I wish to endorse the views of Rosie Scott (‘Appalled planning permission has been granted’, Examiner, July 11) on the subject of expansion of the island’s online gambling industry.

It is time to call the government’s position for what it is, misguided, hypocritical and morally wrong.

Gambling ruins lives and, by encouraging and facilitating the shameful industry which is responsible for putting their products onto people’s devices, our government is complicit in this Faustian pact.

Furthermore, trying to claim, as some do, that what takes place here is ‘gaming’, not gambling, is both sophistry and a pathetic attempt to whitewash their consciences.

As we all know well, the boundary between these two terms is blurred and often intentionally misused.

Isn’t the truth that government and the online gambling companies who are based here have a cosy relationship because they both benefit handsomely from the arrangement, at the expense of the vast majority of gamblers, many of whom never recover from the debt they incur, and some of whom lose homes, families or even take their own lives ?

I would ask our government and, specifically, the minister responsible for overseeing the island’s gambling industry to respond, and to explain exactly what the position and policy is.

I would also encourage other residents who feel that this issue is important, to make their views known.

Robert Ryding

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Peel

This letter was first published in the Isle of Man Examiner of July 18.

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