Madam, — I wish to draw attention to our Government’s ongoing attempts to convert all its citizens to the culture of gambling as a way of life.
Nama is currently a more obvious example to which we are all being enlisted, whether we approve or not, and to which even our unborn children will one day be stakeholders. I, however, wish to highlight the National Lottery promoters, who appear determined to extract every last available cent from our battered and shell-shocked citizens through a State-promoted gambling organisation.
What began as a once a week, relatively harmless punt, offering a chance to win a decent prize while supporting admirable causes, has now been transformed into an all-day, all-week gambling frenzy – preying on the vulnerable and financially desperate who will grasp at any straw to alleviate the hardships they are currently enduring; hardships, might I add, in many ways caused by the reckless gambling of this Government.
The original weekly game has now been transformed into a round-the-clock, seven days a week plethora of gambling enticements, from numerous draws to scratch cards to “Telly Bingo”, not to mention online games on their website.
Unlike the bookies, they do not display any warnings of the adverse effects of excess gambling on personal and family life.
A visit to the National Lottery website is akin to a trip to Las Vegas and nowhere in their mission statement is there a reference to responsible gambling or the dangers and consequences of addiction.
Are we really that desperate? – Yours, etc,