Peter Shilton has called for better regulations in the gambling industry, after an "off the scale" surge in betting advertising since the start of the new Premier League season. The former England captain, who had a 45-year gambling addiction, adds, "the worrying part is the kids coming through now have got a casino in their pocket". Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Well, I thought it was shocking last year when I saw the figures, but this is just off
00:05the scale.
00:06You know, it's nearly three times as many in a period of three days on the first day
00:13of the season, and it just shows that really, you know, the gambling companies can't regulate
00:20themselves, and it's getting out of hand.
00:23I had a 45-year gambling addiction.
00:26It started off very slowly, but eventually I realised that I was addicted, and thankfully
00:32to my wife, she helped me stop, and it's been, like I say, nearly 10 years.
00:38So I've got vast experience of the gambling industry, how it's progressed over the years,
00:44and now it's just saturated with gambling companies, and everyone's fighting for the
00:50next generation, which is the worrying part, is that the kids coming through now have
00:55got a casino in their pocket with their phones, and they're, you know, very accessible to
01:02gambling products.
01:03Football was my game, you know, my passion, and, you know, I don't like to see the way
01:09football's going, you know, it's increasingly having adverts around the ground, you know,
01:14we managed to change the bit off the front of the shirts, me and my wife had a crusade
01:19on that, but that's just a small part, a very small part, you know, they need to do
01:24far more in football to make it safe for kids and families to go to games.
01:31Yeah, it started off, you know, as a hobby type thing, and it wasn't all the time, but
01:37as it gradually increased, you know, towards the end of my career, and after, you know,
01:44I suddenly realised that, yeah, I was an addict, you know, and, you know, I was gambling
01:50every day, and, you know, and you win, I had some, you know, good wins, but you always
01:58will go back to it, and that's why the gambling companies make a lot of money, because you're
02:04always giving the money back.
02:05Well, I'd like to see better regulations, you know, with the gambling industry, definitely,
02:12you know, we need this survey, fantastic by Bristol University, you know, to highlight,
02:19you know, that it's nearly three times as much as last year, and nothing's been done,
02:24so you know, it's time now for government and people, you know, in football to stand
02:29up and say, this is not right, you know, this is too much, and do something about it, not
02:36just talk about it, but do something about it, and like I say, I hope that the government
02:41and people in football will also listen and not just think of the big money all the time,
02:47which is what gambling companies can do, they can give a lot of money to different people,
02:52football and the government, and that sometimes overrides the safety aspect, and the misery
02:59it causes millions of people.