I was driving back with Alex from our stint at Elder Park library last week and as we came down the hill to Cardonald, he said something like: Just drop me off opposite the bookie's. I didn't know there was a betting shop here, said I. Alex laughed: there are three here in the space of a few hundred yards, and that's not counting the other three at Halfway less than a mile along the road that way and maybe two at Hillington Road the other way.
There is obviously some sort of collective madness at work here: in Glasgow, you can get a £60 quid fine for dropping a fag end in the street and be arrested for drinking in a public place, but you can gamble away your and your family's income to your heart's content in any of the many betting outlets and 'amusement' arcades in the city.
I'm guessing the Council is worried about all the empty shops in the city. There are stories going round about landlords renting premises for next to nothing to Betfred and the rest just to be sure some business is occupying the space and bringing people into the area.
I'm not arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to gamble if they want to but, good grief, just switch on your TV and your computer and work out for yourself how much of a hard sell gambling is getting in the UK these days, even without betting shops.
Myself, I'd give a shop to a community group and let them sit in the window singing Kumbaya rather than encourage people to waste more cash on gambling.
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