Arcades: Gambling with addiction?

This summer, many British people have descended on seafront towns and staycation resorts such as Butlins. Arcades are a firm fixture in most of these places and have been for years. However, I am concerned at the way that gambling has been trivialised in our society. As arcades have changed over the years, home consoles have left genuine arcade games obsolete. Most arcades are now toned down casinos with a currency of small change. As someone living by the seaside for my whole life, I have become concerned at the gambling habits that these seemingly harmless places can legitimise. They can be fun and completely safe. I believe that we need to ensure that they do not normalise gambling because the fallout in adult life of casino, online and bookmaker gambling can be devastating.

Arcades have been a big part of my life because of their presence in my local town and my observations of them have shaped a lot of my thought towards gambling. It was a recent visit as a mature adult that made me see them in a negative light. They traditionally were about playing games of all types from shoot-em-ups to racing rallies. Many adults I know grew up and socialised in them. Their decline mirrors that of the seaside town. They have both been replaced by more fashionable 21st century alternatives. Arcades have been taken over by the Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo and smartphone generation, as have British holidays been overlooked in favour of more exotic destinations.

They encourage you to think you deserve something based on luck rather than effort.

However, I still think there are a lot of lessons to be learnt about how we introduce our children to gambling. The arcades today are filled with slot machines and penny pushing machines. These require minimal skill and engage the player with bright lights, loud music and gaudy colours. In my eyes, there is very little difference between these machines, the lottery, betting on horses or putting everything you own on black. The only difference is the stakes. I dislike all forms of gambling because they encourage you to think you deserve something based on luck rather than effort. Of course, you do not stand a fair chance against them since the odds are manipulated in favour of the arcade.

Nevertheless, my main objection to this form of gambling is in its appeal to children. Walking into one of the seven or so local arcades in my seafront, I noticed the way they target young people. The One Direction and Hello Kitty themed gambling machines are scattered throughout the arcades. Kids rides draw them in. The low amounts of money being spent and the way that our children are introduced to this form of gambling trivialises it and makes it seem harmless. Indeed, you can tell which people have been in there for too long, both young and old, from the glazed expression on their faces. They are monotonous in their movements pushing coins into slots repeatedly. Of course, I do not want to seem like a killjoy because they can be a lot of fun. They could also offer the opportunity for parents to give children healthy attitudes towards gambling by teaching them to use the machines sensibly, as my parents did with me. Unfortunately, I suspect that many of the kids are unsupervised or with inadequate guidance. They are having negative habits encouraged in them from an early age.

Gambling addiction is a major problem in our society. It places psychological, physical and overwhelming financial burdens on its victims. The presence of gambling on our high streets is helping to trivialise it. It is now easy to access gambling secretly on the internet, mobile and tablet . Most people are satisfied with an innocent flutter on an occasional sporting event or a little holiday arcade action. Nevertheless, the NHS estimates that there may be as many as 450,000 problem gamblers in this country. The solution needs to be to control the problem in the short term and create healthy attitudes in young people in the long term. When I walked into my local arcade and saw the people as slaves to the machines for the first time, something in me clicked. I am ashamed to say that for all of my arguments in this article, I still gambled. Whilst I can walk away contentedly, I am deeply concerned for the next generation of bedroom gamblers.

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Image 1 – flickr.com/pigeonpie, Image 2 – flickr.com/evarinaldiphotography, Image 3 – flickr.com/subliminati