This is so typical of the average, subjective problem gambling story (I'm not saying problem gambling is not an issue deserving serious and continual attention, but the media do tend to latch on to negative stories in this area).
Typical in that it starts with a generally negative statement, then goes on tell a persoal and individual hard luck and no personal control story, and boosts the mixture with quotes from addiction experts who rarely deliver hard and detailed statistics.
It would be refreshing to see a balanced and truly objective report now and again.
The problems are real, but a few changes can make the difference.
The problem with students gambling could be addressed by raising the minimum age to 21, thus cutting out the usual 18-21 student age range.
Another problem is all the advertising and program sponsorship, the ONLY reason the companies put these adverts out is because it works, more people gamble. Despite earlier assurances, the gambling related advertising has crept away from things like late night poker, and can be seen almost anywhere after 9pm. Program sponsorship is another problem, again a form of advertising, but it creates an association between the program, and the hobby of gambling.
In the case of poker, you CAN make money from it - if you are good enough. Even sports betting has an element of skill, making punters believe they can beat the house in the long term.
It is the attraction of being able to beat the house LONG TERM that attracts players to options that have some element of skill.
When it comes to games of chance, it is the attraction of the huge life changing win that SOMEONE always wins, and the hope that someday it will be YOU.
It doesn't help that, in law, people CAN be banned from bookies and casinos, including fruit machine arcades, simply for being "too good, and winning too much". This advertises to others that you CAN beat the house, so they keep on trying, thinking that they can learn with practice.
The fact is, that winning from fruit machines long term is down to INCOMPETENT PROGRAMMERS, and FRAUD ("back doors" written into the code, and then sold to players). If you are "in the loop", you CAN win a fair bit from fruit machines, but most do not.
The problems with fruit machines have been made worse by the UK Gambling Commission themselves!!! Instead of the previous model of modest stake, low jackpots, low variance, they have allowed stakes to escalate from 20p to 1, and Jackpots from 8 to 75 - in a similar timeframe as it took for stakes to move from 10p to 20p, and jackpots from 2/3 to 8. The change took place when the rule of the "3 year review" was scrapped after the raise to 6 jackpots. We had 8, then 25p/10, 30p/15, 30p/25, 50p/35, 1/35 and 1/75 - sometimes with less than a year between changes. There was also the loophole allowing 2/500 machines that was around for quite a while, while the commission debated what to do about it, rather than cracking down hard.
CHILDREN are STILL allowed to play fruit machines at 10p/5 in places such as the seaside, and theme parks (actual observation of Thorpe Park, kids on 10p fruities, only 25 JP fruities in over 18's area). Although stakes are low, and access limited to "holidays", it is where a desire to play such machines is born. These children are suddenly let loose on 1/75, and even 1/500 machines the day they turn 18 - a HUGE jump from "amusement" to "gambling". They ALSO have access to the online variants, where the stakes they can play are pretty much unregulated, based mainly on the casino's ability to fund a jackpot winner. For example, the default max bet on the newish Scrooge MGS game is an eyewatering 250 PER SPIN, quite a jump from a regulated 1/500 JP video slot in an arcade.
