Have you seen your use of online betting apps increase during the lockdown? Is it putting you under financial pressure? We know there’s a lot of opinions already on different aspects of online gambling, and now we’re researching a story on betting apps.
Please share your experience below or send through a private message to remain anonymous.
No. I don’t gamble.
My use of them is the same as before, zero. However, there does seem to be a proliferation in advertising for them on TV, sometimes more than one in an ad break. I’m just glad there is a mute button on the remote control, to avoid having to listen to the bogan voiceovers.
No increase. No decrease. Zero before. Zero now.
That’s because I know that I am clueless, say, in the context of sports betting. I prefer to gamble on the ASX but I don’t think that’s what you meant. 
Same as the above. Don’t use them and don’t gamble (my hard earned money away).
Active Community members are probably not representative of those who use betting apps in any case. Posing the question to your facebook audience may be more informative since it reaches a wider demographic.
Gambling apps are a trap for the unwary. I’m much too wary to bother with them. I only gamble when I am prepared to lose money and who is up for that? So no, no gambling apps here except those which dont involve money and I get bored really quickly with those.
I don’t gamble beyond the normal gamble of life that we all do.
So gambling with apps, at TABs, scratchies, pokies, Art Unions, and so on are not part of our family’s life.
We however like others have noticed a vast increase in gambling ads on TV, in papers and magazines and other media platforms. Personally I find this trend disgusting and the rationalisation that it helps people by funding programs is obscene in the extreme.
I hate losing money so I don’t bet. But if I was ever tempted, those TV ads would certainly put me off betting!
I discovered years ago that a few metres of air gap between the antenna socket on the wall and the socket on the tele solved that problem almost completely 
I do not, never have nor will I ever gamble. I have never clicked on a gambling ad and never downloaded an app.
However I have seen a staggering increase in adverts for gambling especially on Facebook and YouTube. My kids are teenagers on Instagram and other platforms and are also seeing way more ads for gambling than any other ads. Unfortunately there is no way to block these ads, and reporting them to the companies that make money from screening these ads is pointless as they don’t care.
I don’t gamble and I’m sick of the plethora of gambling ads on tv.
I don’t gamble.
Mind you I have gambled on me as a Health Informatics & Billing change-agent.
? and Eg? You don’'t ahve to queue at Medicare or your Private Fund for rebates, since 1994
I play a game on my phone (killer sudoku) and get ads at the end and beginning. There have been quite a few of the need extra cash? style ads, and they are very annoying in that you can’t get them off the screen until you have shut the game app (usually until you have removed it from running in the background as well). Our gambling habits extend to a maybe once a year lotto thing, but the aggression with which these things are pushed is incredibly annoying, and chilling.
I don’t know whether the author of this topic intended it to be a general anti-gambling rant or a general anti-advertising rant but …
This is the reality of the internet today. Most of it is “free”. Therefore most of it is funded by advertising. (Except where it is funded by raping your privacy. )
The only likely way for that to change is that consumers put a value on what is provided and execute a willingness to pay for the service.
Did you pay for “killer sudoku”? If not, how much would you be willing to pay in order to have it “ad free”?
It is not uncommon to offer a “paid upgrade model” i.e. the “free” version has ads but you can upgrade to a “pro” version that is free of ads.
I am perfectly aware that ads are a part of free apps. My response was because 1. this increase in gambling ads has occurred during lockdown; and 2, these particular ads are set up so that the usual method of getting them off the screen (either wait for them to go, or wait for the x to appear in a corner so you can close them) do not work. all efforts to close them, lead to the page to buy and or download the ap. In order to get rid of the advertisement/offer you must not only shut the app you are using, but also shut it in the back ground as well. I would call this way too predatory to be ethical, even if I am using a free app.
@jblakkarly is Choice staff and the OP could hardly be considered a rant or an invitation to do so. Those of us in the Community are generally similarly minded on the topic so not the best audience to answer the question. ( I note that the question has more recently been circulated on the Choice Facebook channel to perhaps capture a wider demographic.)
As is fairly common many members add their own experiences that are sometimes on the periphery of a topic.
To be clear, I was talking about the topic as a whole i.e. all the posts in the topic taken together, not the original post.
Let’s see what the research says about the opening question: Have you seen your use of online betting apps increase during the lockdown?
I haven’t increased the use of online betting. I gamble just once a year when the Melbourne Cup is held. I have a betting limit that I never change. I usually bet on the nag that stalls in the starting gate. 
I do bet at present, but only on the AFL, because it’s finals time because I have a reasonably good idea of who is going to win :). Once the season is over, I’ll give up until next August.
But yes, I only bet with money I can afford to lose.
BTW, for all of those who are hammering gambling, I hope none of you own shares …
