Lesson video

Welcome to the RSHE PSHE lesson, Internet safety and harms: Gambling, debt and targeted advertising.

My name's Mr. Duffy, and today we're going to look at recognising problem gambling.

Now this lesson does cover issues about gambling and addiction.

If this is a sensitive topic to you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting, or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

So hopefully, you've done your intro quiz, you did really, really well on that.

We're going to look at betting often and online games.

We're then going to look at chasing losses.

Anxiety and sleep loss due to gambling.

Financial losses.

And you'll do your exit quiz at the end.

So let's take a look at some keywords then.

So gambling is playing games of chance for money or material goods.

An addiction is not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you.

So for this lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or paper 'cause you are going to need to do some tasks throughout the lesson, and in which case you're going to need a pen or a pencil.

So let's take a look at the law then.

So you need to be 18 years old to gamble legally in this country, in the UK, whether that is online or live.

And what we mean online is obviously these online casinos, and live is actually going maybe to a casino or a bingo hall, for example.

Now, the minimum gambling age for lotteries and football pools in the UK is 16 years old.

So Mohammed then has an older brother who spends all day in the bookies, okay, and he's there at least three times a week.

In between betting on horse racing, he is playing on the fruit machines.

What are your concerns about Mohammed's brother.

Pause the video, I'll see you in a second.

Fantastic.

So my concerns really, certainly for Mohammed's brother, is that he's spending quite a lot of time in the bookies.

He's certainly in there three times a week.

Now, the argument there, obviously, two days could be Saturday and Sunday, that's fine, and maybe one day during the week, during the working week.

Does he not have a job to go to? That would be my concern.

Maybe he's meant to be working Monday to Friday.

He might have an extra day off, which is fine, but is he meant to be working Monday to Friday? In which case, he's now starting to gamble in the place of doing his job.

So his job is being affected potentially.

My other concern is that he's all day in there spending money.

And he could maybe put £10 on a horse race.

You know, six horse races, you're looking at what, £60? In between playing the slot machines.

Maybe again, putting £10 in every time.

So we're looking at £120 potentially every single day for three days.

That's quite a lot of money, isn't it? You know, £360 a week on betting.

Has he got that money? Can he afford to potentially lose that money? Those certainly are the things that I would be concerned about.

Has it gone from being just a bit of a socialisation, a bit of a fun pastime, to maybe something a little more serious that? And is there an element here now that we're seeing gambling-like behaviour which is starting to turn and manifest itself into what we would call an addiction? So gambling problems can happen to anyone from any walk of life.

And as we've said in previous lessons and as you're probably fully well aware, people can become addicted to pretty much anything.

And someone who's gambling can go from, as I said, fun, harmless, just having a little bit of fun, just betting a little bit on the horses, to suddenly becoming an unhealthy obsession where there can be some serious consequences.

A compulsive gambler can't control the impulse to gamble, and that's the issue isn't it? That they can't say no.

They need to gamble no matter what, whether they've got the money or not, whether they have the time or not, whether it upsets a family member.

Is is going to upset their wife or their husband or their partner or somebody close to them? Irrespective of whether it's going to do damage to a relationship, or whether they're going to do damage to their job, or their finances, it doesn't matter.

Gambling is the overriding factor and they will gamble no matter what.

And that's where we could have these negative consequences for either themselves or potentially for a loved one.

So what do you think are the signs of a compulsive gambler? What would you say are the signs for someone who is addicted to gambling? I want you to pause the video, and we'll see in a second.

So the signs of compulsive gambling are not just restricted to the ones that you can see.

These may be, for argument's sake, the most obvious.

But what's really important to understand is that a gambler can hide these quite easily.

For someone who's addicted to alcohol and drugs, there's generally physical signs, you can generally see a deterioration in the way that they look, maybe in a loss of weight, the fact that they appear hungover, potentially, specifically if it's alcohol-related.

And you can see those physical signs, that they're not taking care of themself.

But for gambling, it can be hidden.

And the signs and the kind of things we're looking for here are things where they're pre-occupied with gambling, consistently and constantly playing.

Might be at the weekends when there's a family social gathering, and they're on their phones gambling.

They're not interested in what's going on.

That could be a sign of compulsive gambling.

Needing to gamble, more importantly, with increasing amounts of money to get the same thrill.

We talk, don't we, about drugs and alcohol and somebody needing more of the substance to get the same thrill, and it's the same with gambling.

That that £5 bet, each-way bet, isn't really going to cut it anymore.

They want a £10 winning bet, £20, £30, £100, and it starts to escalate.

They need to spend more money to get that same thrill.

Because the prize is greater.

The more you bet, the likely is that you're going to win a substantial amount of money, or certainly more money than if you were to bet a smaller amount.

One of the problem sides is that, actually, they're trying to cut back but without success, so they can't really cut back.

It's like, "Well, I won't gamble on a Saturday.

I won't gamble on a Saturday, I'll spend time with my family," and actually, it transpires that they can't.

Trying to get back lost money.

Now that's a really big one.

This can also be known as chasing losses.

So they may have lost £100, they're now going to bet £200.

The original, the money that they've lost, plus an extra amount to win the money back that they lost and then win more on top.

It's called chasing losses and that can really spiral out of control extremely quickly.

Lying to family members and others to hide the extent of gambling.

They may be ashamed, they may realise that, actually, they're gambling way too much and, in reality, they realise it's an issue, but they don't want to admit it.

So they may say, "I've just betted £10 on that one horse race." When actually, they've not, they've maybe betted more money.

They may have had a bet on more races.

And that ultimately can lead to financial trouble.

At the end of the day, a gambler is gambling money or goods.

Could be gambling their car or goods that they have, but predominantly money.

And what that means is that the more money they gamble, if they lose more money, provided they can afford it, okay.

But if they can't afford it, then, obviously, they're potentially going to lose that money.

So chasing losses is a sign of compulsive gambling.

Is that true or false? Make your choice, we'll see you in a second.

Obviously it is true.

Problem gamblers can't cope with a loss.

find it really difficult 'cause they want to win, they enjoy the thrill of winning.

Also they may have gambled quite a bit of money and they don't want or can't afford to lose that money.

And the pain of losing can feel so overwhelming, that rather than stick to a staking strategy, which means, "Right, I'm going to bet £10 every race and that's fine, I'm going to stick to my stake" or the amount that they're betting, "And that's fine." And the can tolerate a short-term loss.

However, problem gamblers, as I said, will double up on that stake, and it's a real desperate attempt to reclaim past losses, which obviously can cause a huge problem because it just spirals out of control very, very quickly.

So chasing losses simply means trying to win back money that somebody's already lost by gambling more.

Unfortunately, chasing usually results in more losses which can lead to more chasing losses, and it's that cycle which can be really difficult to break.

It's been quite documented, particularly in the past, with some high-profile footballers chasing their losses, gambling thousands and thousands of pounds to reclaim the money that they've already lost to try and win it back and being unsuccessful, and how difficult it was to just stop and break that cycle.

But when you're chasing losses and trying to claim your money back, it just becomes a desperate, desperate cycle of continually going after those losses.

They might win £100 at the casino and they're leaving quickly to go and get £200 out of the cash machine to try and win the £100 back, and they're just in that cycle.

So what are the consequences then of chasing losses? Pause the video, I'll see you in a second.

So it's the same really with problem gambling, isn't it? Chasing losses is ultimately, potentially, going to put people into a financial problem.

Ultimately, potentially leading to bankruptcy.

It can lead, naturally, to relationship problems. If they've spent money that the family rely on, maybe for their mortgage, for food, for bills, for their children, et cetera, et cetera, that's going to put a strain on the relationship.

Legal problems. Falling into debt.

Owing people money.

Getting behind on payments.

Potentially having to steal money to find that extra money that they need to either pay off a debt or maybe to gamble with, which ultimately could lead to imprisonment, especially if they're gaining money through fraudulent activities or by theft.

Poor work performance or job loss.

Potentially they're so concernedly trying to win money that, as I said earlier with Mohammed's brother, maybe they're not working, maybe they're not paying attention to their job.

That's going to lead to poor general health, mental health issues because of the stress and anxiety, which, ultimately, can lead sadly to suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts.

So problem gambling and chasing those losses and getting into difficultly can have a severe impact on someone who has an issue with gambling.

So anxiety and sleep loss can be associated with compulsive gambling.

Is that true or false? Make your choice, and I'll see you in a second.

That is true.

Now, gambling physically alters the brain, making more people or making people more prone to anxiety and depression.

And, ultimately, this can lead to sleep loss.

And the reason why is because of all those issues that we talked about before.

So compulsive gambling then, chasing losses, as we said, can lead to financial problems due to large sums of money lost, and it generally does spiral out of control extremely quickly.

And this can ultimately lead to sleep loss and anxiety.

And it could lead to someone gambling more and more in order to escape those problems, and, as we said, people can end up in this cycle.

So Mohammed has now noticed money has been going missing from the family home and his brother is spending more time in the bookies.

So he's no longer in there three times a week, he's in there more, potentially five times a week.

What are your concerns then about Mohammed's brother? Pause the video, write some ideas down, and we'll see you in a second.

So my concerns then here is he's now potentially stealing money to fund either a gambling addiction, and he needs that money to continue gambling, and he needs that money to get the same thrill.

Or he's in a financial situation in which he can't afford maybe bills, he owes people money possibly, which is obviously a real, real concern.

The fact that he's in there now five, six times a week needing more money, gambling more money, is he now in this cycle of chasing losses? And that could be particularly evident with the fact the Mohammed's brother is now trying to get more and more money to potentially pay off a gambling debt and reclaim those losses from gambling.

With any addiction, whether it's gambling, smoking, alcohol, drugs, if people go and seek help, they can get better, and I think that's really important to understand that just because someone could be a gambling addict today, doesn't mean they're going to be a gambling addict for the rest of their life.

And they can get help and there are plenty of organisations out there who can help, and they can get better, and I think that's really positive.

So these organization's websites can provide further information.

Be Gamble Aware, NHS and Gam Care.

Now these ones are really useful.

If you want to go out and just find a bit more information about the topic that we've been discussing today.

Or if you want to do a bit of further reading, these websites are a really good place to start.

I really hope you've enjoyed the lesson today, and I really hope you've learnt something.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share you work on Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I'd like to say I've been Mr. Duffy, I really hope you've enjoyed the lesson today and I hope to see you soon, goodbye.