Jackpot

A striking exposé **of the insidious business practices that have generated enormous profits for the companies operating within the UK's gambling industry.

'A methodical, sensitive and occasionally harrowing polemic about the gambling industry . . . The book has echoes of Patrick Radden Keefe's award-winning Empire of Pain.'
*SUNDAY TIMES

'A serious attempt to grapple with the extent of Britain's problem.'
*THE SPECTATOR

'Persuasive.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Fascinating.' IRISH TIMES
'Eye-opening.' TELEGRAPH

716: the number of gambling logos displayed in a single Premier League football match

£421 MILLION: the salary of Bet365's CEO in 2020.

£14 BILLION: the annual losses incurred by British gamblers.

*Over half of the population gambles in the UK every year. How did we get here? What keeps us hooked when the odds are so heavily stacked against us? And who are the real winners and losers?

• Jackpot dives deep into gambling's seedy underbelly to answer these questions, and many more. From the first National Lottery draw in 1569 to the Wild West of today's online casinos, Guardian reporter Rob Davies follows the money to show who profits - and at what cost.

Autorentext

Rob Davies

Klappentext

The history of British gambling is a history that stretches back nearly one thousand years, reaching into some of the nation's most fabled periods. It's now an industry worth billions of pounds.

Investigative journalist and Guardian correspondent Rob Davies surveys the development of the gambling industry to explain how the Britain became one of the largest gambling markets in the world. From the turn to deregulation under the Blair administration and the resultant explosion of gambling advertising to predatory targeting and industry lobbying in the halls of power, Davies uncovers the sinister inner workings of one of the country's most nefarious industries.

Exploring the fate of gambling in the UK and the uncertain future of the thousands of victims who have been all but abandoned along the way, Jackpot is a stark and vital investigation that forces us to confront deeply disturbing truths about modern British society.