Do you ever feel guilty???

[bonus_wanted]

The other day I thought - I am promoting casinos, addicted people come there, some of them leave thousands of $$$ there, and I am the one to link these people with casinos. Am I a bad person? Or business is business. What about casino affiliate managers? Do you ever ask this questions to yourself? I mean I like the industry itself, and it does make my leaving. Just wanted to know your thoughts.

[justbookies]

You think you are that important? If your website never existed they'd still be doing it.

[eaton2003]

If you have some guilt then at the bottom of your website dedicate a section to responsible gambling. You may also want to create a few pages about how to recognise if you have a gambling problem.

[RacingJim]

I'm just a little guy making some money by giving people info that they are looking for around a topic. If I ran an actual casino or bookie then maybe I'd question it a bit more, but as an info provider I don't feel responsible at all for the decisions that other human beings make with their own money and time.

We live in a blame culture, where everything is always somebody elses fault. I preach personal responsibility at all times. We are all completely in control of our own actions.

[TheGooner]

Never.

We provide an informational website free of charge, recommending the safest places for people to play. The gambling sites we promote run strict Know-Your-Customer regulations to eliminate under-age gambling, and monitor problem gambling as required by their respective licensing areas.

What I don't do :
I don't "push content" or send out emails with "Bait offers for bookmakers".
I don't force people to join bookmakers / casinos / poker rooms.
I don't charge for our content or claim to have winning systems.

What I do do is :
Only recommend safe places to play - tens of thousands of signups over 16 years and not one player ripped off / deposit lost.
Always recommend betting within financial means - ie betting "Beer money".
I post the returns for every tipster on site.

-------------------------

I understand why you've asked the question ...

Some people do have a gambling addiction. Just as some people have alcohol addiction, or smoke cigarettes, or crash cars, or buy a weapon with intent to harm. But my intent is to provide information about having a safe and entertaining online session at a reputable gambling site.

Gambling online is cleaner, safer, and IMO better for players than high street pubs, clubs, and betting shops and a more relaxed and cost effective experience for players than heading to resort casinos that ply punters with "free" alcohol.

I'm very comfortable with what I do, how I do it, and the value that GoonersGuide.com provides to internet users. ..

[sweetbet]

A wife leaves her husband. He gets depressed and stops going to work. He loses his job. Then one day he drinks a bottle of whiskey, puts a gun to his head and ends it all. Who is to blame? The wife for leaving him? The boss for firing him? The liquor store salesperson for selling him the alcohol? The gun shop owner for selling him the gun? My point is that there has to come a point in time when we must take responsibility for our own actions. Responsible gambling as a form of entertainment is not evil. Drinking alcohol is not evil. Neither is owning a gun. It's how people use these things that makes the actions of these people good or bad, responsible or irresponsible. A gambler who has a problem needs to seek help or self-exclude himself/herself from the gambling establishments. It's not realistic to expect all the online and offline casinos to close down because someone has a gambling problem. Or all the liquor stores to shut down because someone has a drinking problem.

[Miles_FTA]

As an affiliate manager its difficult too see but we also have families to feed and bills to pay etc so we need to work .i enjoy my job, enjoy affiliates and have met some great people.

Where I do feel sorry is where there is Gambling addiction and where people are losing families and savings etc gambling online but its like any addiction its a choice that a person makes its up to people around them to try stop them and guide them the right way and give them the support they need to fight the addiction.

Casinos should always make sure that they have the right processes in place so should there be a gambling issue and a player makes it known they have one that they stop the player from playing this is the ethical thing to do but we dont force people to gamble nor do we push people to do it its a choice and people , free people should always be allowed freedom to choose what they want to do .

[AE-Stephen]

I can understand the debate around it but personally, no I dont feel guilty.

As someone has mentioned somebody with an addiction will always find a way to gamble, drink, take drugs etc.

Is a shop keeper a bad for selling alcohol? No. Would he be a bad person if he sold alcohol to somebody he knew was addicted / in recovery? Yes.

Unfortunately if addiction is a trait in a person they will find a way to feed it. The best thing we can all do is make people aware and do our best to help those afflicted with an addiction of any kind.

The first sign of addiction in any of our brands and all deposit options and accounts are closed, across the board.

[oddsframe]

The good part of the job is helping the everyday punter who's just looking for a bonus, best price or whatever he needs. This is the majority of people I've worked with over the years, gambling's just a hobby for them that sometimes earns them an extra buck. Most of these guys understand that they're going to lose money, but they responsibly set aside a budget every week so they know what they can lose, if they do.

Like others have said; if we weren't around these Casinos & Bookies would still be around and the addicted would still do what they do. It's a sad reality, but you don't have to feel guilty about it.

[Renee]

I will be honest, Saturday was the first time I ever felt guilty about what I do. I was chatting to someone I met and they asked me what I do, and when I told them they said something that really hurt me a little bit, but then made me feel guilty. I didn't even try to justify it.

In general though I don't feel guilty. I don't have an addictive personality, and I have dealt with people in my life that do, and I can see that the first time is always a choice, even if every other time isn't. As someone above said, we live in a blame society and I think people should take responsibility for their actions.

[xecutable]

Seven years ago, this was my first question that I posted, with pretty much the same kind of responses. I have to admit i felt guilty back then, a bit ashamed etc.

Now? NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST. There's no debate here and if there's it's hypocrisy at its finest. Does the food industry tell you that 99% of the foods are packed with carbs and are the leading obesity problem? Does anyone care that Alcohol is dangerous or cigarettes? When was the last time that Head&Shoulders commercial helped anyone get rid of dandruff. I can go on and on and on.

With the KYC the books offer and self exclusions at least you have a choice to stop. As long as you don't click-bait people, or force them to do anything you consciousness should be clear. You are a promoter/content producer, and you are getting paid for your service via a business model offered to you by the book.

And if someone starts talking nonsense to you, ask them the last time your friendly local store denied chocolate to a fat kid, or alcohol to an alcoholic. What about them banks the PROTECTORS of your money? Or all of the online e-wallets? I drew the line a few months ago and i've paid a 5 digit sum just on transfer taxes and exchange rates.

At least other business are left alone and nobody gives you crap about anything. We have to deal with shady partners with stupid terms, cheating competition via hacking/blackhat etc. Taxes from the transfers, taxes from the exchange rates, taxes on your income, general Google bs and changes. Guilty? No way.

[elgoog]

i would never sell heroine, but all (most) arguments above apply to this also.....

[sweetbet]

I simply don't understand how a person who has bills to pay, kids to feed, etc etc can go and blow all his money on the pokies and expect people to feel sorry for him. What is he thinking? I have little sympathy for people like that.

[comparethebets]

I simply don't understand how a person who has bills to pay, kids to feed, etc etc can go and blow all his money on the pokies and expect people to feel sorry for him. What is he thinking? I have little sympathy for people like that.

You'd be amazed at how/where they find the money, the lies they tell. It's a drug in itself and it changes people completely.

As someone said though, someone will gamble whether they've read your casino review or not. Better lead them to the 'safer' and more legit places where they can self exclude/get help if needed.

[Aeternus]

I will not use the word guilty, but I some times have moral issues regarding this business. For instance when I get a high roller dropping tens of thousands each month I get really happy, then I some times think about how the person loosing all that money must feel like... My good fortune is at the direct expense of someone else's misfortune.

But then again, I only promote good and safe casinos. I could never live with myself promoting casinos where I knew that players would get scammed. So in one aspect I am providing value to players and preventing at least some to play at rogues.

[bobic]

don't feel bad, you're not doing anything wrong

[Rick Perry]

Everyone has a responsibility to where he puts his earned and taxed money..

[kwwriting]

I'm a content writer for the industry. While I don't feel 'guilty' writing articles to convince others to play at the casinos, I do have a funny quirk. I find I pray about a lot of things in life, but I don't pray for work. haha I just don't see how I can pray to be sent work that's considered to be 'wrong'. For work, I just bite my nails and say "come on, order something" instead.

[DaftDog]

I'm a content writer for the industry. While I don't feel 'guilty' writing articles to convince others to play at the casinos, I do have a funny quirk. I find I pray about a lot of things in life, but I don't pray for work. haha I just don't see how I can pray to be sent work that's considered to be 'wrong'. For work, I just bite my nails and say "come on, order something" instead.

Maybe you should pray that those who read your articles will always win. That way you won't just be a worthless hypocrite but a caring one too.

[Sherlock]

If you have some guilt then at the bottom of your website dedicate a section to responsible gambling. You may also want to create a few pages about how to recognise if you have a gambling problem.

Pure excuse. Just makes things worse. Same as sending 100 USD to children of Africa just to bribe ourselves.

And yes, I feel guilty. What we do is evil. Most of human action is evil. The biggest evil is trying to stay pure with excuses. Those who deny it have the feeling too, they just do not know about it. I am sure.

We still live in a jungle, eat or be eaten. Just the human brain is too big.

Now in the post-christian era everything is confused. Christianity had cure for guilt. True Christianity was not orthodox and strict. It was forgiving that everybody needs. Because living means most of the time doing horrible things to other people that are more or less percieved as "me".

But we are atheists, who think that Christians are hypocrites (yes they are too). But without Christianity, thatlost credit, we are lost in the confusing world.

So for me it is that I feel guilt. The work is **** (I mean I quite enjoy things about traffic, Google, I can work with my people or people outside, but to feel the stupid lazy gamblers with their pitiful livesis the worst part). I feel like drug dealer. But I am fine with that. Someone has to do the job. Iam not complaining like many other affiliates, who dream about making big money and then switch to something more human or reasonable. That would be real excuse for me.

There is nothing wrong with feeling guilt or feeling myself as bad person. Actually I am always happy when I can feel it a bit deeper than now, when just describing that. It is childish to reduce people or self to good or bad. People are both and they are both in extremes. Just our brain wants to see things and people black and white and we want to interpret ourselves as good only and for that crusade we do the real atrocities.

There is a very good movie about guilt and the crusade for "real, good life" and consequences of that: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/
Slavoj Zizek (the guy of my avatar here) talks about this all the time too. It amazes me still that those things are not obvious to people involved in gambling.