You just open credit accounts with two or three different firms and pick up the phone
You just open credit accounts with two or three different firms and pick up the phone.”The market research company Mintel estimates that the British will spend an estimated pounds 32m on gambling this year, ranging from the National Lottery, scratchcards and bingo at the soft end to bets on horse racing, football and other events through bookmakers and in casinos. And he made frequent excursions “to the shops”, invariably ending up in the local bookies.Michael is now working to overcome his addiction, but remains concerned about the dangers of gambling at work which, he fears, many employers ignore. “With the growth of telephone betting and the development of gambling over the Internet, companies could soon face a big problem,” he predicts “Nowadays you don’t even have to leave your desk. Today, however, he is unable to hold down a job because of an addiction to gambling which started at work and escalated, he believes, as a direct result of growing opportunities to bet in office hours.”I first came into contact with gamblers at work,” he confides. “We used to play at lunchtime – anything really, cards, snooker – and gamble on the outcome.”Soon, however, it had taken over his life.
He began to choose jobs where he could slip away from work unnoticed. He has spent most of his career in a variety of administrative roles, working for businesses and charities across the south of England. However, growing availability of existing and new forms of gambling – such as over the Internet, by telephone and “spread betting” – poses a problem for those likely to let their flutter get out of hand, he believes. And the side-effects for a gambler’s family and work colleagues can be disastrous (see box).
Michael is in his early fifties.
No need to worry about closing time: the place will be jumping long after you fade.. Just head for those groaning zinc counters and point.Pastries, cakes, late afternoon coffee or hot chocolate are good comfort fuel, should a damp, chilly wind sweep up the estuary from the Bay of Biscay.Night movesAntxokia (San Vicente 2) is a Basque cultural centre-cum-bar and night club where you can eat a spicy fish stew or lentils with fierce garlic sausage at lunch time and, in the evening, knock back squat tumblers of txacoli, the tart young local wine, to the haunting sounds of local musicians who sound like the wind in the trees.Live concerts heave with hectic, tight-packed, non-aggressive excitement, and Bilbao is plugged into the international music circuit, with a sophisticated taste ranging from the Levellers to Radiohead.Bar-crawl in the old quarter, recently renovated and just this side of film-set cute, a pedestrian area of crisscrossing little streets to wander and lose yourself. For most of us, office sweepstakes and lottery syndicates are just a bit of fun. “In the workplace, such participation in the `soft end’ of gambling is often seen as positive for team building,” says Dr Mark Griffiths, senior psychology lecturer at Nottingham Trent University and one of Britain’s leading experts in gambling addiction. You may find English elicits a friendlier response than Spanish, which some consider the language of the oppressor. Bilbainos revere Brits as the founders of their football club, Athletic, whose idols are pinned up everywhere.
Many bars sport the red-white-and-green “ikurrina”, the Basque nationalist flag. So even with tube fares to the airport, you’ll be spending less than pounds 130 on getting there.
Instant briefingBilbao airport is still friendly and low-key for a city that is shaping up as a hot metropolis (smart expansion is imminent). I am a survivor I think at the end but it’s been very damaging.”Names have been changed. Down payment
As good fortune would have it, Iberia (0171-830 0011) has a special of pounds 123 return, including taxes, for its evening flight from Heathrow. The parents are a young couple who feel I shouldn’t have any contact.”Jim Parton of Families Need Fathers said that such experiences were common.
