When I look back many years ago, bet shops did not exist in Spain, and movies were the only places where you could see them. But suddenly they popped up in every single city or town, and nowadays they are widespread all over the country. Moreover, we are no talking just only a new kind of businesses, there are a heated debate among experts about the pros and cons of them.
On the bright side, we could consider bet shops as a new way to adult entertainment, especially for sport fans. Most of them are designed as cool bars where people meet for a little of chit-chat, have a good time drinking a pair of beers and feeling the exciting experience of betting for your soccer colors. Therefore, if you have a lucky day you can win an extra pocket money that makes you feel great. And as we could figure out, the government also wins earning a bunch of money, due that every single bet has a tax. From this perspective, bet shops seen to be the perfect example of killing two birds with one stone: Entertainment and Taxes. All of those advantages bet the question: Is everything perfect when it comes to these businesses?
But the reality is far away of that. Recently researches show that slightly more than three quarters of Bet Shops are located in the most pour neighbors, in areas with a high percentage of unemployment and many social and economic disadvantages. It is just a coincidence? Absolutely it is not. That means that there are a huge number of desperate people that consider to living on bets, and the results are catastrophic break downs on the poorest family economies, so it is not all fun and games. Moreover, different non-profits associations are reported that a huge numbers of betters have a remarkable addictive profile, not only related with gambling but also with alcoholism and substance abused issues. So we have reasons to suppose that bet shops could turn out to be a health problem. Add to his, although it is supposed that people under eighteen are not allowed to bet or gamble, the reality is not an ivory tower, and social services and High Schools principals have reasons to believe that in fact teenagers do use it.
To sum up, there are a kind of businesses like alcohol, tobacco, casino… that generate an heated debate about their uses and abuses, and it seems to be that bet shops are joining to this club. For all of them there are specific legislations that sometimes are clearly not enough to handle with all kind of scenarios. Governments are used to being halfway between protect the citizens from addictions and get a big amount of money from taxes related with those activities, but the truth is that you can have a cake and eat it. Meanwhile, authorities recommend us using those activities carefully and using common sense, but at the sight of all circumstances, there is no such thing as common sense when it comes to entertainment market.