiled and flagged is risky, appear in a separate color to fill the vanity producing the green and blue shield customers who post less of a risk. the ones who are going to lose between 10 and 20 percent of what they gambled may be a bit more worried about those once they're good clients only then. so they come to the site and they lose their money. and then alongside that, we had the opposite. the warmer colors show the customers to watch out for the customers we have flagged as dangerous this and indoors. what we'll see in the software. so you get to going, uh, these are the shocks, the category hayes and the ones that appear in bright red at the book make is really shocking shots of people who generally when a lot of money in sports bashing and who regularly bait the book make is better because i think you're, you know, a course that take off over here. our role was to identify any player who even

remotely resembled a shock us and send the best thing id to the profiling department to show natalia was always pushed as on this account. so now these are people who are going to have, they advance limits agents. and for example, where an average person can place a 1000 euro event, they'll only be able to put down 100 euro's with that. so we let them play very little low. we stopped them from playing as old. well, we put all the bits on hold anymore. we use old a means that the science disposal to prevent that person from playing the nose on the it's a business we're only the losers are welcome treated. only losers are allowed to play. we're trying to maximize and optimize the losses of certain customers. now, the, i think that in 20 years or so, i must have lost at least 3000000 euro. unfortunately,

i can't help myself if you put a 100000 euro is into my account, what all gamble it away in 2 minute is all the units. rafael gambled on the french side with a max for 4 years. he himself was a business man. but during this time, he lost all his sense for the value of money function. so it's hard to imagine those kinds of figures and not even my family and close friends know about of approval. so if you lose large amounts of money, but again, big company, you'll get a message saying, congratulations. you are now part of the company's v. i pay scheme. that either means is this your class at the start of 20? 19, when i was new to when a max, i had already lost the 10s of thousands of yours. after a month, i was contacted by the vip managers, whose name was antwan's, the old one, the accurately said,

it was very welcoming and very nice person. if i had any questions or problems, i could go straight to him. but as he found me yet, like tomorrow, when the company calls you a v, i pay it, i mean, you're a loser. but of course i told you i'd be, i'd pay because that makes you feel like a winning all quite a new contact image. yes, that san juan contacted me and said rafael for your birthday of the site wants to take you to a football match of your choice. i don't imagine the footboard swell inside. okay. they basically creates a unique customer experience so that people feel on it to lose them money or something. so there's a reality to the flag cuz i did, i kept telling him that i wasn't financial trouble. and then i had to stop him. i said it was debating whether to leave the program temporarily or permanently that he, that each time antwan managed to convince me it was better to opt out temporarily rather than leave for good isn't it? he would always tell me on once i left, i couldn't come back. this is the solution to test against all odds during

a series of impulsive and random bits made one evening in october 2019. rafael hit the jackpot and won 750000 heroes. he immediately asked with a max to pay out the money so he could pay off his debts with amex of east west, and it was a pull that you did when imacs had 72 hours to complete the transaction development . i got a call from antwan and he said that raphael, are you sure you want us to pay out the money that you could use it to keep playing on our side? me? i said no and explained that i needed the money from the split and also i think those ones that the home then altima all sudden will happen on call when the next day. and twan called me again, but more time he asked how i was doing. and if i was happy to have lunch with me at the end of our conversation, he asked me again. raphael, are you sure you want us to pay out the money? i will call you and you called the 3rd time the following day, and well, that's when i came in as

a cookie. so each one sees over the next 36 hours. i places 8 pads. and last, the entire 750000 europe, things i need to, to set up, you know, the extra business reasons to have a, c, i p. c. as in any commercial enterprise, expect a different level of service and we're providing what we try to ensure that these customers are looked after. i'm, we're acting responsibly with that's the key tenant of our relationship with these customers. so may, more worrying was the fact that v i p countless or a less than times more likely to become problem gamblers. and certainly from hearing from problem gamblers, i felt the whole psychology of it the whole way was such how was actually very press x ray. i'm actually prayed on the vulnerabilities of,

of people. this is certainly something that we would be concerned about all you could. we, we show you concerns are owned business, we've got 3000000 customers. we've won a 100 c, i t's enough business of 3000000 on the river. one percent of revenue use for our business. it's not in our area. we focus on it's another area we invest in, and i also like to, to point out to make it very clear that just because you're a, the p doesn't mean you're probably younger. there are dark darwin, video stuff can afford saying at higher levels. they seem like a good idea at the time they turn out to be a disaster. hey, it's late to all sorts of ideas. am they should back band the i piece games and free bets. scrap them, get rid of them, complete the. i don't think that the industry is capable of successful self regulation. in theory,

operators are monitored by national regulatory authorities. in practice, however, their powers are limited by a conflict of interest. governments receive a percentage of the money wagered online. if i say that if case, you know, yeah, you will, if it's true. so there's a rather complicated relationship between the state as a protector of its people getting the and the state which is through the taxation of gambling. also benefits from market revenue. uh, roughly speaking, it brings in around 5 to 6000000 a year for the state, or rather for the public sector to really that's a considerable sum. and the challenge for the regulators is to operate autonomously with spite of this reality. there's no to no need for help on situational studies in various you. countries have shown that while gambling does provide tax revenue, it also comes with a hefty price tag by putting a massive strain on the states, social and health care services. for if i wanted to show compassion domain and i

need to do an addiction should not be treated as a purely private matcher. and we'll place what we've seen recently in the u. k. for example, is that for every person addicted to gambling out, but 6 other people are affected, not because they become addicted to that because it causes problems within the family unit at school, at the university and so on. now, it's clear that addiction is becoming a social problem. 100 isn't. yeah, no problem. so shonda, it's a social problem because very often people love a problem account be able to and to up something else in order to i, the support they gambling or to vent around and get their own as on. wish athena, a problem down below. so we see the domestic violence will increase the anti social behavior, the b test. as a result of it, it is the hospitalization doctor visits the nurses who have to deal with the off them off of the damage which is caused by gambling both physically and mentally to

people who have a gambling called them. that's is a, is a very significant costs, but it's a heating cost and it's a cost. the gambling industry itself pretends doesn't exist, was, was us equal my cube, good, helpful sit up with the time, convince that we need to step up protection domain. gambling has moved out of it's a specialized, highly technical domain. you can sit there and it's become an everyday consumer product. and the difficulties for a regulator like ours is that the tools we have, i believe these are not fully adapted to this new situation. and that they said nobody seemed to issue the so far, the french state seems to be satisfied with basic prevention messages. the one possible way to protect betters from developing an addiction to gambling would be to ban bidding science from taking out sports sponsorships. but that would be challenging,

given how deeply they've already penetrated most areas of the sports industry. the gambling industry. it isn't the only industry in town, but it's the one with the biggest check is for one with face, with the biggest budget when it comes to sports advertising the from the clubs point to view it. maximize these revenues from the families point of view. it allows the clubs to potentially recruit the best suppliers and from the gambling companies point to view, it increases brand awareness and increases the level of the site was. you could say everybody wins gambling companies spend a lot of money on football because there are more than a 1000000 fans in the world, right. it is just so visible. so you know that if you advertise on the company should you're going to be seen by hundreds of millions of people. it's really the best advertising space there is in the world right the for the 2020 to

2023 season. out of the 20 clubs in the englishman's premier league, 9 team jerseys had the name of a gambling company printed on the sleeve or chest of the 5 major european leagues. france had the highest number of teams with the logo of a betting side on their kid. around half of all jerseys in germany, there was only one wonderfully good team to do. so. short sponsorship has been banned in italy since 2019. it's been followed suit in 2021. how many football clips and paperless and what we call survive without betting money. but there's a lot of troops who can and i think it's about the business model. if you've got relying back to all these people's england's best ever going people, but secretly he had a serious gambling diction. chilton now admits he lost millions since recovering

with the help of his wife steph. now campaigns for stronger regulation, the i cat. nitrous thing keeps the newspapers as a young lads committed suicide. and i kept saying to pace to, oh my goodness, you could make such a big difference. so we just so yeah, we'll come out. we'll, you know, we went on to national tv. i'm, we're told a story and we've done it a 100 interviews. we started to be talked about a lot more, bro and the open, you know, and i need needs to be. i know, i remember the 1st time we went into paul and then i lost a lot of public health. nothing focuses of public health issue. and then 18 months ago public. how did your reports tonight? so we opened up a very ugly roll conversation, you know, the,

the industry just needs not just talked about radical change and it needs to come from, you know, from, from governments. and to me, it just didn't seem to be coming. i went in a very skeptical because of the financial situation. my, my the government continue to do nothing. which is why in march 2022 sports men and women and peas and non profit organizations rally the public call for the urgent overall of bedding regulations. money in the interest rate is talking. oh no, because there's revenue from that. they get not revenue from dick's people who can't afford to lose it. so why are we not doing why the goodman and pets chip pump petitions? not doing anything about it. as i'll tell you why, because much when we get back on this,

let's look at history based on the government thing. oh, well, you know, let's move on over because it smooth this over this just a time and the place now to make a difference. the general public and it's a job for the industry. and in this place we have an opportunity to officially challenge the industry. but it says it's difficult. butler. the industry lo be is very aggressive. you see, when we have debates, where we have a certain politicians who all this the of a relationship with the low b will come in and defend the industry to extraordinary lengths. in some cases, i'm just somebody you can see the damage that is cost a month to help people to stop them getting involved and knocked down much. we've got the ability to enjoy the we have to do through with official john those they

are able to show to get that that all demands would always be around the financial benefits to the treasury or to the country as opposed to the actual cost of simpleton and a dick shop the think when we do a probation, then we and we and we significantly reduce the experience of the product and then that's when you push payers offshore. and we also have to be mindful that if we, if we make any regulation too and next inflexible, then we risk, we have the very real channeling risk of just pushing people into off fuel side. so we absolutely recognize the issues at lodge here. it's just we need to just be tap live on the intended consequences of close at various last

now if i use that argument all the time, one, every time i want to tax decrease and bathing and out, and i say the black model, it's all involved. the black markets, and we'll play that black mazda vote. are you going to lend the credit card to black market operator? that's what i'd say. it's a great argument. black market. it's a lot of baloney math. thank you all very much indeed. now's the committee to stay behind for a moment, but that that concludes the public session and thank you very much. indeed. i will be pessimistic about what happens with the present gum. i think they are so desperate to fill the coffers of the taxpayer that they will not upset the industry . the bedding companies in

britain and france still only face weak regulations or restrictions on their marketing pre bets via ip or sports sponsorship schemes. the

or the humility and sick talking the goals house a century ago. vw reinvent of itself with this cause now the evergreen has to build a bridge to the future. 50 years of go will the success story continue rev betsy minutes? dw, the legal workers and call themselves the black. a neighbor away,

it'd be olympic construction site. now they are fighting for their rights to obtain a visual status to get to the trade session prussia, because they know it was to sign you know, stuff in 90 minutes on d w. the sometimes the town that used to be highlighted for every week, not to not really oh, you update the green innovations for green and green chimes, the holy grail of electron mobility and green revolution. global. so listen

to all loud climate problems to fix your thoughts on the topics breast of those channels. we've got new videos every friday, subscribe to plan. it's a the, this is dw news, and these are our top stories. a day after president joe biden gave up his been for re election, vice president, kamala harris has already secured endorsements from powerful democrats and 2 thirds of the delegates. she needs for the democratic nomination, and in 24 hours or campaign raised a record of $81000000.00 towards defeating donald trump. in november the director of the u. s. secret service has admitted that her agencies failed to protect republican presidential, candidate salad trump against him just as.