Newspaper Media outlets have a habit of bashing Online Bingo at every opportunity, and this habit is seemingly once again coming into vogue.
This week has seen a new online bingo bashing campaign launched in both Mail and Mirror news articles.
Fraud to Fund Online Bingo Habit
The fact is when it comes to Online Bingo or other games of chance that involve money, there will always be those that are tempted to steal money to fund habits.
There are words for this; it is called fraud and addiction.
People who have this kind of addiction make the news because newspapers need to sell advertising space. That is, of course, our opinion, these articles seem to try to sensationalise these issues to the maximum.
The latest example of an online bingo player who has stolen money from an employer involved a woman who works for a Cambridge College as a finance officer. She has stolen almost £300,000 from her employer to fund her habit.
The monetary amount is, of course, massive as is the fact that this woman has also spent just over £324,000 of her own money playing these games. The emotional damage is, of course, incalculable.
Mail & Mirror Bingo Sites
Both the Mail and Mirror Newspapers feel that it is fine to mention that the site in question is Jackpot Joy. They also fail to mention that the newspaper sites run their Online Bingo sites.
The headlines of both articles refer to the fact that this bingo player has lost £6,4 million when this is patently not the case. She has lost in the region of £630,000 and not £6,4 Million.
Inaccurate Headlines
The £6,4 Million figure is a better figure to put down to get people to read the article. Incidentally, the £6,4 Million value is the amount of wagering that this bingo player has made at Jackpot Joy.
The majority of Online Bingo players in the United Kingdom are very sensible. They play bingo games for fun and stick to a weekly and monthly budget. That, however, does not sell newspapers or advertising space.
We do find it a bit rich that both the Mail Online and Mirror Newspapers put out articles of this nature. The Mail has Pink Ribbon Bingo on its online site, and the Mirror has a new Virtue Fusion Bingo room called Mirror Bingo.
The fact is that Jackpot Joy is a licensed and regulated UK Gambling product. It allows players to self exclude and set limits on spending at the site. It is a responsible bingo site that does entertain.
Why would it need to apologise for doing this? It would not be very long-lived if it was not entertaining.
Policing Bingo Players
It is not Jackpot Joys duty to police its players spending habits or where they get the funds from to a degree. Any sensible, responsible person would set themselves a limit and stick to it.
Whilst we feel sympathy for the bingo player, we also think that someone in her circle should have noticed something a lot quicker. If my other half spent over £300,000, I would notice very quickly.
Getting Help for Bingo Players
We do hope that she gets help and that this is the last of Online Bingo for her. For some people, it would be better to stay away from Online Games of any form.
Addiction of any form is a dangerous thing, and we are sure she will get help moving forward. We do hope that both the Mail and Mirror Bingo sites run regular checks on their Bingo players spending habits.
What do you think the chances are of a Mail or Mirror Bingo story of this nature getting reported on?
