Big Brother is Watching You Bet

You may think I am being a bit full-on with this title.

You've been reading too much George Orwell. Wasn't he the bloke who wrote 1984? 

Wigan doesn't have a pier whichever road you take. 

I haven't really thought about watching my step with gambling. It's just something people do for a bit of fun, a distraction or as a professional endeavour to keep the wolf from the door.

Please don't be naive.

As a person who has written umpteen articles about why people shouldn't gamble for fun, I've promoted abstinence more than anyone who is paid to keep their mouth shut. 

Sure, some people become addicted and no one wants that. But here's the answer - you have a choice. If you feel compelled to gamble - to a point it is damaging your life - then take a deep breath and ask for help. 

If you can't do that then basically your life is going to continue to be a pile of shit. You need to accept that fact if you cannot find an answer to your personal question. You may point to others who promote gambling as being the problem. What a weak, wretched world we must live if we cannot see the wood for the trees. I've never smoked because I made the decision not to. I don't take drugs because I made the decision not to. I rarely drink because I don't want to kill myself and hate the thought of a hangover let alone cope with one. 

No one is perfect (well one person is but you will probably shout at me if I suggest he is a good man too) but if you don't have the strength of character or can't ask for help then you are doomed to your own limitation.  

I'm a caring and considerate person but the buck stops with Homosapien and friends. 

I've been concerned by a problem I didn't really consider until now. It's like travelling down a country road where you realise a raging bull resides. He's been watching you trundle across the field becoming madder by the second blowing a storm through his nostrils because that red shirt is seriously pissing him off. I mean like a madman whose drunk 20 stingos and scoffed five pickled eggs and the only way that indigestion is going to cease is if the kicks the shit out of you. 

Not good.  

In this modern world, everything is a problem. Smoking, drinking, gambling. 

It's a problem if you're a normal working-class bloke. 

If you work in the city, a stockbroker, puffing on a Cuban stick that costs £30 a time and drinks Krug Brut Vintage 1988 you're the equivalent of Mother Theresa in a butcher's wig.

You can swindle the taxpayers out of any amount of money and it's all present and correct. 

If you gamble or are related to the gambling industry (for pleasure or your living) you need to appreciate you are being watched. 

This isn't one of David Ike's theories. 

Big companies have decided you are a either a potential criminal, drug pusher, scammer, swindler or something stuck to the bottom of someone's bottom.  

It doesn't matter if you are an exemplary citizen. 

It's a sad fact that bookmakers, exchanges and the groovy gang are viewed respectable because they are a limited company or have shareholders. In that sense, they are part of the establishment. 

Now, you may be reading this and thinking I am some kind of hate-filled nutter on the fringe of society with a hidden agender. 

I don't need you to tell me I'm a decent law-abiding citizen. 

If you are a gambler or related to the gambling industry then the rules of data protection have little meaning to you as an individual. For everyone else (mainly the privileged establishment) they are protected by a bulletproof jacket bolstered by the melted horseshoes of poor, departed, Red Rum (bless his heart).   

That rule may not apply to you as a common or garden gambler.

Winner or loser your status may be compromised. 

You may well be viewed as a bad risk or with suspicion. For example, the gambler who makes good money - has plenty in his bank account, but his credit rating is desperately poor because ''someone'' noticed he deposited into a betting account or even puts a few grand winnings in his account. 

It seems all this data protection goes in a vertical fashion - straight to the top. 

If you are a gambler then I would suggest you do everything you can to protect this fact from financial institutions because you may well be viewed as a second-class citizen. 

I don't know if there are banks which guarantee your information will not be shared with other agencies but if there is I would suggest you use it when opening a betting account and then send your winnings to your saving account to protect your anonymity. 

Whether Wigan Pier exists or not, you may well find Big Brother is willing to push you off the end if they get a sniff of the gambler within.