An anonymous woman from Nottingham secured odds of well over 3,000,000/1 for her 5p accumulator bet. She predicted 5 results correctly to take home £153,644.40. ibid
Up to half a million people in the UK estimated to be problem gamblers. And that number is rising. Alexis Conran, Gambling, Addiction and Me: The Real Hustler, BBC 2012
How does the occasional flutter turn into a daily fix? ibid.
Why are we leaving the door open to people who have got that problem? ibid.
These days you can get your fix in perfect isolation. ibid.
The urge to gamble can be with you all your life. ibid.
It wasn’t the winning that thrilled him but the near misses. ibid.
You’ll always be an addict or an addict in recovery. ibid.
Gambling addiction is a disease. ibid.
Gambling is part of the human condition. I love it. I have the best time gambling. I've been winning fortunes, and I've been losing them. Jerry Lewis
In gambling the many must lose in order that the few may win. George Bernard Shaw
Gambling is risk-taking. It might be said the owner of a casino gambles, takes risks, but he has the odds in his favour, so that’s intelligent gambling. If I wanted to gamble, I’d buy the casino. Jean-Paul Getty senior, interview Alan Whicker
Everyone gambles ... If you’re gambling, then I’m the guy you wanna see. Runner Runner 2013 starring Ben Affleck & Justin Timberlake & Gemma Arterton & Anthony Mackie & Michael Esper & Oliver Cooper & Christian George & Yul Vazquez & John Heard & James Molina et al, director opening scene
This whole thing is a Ponzi scheme? ibid. Richie’s friend to Richie
You gambled on bad weather and you lost! The Mayor of Casterbridge 2003 starring Ciaran Hinds & James Purefoy & Jodhi May & Polly Walker & Juliet Aubrey & Darren Hawks & Jean Marsh & Michael Beint & Clive Russell & John Surman & Susan Jane Tanner et al, director David Thacker, bank manager
Americans love a gamble, but some forms of gambling are restricted or illegal pushing it underground. Here the rules are very different. In the shadow of the law people can bet on anything. And innocent lives are expendable. Underworld Inc: Illegal Gambling s1e5, National Geographic 2015
I provide a unique financial service to men who like to gamble. Kill the Irishman 2011 starring Ray Stevenson & Val Kilmer & Christopher Walken & Linda Cardellini & Marcus Thomas & Vinnie Jones & Tony Lo Bianco & Paul Sorvino & Laura Ramsey & Mike Starr & Bob Gunton et al, director Jonathan Hensleigh, Walken to Stevenson
One business is booming. Online we have become the biggest punters in Europe. From the lottery to the racecourse having a flutter has never been more popular. And it’s the bookies who are making a killing … They’re selling us the thrill of a win. But for some, losing can be devastating. Britain at the Bookies I, BBC 2015
Quite a few of Tony’s customers have been coming here for years. ibid.
‘The price for Manchester United to be relegated?’ … 750/1. ibid. London trading floor
Punters spend more than £7 billion a year betting on sporting events. ibid.
Britain bets more online than any other country in Europe. ibid.
Novelty [betting] man Gary only has eyes for one thing: Strictly Come Dancing. ibid.
Betting shops usually make a profit of over £5,000 a week … These machines are known as fixed odds betting terminals and have only been around since 2002. Now they make up 50% of betting shop profits. ibid.
There are at least 300,000 problem gamblers in the UK. And it’s becoming an issue for the whole industry. ibid.
Roulette accounts for 70% of profits made from Tony’s machines. ibid.
Now he’s married and has a mortgage, Steve’s got more to lose. So he’s opened a second bank account to try and keep his betting under control. Britain at the Bookies II
‘It’s the most absorbing thing you can do, you know. I’ve always found it really compelling, you know.’ ibid. Steve
Making our gambling revolution an issue that divides the country. Britain at the Bookies III
There used to be nineteen dog tracks across London. ibid.
In April 2004, 32-year-old Ashley Revell liquidated all his worldly possessions to gamble the cash on just one spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of the reality TV series Double or Nothing. Fortunately for Ashley, Lady Luck was with him: he doubled his money when the ball settled on red number 7, winning him $270,600. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! 2006
I know you. I think you’re the kind of guy that likes to lose. The Gambler 2014 starring Mark Wahlberg & John Goodman & Brie Larson & Michael K Williams & Jessica Kange & Anthony Kelly & Alvin Ing & Domenick Lombardozzi & Emory Cohen & Steve Park & Leland Orser & George Kennedy et al, director Rupert Wyatt, gambler to Wahlberg
You owe me $240,000. And I want it in seven days. ibid. old man
A wise man's life is based around ‘fuck-you’. The United States of America is based on ‘fuck-you’. ibid. gangster
A man can transform his shit, Jim. ibid. black gangster
All on black. ibid.
I’m not actually a gambler. ibid.
Gambling had been the traditional industry around which the Israeli crime syndicates gathered and thrived. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Their main headache recently has been the police – not in the shape of any crackdown on the families, but because of pachinko, Japan's national sport ... Pachinko machines colonise whole high-rise buildings like mechanical spores, and players remain biologically attached to their machines for hours on end. ibid.
But while pachinko is gambling, it is in fact strictly legal and has an annual turnover estimated at about £300 billion, twice the value of the entire Japanese automobile industry, and somewhere in the region of the total global narcotics market! ibid.
Beckenbauer really has gambled all his eggs. Ron Atkinson
Because I feel like I’m in a place with my gambling rehab that I can finally start going to dog racing again. The Office US s8e14: Special Project, NBC 2011
My secret life is a bit less secret than anyone else’s right now. Owning Mahowny ***** 2003 starring Philip Seymour Hoffman & Minnie Driver & Maury Chaykin & John Hurt & Sonja Smits & Ian Tracey & Jason Blicker & Chris Collins & Matthew Ferguson & Janine Theriault & Conrad Dunn et al, director Richard Kwietniowski, Dan opening scene
I just want you to know that my casino is your casino. ibid. Foss
You brought a curse to the table … Give me my money and stay away from me. ibid. Dan
You know why he wants to win? So he has the money to keep losing. Now how fucked up is that? ibid. bookie
But what about our weekend? ibid. her to him
You’ve got a gambling problem and we are going to deal with this together. ibid.
I don’t want to know his story. ibid. Foss
‘Profits from match fixing and gambling are at least as high as profits from the drug trade.’ The Bet – In the Grip of the Gambling Mafia, 2017
Little by little a creeping illness has taken hold of international sport: gambling fraud. The fight against it – a war in a different dimension. Highly technological and bewilderingly complex … Soccer has been hit the hardest. ibid.
The gambling machine is fuelled by games – games right across the globe twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. ibid.
Low profile matches in the lower divisions with badly paid players – that’s the stuff gambling fraud is made of. ibid.
Some German youth matches have been fixed. ibid.
The Asian gambling market: here different rules apply. ibid.
Gambling is now a huge business. Nearly half of all adults in the UK gamble losing more than £14 billion a year to the betting companies and some people think we’ve got a real problem: are the Bookies playing fair? Can you win in the long term? Can You Beat the Bookies? Lloyd Griffith reporting, BBC 2019
Bet365: they made over £2,000,000 in 2018 and their CEO Denise Coates paid herself £265,000,000. ibid.
‘Did that feel like £200 of entertainment to you?’ ibid.
The world of the new breed of data gamblers. ibid.