www.iva.co.uk

For IVAS4US - Paul, you remember the old lay you helped who got into trouble with a book-maker? My PP told me there is a notice in the window"DON'T ASK -NO CREDIT". Another little piece of good. David

Another bit of good news to prevent others getting into the same trouble. You are doing really great for your local community.

Every little helps David...
I am hardly someone to lecture on this but I think there is another big problem brewing here in the UK. Seen the relaxation of gambling laws, bookmakers can advertise, the focus of gambling is changing, its not just harden men betting on horses. Now, they target housewives and women, but bingo sites, etc. The growth of the industry is amazing and its consumers who are funding this. I think in 4-5 years there will be thousands of people who are in serious trouble through this evil industry.
America has taken the first step and made it illegal to bet online. I hope one day the uk follows suit.
With one online bookmaker I lost a lot of money. I tried to give up and did not bet for about 3 months. This company then rang me at home and asked me why was I not betting with them any more! Amazing really.
Phil

It was an old lady in mid eighties who got into trouble -£700 - Paul (above post) gives me the credit - it was not me - our PP did it. Went to see the bookmaker - he may wear a Roman Collar and a cassock but he stands 6 ft 3in and goes about 16 stone - and he calls a spade a shovel. Helps in situationslike this.

What I forgot to say - his notice is still on the window - but another one has appeared "ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS TAKEN" - big black leters so it cant be missed.! People will get "done" twice now - once on the bet and second on the cards - absolute madness!

It's one thing I have never bothered about. I have a flutter on the lottery occasionally and that's about it.

I went to Las Vegas some years ago, and played one or two bandits (well you have to when you're there don't you?). I won $50 from the one machine and went and cashed it in - the girl looked at me as though I was from Mars.

Bingo doesn't do anything for me at all.

Good Jan, I would advice anyone not to get drawn in.
Strangely enough, we have been to vegas a couple of time and we never bet. My wife has never gambled and slot machines and casino games are not my thing. For me it was all about sports, could I pick the outcome better than the oddsmakers. It was almost like a challenge thing.
Phil

We used to do the football pools years ago, but when our collector left we never bothered trying to find another one.

Casino's don't do it for me either - I don't understand half of what goes on there and the few times I have caught poker on the TV they might as well have been talking in Swahili for all I understood of it!

One or two of you have an idea where I live - in my town there are four betting shops - the next town about 23 miles away, 7 betting shops and two casinos. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the uk along with house repossesions and debt troubles yet these outfits still flourish. There is an outfit called Provident advertsing their services now too.

Provident charge very high interest rates, and it is usually the low income families who use them for loans.

With provident you usually pay back 3 times what you borrow in 50 weeks. I suppose they have to pay the person that collects the money. I did use them some years ago but would not bother again although I must say they lady that collected the money ended up being my best friend.

I imagine that their collectors probably work on commission.

Yes they do, but if they are only collecting £3 a week then the interest rate needs to be high to make it worth there effort. I bet they get a lot of cases whereby they go one week and the people have moved.

I imagine it happens quite a lot. Not a job I would fancy doing.

Not for me either. Don't suppose that they would want us with our credit history