Public awareness is more than just addiction awareness

So I thought I'd write a post about how an aspect of this campaign (or maybe an aspect of me) is crying out that we look at things in a deeper context. What i mean is.... how addiction not only affects an individual , but how that in turn affects the wider community.

So people should have self-discipline. Yes I agree. But... what about all the people that have been working behind the scenes all these years putting safeguards in place in an attempt to put a cap on the affects of things that have a chance of manifesting into addiction or destruction.
Maybe it's time we gave people a little help.

So for anyone here who throws the uneducated view that I am trying to ban gambling, this really isn't what the campaign is about.
My question is, whatever happened to pride? What happened to our high streets?
Will I be one of the last generation of people to witness genuinely local business's operating in a town center. Yes we still have a few market stalls , but our high streets are gone, we'v lost them to the hands of giant corporations.

So there are quite a few gambling-awareness campaigners such as myself talking now, and many are warning the public about the dreaded FOBT machines in the betting shops. (Roulette machines)
What concerns me greatly and has really hit a nerve with me is why we the public are sitting back and letting this happen. Crime and poverty is being created en-mass with these machines and the industry knows they are highly addictive and highly profitable.

But what about the people that don't choose to gamble? Such as kids, mothers, relatives, employers , clients ect that all can and do get affected by the current rise in gambling culture, that lets not forget is an agenda being driven by certain mp's and lobbyists involved with the industry to some degree.

Are we relying on governments too much to create our way of life? Are we getting put into little boxes?

The bottom line is, I am campaigning because I know how chronic this addiction can be and how 'secretly popular' it's becoming. These are not scare tactics, i have no reason to scare you. This is from the heart.
I am doing this because I think it's completely disgusting that carers are robbing old people, business's are getting ruined, people are killing themselves and the worse thing for me, is having these hubs in our town centers that harbor so many destructive stories that so many people are in denial of.

Yes denial. I'v tried to be polite for six years now but I have to be honest. It frustrates me to hear so many talk of the picture so black and white, as if addiction is such an easy thing to avoid. Despite billions of pounds being spent on what is now quite advance scientific advertising, according to many it is still the sole responsibility of the person that harbors the addiction.
It's easy to pity someone else when it isn't you.

But I can argue for hours with people. And despite the fact the gambling act has led to a what a call a devolution of our society and quite a harmful one at that , nah this is still something many see as no problem.
Some of these problems affect people for a very long time, and when you multiply this story millions of times throughout the world which is the reality then yes there is a problem. We have a virus.

Please support our latest campaign to say NO to gambling promotion on Kelloggs cereal

Hi folks.... it's Ben here from the Neuroliberation campaign. It's been a while since there's been any activity here on the gambling-awareness front but we are back with a new campaign and urge as many of you as possible to please support it.

Over the last week myself and a few others have been on a mission to to make a stand against the new Kellogg's cereal 'Krave Choco Roulette'.
The problem that myself and many others have with it is that it is blatant in-your-face gambling grooming. The front of the cereal box is basically a bandit machine, the adverts on television for it blatantly are promoting gambling to people, and Kellogg's Krave's facebook page's main image is of it's new 'Krave Choco Roulette' and they'v even gone to the extra lengths to make the box appear like a bandit machine.

What turned out to be a campaign to Kellogg's to say we find this highly irresponible marketing , became (like most of my gambling-awareness projects) a campaign to raise public awareness and attempt to open minds.

Over my last week campaigning about this on the internet I have come to realise that most people really don't see a problem with it... a common reaction I get is "Oh so seeing this image in a box is going to make me want to gamble.....yeah right whatever!! .... so what I say is this ....

Marketing companies are very clever people , do you not realise the psychological tricks involved here...please just think about it.... perhaps google about marketing branding and concepts, and the lengths these companies go to in order to get the public familiar with a brand or concept.

I would not be surprised to find out deals have been done behind the scenes here from people within the gambling industry ... there's a lot of money to be made here.

I urge as many people as possible to sign the petition we'v got going at change.org , it's been going slow but hopefully we can get this issue out into the public domain because the unfortunate fact seems to be that people in general really aren't aware of this, and certainly aren't standing up and fighting against this enough.... especially when they aren't realising that this is the pollution of our next generations minds and way of thinking.

I think it's sad that not enough people care about protecting our communities from gambling addiction. The trouble is, is that for one it's not talked about enough so people aren't really aware of how much in people they actually know around them, and two a lot of people aren't thinking about this deep enough and as a society we are letting ourselves walk right into the traps of marketing companies that will for sure create heaps of gambling addiction.

Whether or not most gamblers will go onto develop an addiction is another story, but the fact remains that the number of gambling addicts will be growing as the industry expands if we don't have the right precautions in place, and I think that the fact we now have bandit machines on our children's cereal boxes is growing evidence of that.

So yeah, we'r urging as many people as possible to sign this petition because every signature counts and so does every comment. What' great about commenting on the petition page as well as signing is that it gives Kelloggs the clear image that this is a nationwide or even international concern , and it also gives them the reasons as to why we'r not happy with this.

Here is the link to the petition, and we also have a facebook page too. We need all the support we can get to open minds here and not let our children walk down an industry-led path of gambling addiction culture. Take care.

https://www.change.org/p/kellogg-stop-selling-kelloggs-krave-choco-roulette-and-gambling-related-marketing

Once again I urge all of you that 'get it' to please just take a moment to take some action by signing the petition and leaving a comment and sharing it with your friends and family. Hopefully we can make a stand against this sort of marketing now which are likely to lead our next generation down a path of mega-gambling acceptance. Thanks for anyone that supports and has been supporting already, we can't do this without every one of us pulling together to make the change. Let's do it and take care!

https://www.change.org/p/kellogg-stop-selling-kelloggs-krave-choco-roulette-and-gambling-related-marketing

Other items on the market pretty much doing the same thing....what is happening here???

Notice the word attention also on the packet near the roulette wheel

But when you look at this also , think about it.

Come on.....really???

https://www.change.org/p/kellogg-stop-selling-kelloggs-krave-choco-roulette-and-gambling-related-marketing

The list says it all! How gambling addiction is crippling our communities and swept under the carpet!

Behind the scenes we'v been compiling a list of  some of the gambling related crimes reported in the media over the last few years. It's not even finished and we'r nearly up to 300 cases of gambling addiction related thefts and frauds that are highly significant to the bigger picture.

The purpose of this list is to give the reader a direct and easily-readable vision of the social deprivation caused by gambling addiction since the Gambling act 2005 came about.
This list may shock a few of you and we'r guessing it will open a few peoples minds to the bigger picture of how our communities are being harmed by this soul-destroying industry.

We also hope it will counteract the 'pro-gambling' PR material that is pushed out in order to make the public believe that gambling addiction is only a small problem.
Gambling addiction is certainly not a small problem and it is effecting a lot of people.

You can it on the page titled THE LIST! (click here)

There are a diverse range of gambling addiction court cases inside this list including :

A policeman looting a dead man's pockets, carer's stealing from the elderly, social workers, bankers, company frauds, headmasters, schoolteachers, a psychotic fireman, post office workers, murders, sportsmen, elderly gambling addicts, young teenagers stealing their parents bank cards....we could go on forever.

Unfortunatly a lot of people still believe that there isn't a big problem in the UK with gambling addiction, but there is!
So we ask you  to please share this page to help raise awareness so that people can start seeing the bigger picture for themselves. In time our voices will be heard.

Thanks!! 

THE LIST - http://neuroliberation.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_1.html

Neuroliberation campaign on 'Take a pew' web series

Also check out GRASP for heaps more information about gambling addiction and the industry.

Click the logo to enter GRASP site.

Betting shops 'ram-raiding' into the community and stealing all the shops!

I'm starting to wonder what this is all about now. I'm reading an article here about how the residents of Chinatown, London are out there yet again trying to stop a 10th Betting shop opening up on Gerrard street.

That's 10 betting shops in less than 150 metres! There are also shed loads more bookies now in the West End and you can pretty much guarantee that your never too far from a Ladbrokes or a William Hill.

Leicester square now even has a huge Betfred betting shop down at the bottom end near the theatre ticket stand. It holds more visual dominance to the square than any of the nightclubs with its brightly lit red and blue lettering. Why are they getting so prominent? 

One thing I'd love everyone to understand about my campaign is that it's not simply about gambling addiction. I'v said it from the start that things are getting out of hand with these betting shops...just look at how many there are now in high streets, on housing estates and even train stations .

What used to be your local market, Woolworths or shoe shop a lot of the time have turned into Ladbrokes, William hills or Costa Coffee and Cafe Nero's.

We'r getting closer and closer to becoming complete slaves to a machine and people better wake up and realise it. When not one piece of land, housing or business premises is owned by the working people then where will be? In slavery! And that is what is going on whether it is intentionally planned or not.

This isn't the first time that Chinese community in London have publicly raised their concerns about betting shops taking over the west-end. I remember they were out a few years back trying to stop another William Hill opening and obviously nobody in any useful position of 'power' has listened and opened up their heart to them. 

Just count the amount of bookies you walk past. Think back at what they used to be. There was a good chance that you even knew the people that owned it. 

Things just aren't like that any more. There's more power to the few over the many than ever before and until people start wanting a bit more for their communities then we will just have to keep putting up with betting shops muscling their way into all of the high streets and community spaces. 

I cannot think of any reason whatsoever why betting shops all over high streets could be of any benefit to anyone except the profiteer. Betting shop staff might argue that it keeps them in a job but it's a selfish view in my opinion. There's just no reason why they have to be everywhere.

Until everyone gets as peed-off as me about this then we'r heading more and more into totalitarianism I'm afraid. Business's are being muscled out right now as we speak and often it's the betting shops that are the only ones that can afford to pay the high rent's that many are now facing.

You can read the article about Chinatown here > http://www.westendextra.com/news/2013/aug/chinatown-leaders-fear-gamblers-community-centre-boss-outlines-case-against-latest-bet

How the campaign is going so far.....

After creating the petition to get betting shops out of our high streets and town centres, 4 months has now past since the start of the petition.
I often wonder if maybe I had been a little over-enthusiastic about it , maybe I  had aimed a little too high to stop the social problems I had seen being created in our communities from the anti-social nature of betting shops filling up our high streets.

But maybe it needs that push from someone, what some people consider to be an extreme view may just help keep the topic on the public talking board.
But the message here is that gambling has always ruined lives and families, since before the gambling act when people were getting hooked on horse betting. The proliferation of betting shops and the introduction of fixed odds betting terminals hasn't been the creator of individual, family and community problems... it simply meant that the problem has been extremely magnified over the last ten years.

I'v learned a lot in the last four months. The most important fact being that the 'normalisation' of gambling is already here to some degree.
Take a look at our Facebook page comments , a lot of people consider my campaign to be nonsense with many people claiming that betting shops are a great contributor to the economy and that if we should ban betting shops then we should also ban cigarettes and alcohol.

Even when I explain that gambling advertising laws are a lot more relaxed than cigarette and alcohol advertising laws, they often argue in favour of the betting shops.
Not even when I mention that bar staff have a 'duty of care' to stop people being too drunk can I manage to swing them round. I'm shocked by how many people genuinely believe that betting shop staff are trained to intervene when they see a problem gambler. Again , all non-gamblers because they are unaware of what really happens in gambling environments.

When I'v taken to the streets and been out and about I get a very different response in general. People usually give great feedback and encourage the campaign and it's really easy to get people talking about the way gambling has affected their area. It's those people that spur me on and convince me to carry on doing what I believe is the right thing to do.

So on that level the perception of the british public currently seems divided , despite a channel 4 dispatches covering betting shops and a really well filmed panorama which highlighted a lot of facts that a lot of other media outlets have failed to highlight.
Maybe too if it wasn't for the emails from film producers then I would have quit the internet campaigning altogether as the constant negative comments about my campaign can often drag me down.

So far I'v done an interview for a SKY TV channel and two student documentaries which has been really encouraging to carry on because if it wasn't for the blog and possibly the networking, I wouldn't have received the request emails.

A few months ago near the start of the relaunch , I'd been successful in hounding Gamcare to sort out their Twitter page. A member of GRASP had pointed out that they had re-tweeted a 'racing post' competition tweet which is a serious flaw for the UK's leading problem gambling clinic.

So after phoning Gamcare and leaving them a few voice messages on their answer-phone ,I emailed them about how ironic it was they had re-tweeted a gambling promotion. I presume those complaints were reinforced by a few complaints from members of the GRASP group too.

Gamcare phoned back to say they apologized for the 'mistake' they had made and that the person that had been using twitter account had been taken down from that position.
When I'd checked to see if the tweet had been taken down I took a look at who they were 'following' on Twitter, which became a bit of a concern to me.

I always knew they had to see what was going on inside the gambling industry , but for problem gamblers that were counting on getting help from Gamcare, I thought it was a very contradicting message to have them following casino's, betting sites, pro-gambling forums and companies such as the racing post.
It was potentially leading problem gamblers back into the darkness of the pro-gambling world.

So after one or two more email exchanges between Neuroliberation campaign and Gamcare  we received a big thank you from them after being told we had pointed out some vital flaws with their Twitter page, and had convinced them to create a new Twitter account for following gambling industry pages without it leading problem gamblers to visit those pages.

For me personally I took it as a success. Maybe it was only a small change but nevertheless was some form of action with a small positive change.

A big 'thank you' to Pete Jones for having me in on the radio to explain about my campaign, talk about the issue of betting shops and the national lottery and I played a few tunes of my own songs live-on-air. It was a really fun radio session.


For those unaware of why I am so passionate to change the way betting shops operate in the UK , it originally all began from experience my own gambling addiction after playing on electronic roulette, winning £500 then developing a chronic addiction to it. I was angry at seeing the constant streams of people going onto fixed odds betting terminals, putting hundreds of pounds in whilst losing all control and common sense whilst betting shop staff simply watched without ever intervening. How could this be legal I thought??

But it was after an episode of anxiety when I decided to research the effects of gambling on the brain and the manipulation of dopamine that I decided to campaign.
Realising that gambling was getting more and more popular in the UK, and knowing that it was leading millions of people into family devastation and cognitive impairment I just couldn't see why betting shops weren't being challenged by the general public.

I'v always liked to portray the campaign as being somewhat professional , but with all the money (except a £26 donation from GRASP group) coming from my own pockets, after losing my kitchen job things are getting a bit difficult to manage. Even when I was working I had given up a lot so I could run the campaign , but now things seem to be twice as hard.
(Please click here to make a small donation , All donations are accounted for and from time to time we will publish everything our money has been spent on).

Our demonstration on 24th November was far from a success as the weather just wasn't cut out for us on the day, myself and another neuroliberation campaign member still went ahead despite no breaks of dryness in the day. (see here for more info)

We'v got a lot of plans for the Neuroliberation campaign , as the weather isn't great we will be taking an indoors approach , if you know anyone that could hire us a hall for free or a small charge then please get in touch as we are looking for venues in all areas of the UK , but specifically London, Brighton and surrounding areas are a really great place for us to start.

Hopefully we'l be able to educate people about how gambling is affecting communities, families and individuals mental health in depth , how betting shops and online gambling are creating crime, poverty and depression.

We would love to continue working with students so if you are a student that would like to collaborate with us then please do get in touch. (email here)

We'v put our gambling-crime researching on hold for the moment as we'v just been getting ready for the demo, but our current records of gambling-addict related crime since 2005 currently stands at over 200 cases of convicted gambling addicts that were charged for all kinds of frauds, thefts, robberies and murders. The total figure stolen from victims in those 200 stories alone stands at around £60,000,000 . But that's just convictions!!

We are also about to start researching gambling-related suicide , with the most familiar story to us being of Manchester primary school headteacher John Reilly hanging himself after losing his home to an online poker addiction. (see here)

There's a lot more to come from the Neuroliberation campaign. Being so passionate about this issue despite the negative feedback from many social media users (lots of positive feedback too) , I'm going ahead with the project because there simply isn't enough people highlighting the corruption in parliament relating to gambling laws.

A big applause to GRASP group (click here), who seem to be the main group in the UK researching deep enough to see what's actually going on in relation to the gambling act and government/gambling industry corruption and PR tactics.


I mentioned our online support is small at the moment, we are urging everyone that supports the cause to please visit and 'like' our Facebook page (here), please share it with your friends. Currently at time of writing we have 219 likes on facebook and it would be great if we had a lot more.

We know that there is a lot more than 219 people that support this cause so please try and help us network. (We simply can't afford to advertise at the moment, especially with ZERO funds in our account.)

So that's it from us for the meantime, a lot of work still needs to be done and we really need passionate volunteers to help push this campaign forward, so if you think you can help in any way then please do get in touch as your actions are vital.

Please do whatever you can to help me keep this campaign going :)

Thank you.

Ben Thacker @ Neuroliberation campaign.

http://www.facebook.com/Neuroliberationcampaign