What are we to make of a company that still hasn’t made its mind up how to spell its own name? Or a representative body, blindsided by Budget events, that insists on padlocking the stable door long after the horses have bolted.
The answer dear reader(s) is to get with the zeitgeist, ditch the old norms, and embrace coming prediction markets, the blockchain and crypto currency.
There’s nothing wrong with time-honoured High Street betting shops, still for many, especially the uninitiated, the face of traditional British gambling, of community gathered to have a flutter on the Grand National, the FA Cup, Wimbledon and other sporting treasures.
For sure they’re not making money like they used to but as one wag told this column, they’re a lot cheaper–as a living, breathing advertising platform–than renting a hoarding on the North Circular.
It’s what you call the bedrock of a mature market, one that can deliver useful growth, year-after-year, above the rate of inflation; that still has its moments, especially when “live” trumps all comers.
Whatever taxes are thrown at it, the world of gambling remains an exciting cornucopia trading at the cutting-edge of latter-day capitalism – you know, the system, which despite its detractors, still pays most of our bills.
The trick, as always, is to ride and forge the middle way. Pay one’s dues, aka taxes, protect the vulnerable, pay on the win and play a straight game.
It’s absolutely pointless bemoaning one’s imagined fate after the event, re-hashing tired old arguments. Who’s ever heard of so-called “Sin Taxes” being lowered anywhere in the world once they’ve been imposed. They may be held, frozen, for a time. But they’ll never be lowered. The market always adjusts.
This word, “mitigate” has been much employed since Rachel Reeves’ contentious Autumn Budget. As if mitigate itself were a magic wand that would solve all of gambling’s problems – which, essentially, means making less money than before.
Nothing can mitigate humanity’s urge for gambling.
Gambling is what makes us great. Taking risks. Trying something new. Experimenting. Every move is a “gamble”.
Rather than crying over spilt milk, the leaders of our industry need to reconnect with their own inner gambler: Get out there. Make new moves. Get away from the doom loop.
And think positive!
