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An interesting thread, i rarely get chance to post or even look in on forums, and often wary too with the comments going OTT etc.. my own forum suffers from this too tbh
I am Dave from Mr P's Classic Amusements, I say Dave 'from' because I don't see the arcades as mine, I see them as something of a legacy, like or loathe gambling.
Since a young boy I loved the buzz of the arcade, but this wasn't because I was hooked or attracted to flashing lights (in a trance like state) or any other reason, I just was attracted to anything entertainment based and I liked 'chance'.
Reading through some of the thread it is interesting to see the thoughts of others. For me I love gambling, I am no hypocrite to it, I enjoy it, yes naturally it can be too much for some, I completely see and endorse that.
As a kid i loved dice, cards, anything with chance.
My Dad, the only time I saw him sober was to say goodbye to him at 53, I don't have a thing against alcohol. Over the years of the FOBT due to its easy access I lost a colossal amount to roulette, I lost it not the roulette lost it for me, it was me that spent and wagered the money. I have nothing against roulette and I support the game being in a regulated establishment like a casino, where it belongs.
I like food, if I eat and eat I will enjoy it, but then when I was to not be able to stand I wouldn't like food but it would be myself and not the food that is the problem, although like gambling, alcohol and food many other things they can be addictive, psychologically, and yes it can be a problem.
This post is a balanced view (well I guess my view) and for me being a player at heart, anyone who has met me will know how hard of a battle it has been to round up the machines that we have and the consumption of life to give to the people what I would love to enjoy; classic amusements.
I rent my house, I have no savings, I actually cannot stand money, I care about my team and treat them as family, so aside from bringing back memories for people to enjoy the old games that (at the time they were current) were too high stake, our players can enjoy stakes and prizes frozen in time. Naturally there will be some that will always play for the money, but as we always strive to drum into people is to play for the game and you will enjoy yourself and spend what you wanted to. If you play to win you cannot win because you will try to win £50, get to £100 and then put the invincible cloak on and aspire for more, and more until WALLOP, a inevitable white knuckle ride of tilt.
I am not a businessman, nor do I wish to be, I am a gambler who enjoys the risk in life, and will always be this way. If i took risks on stocks or business deals or bought and sold I would be seen as clever and wise, but if the deals went wrong or the stocks crashed it would be deemed 'unlucky' - ring any bells lol.
Life for each and every person is different because of the hand we are dealt and the cards that we change over the time will change our direction in life and some believe our destiny. Some people have the cruelest starts in life and some do not even make it, and that there are no words for, but we all do what we can, the best we can.
Our minds are influenced everyday, more than we know. We collect our nectar points or get our social media fixes, not knowing that the spoon feeding background influences are already underway, the prompts that we see, as we carry on our normal day to day lives.
With mention above of kids gambling etc, it is something I enjoyed as I was growing up but fruits were cool and appealing to lots of us youngsters back then, as were video games IN THE ARCADE, not at home as the arcade games were cutting edge. Time has revolved and OK, although our old machines will naturally not be much of an appeal to a young person as a DOND will be, the young players are very few and far between, and declining.
My view is that there is still a place for the 10p £5 machine, as if its a well coded game, its a fun machine and worthy of being pay to play with much smaller risk to a young person. 25 years ago a £5 was worth winning and I was winning them, but now a £5 win is almost laughable, but still the activity of gambling is as delicate as other things. Now that over 16's on fruits or must be accompanied by an adult is a good move, and still allows enjoyment for a family if they want to actually engage in an activity that is supposed treated and taken to be fun.
Mentioned on a post also was our percentages, we do run all of our games on high % and even the £5 stuff on is on 90% on many games because one it keeps losses minimal and another reason is it does put FUN back into the machines.
Most of our players are people that come from all of the UK, but as even local people try us they see the difference in gameplay and see its fun. Again, I do not ignore that some take it too far and it can become an issue. We do engage with our players because its our passion and often their passion too, so to meet fellow minded people makes this journey for us worthwhile.
As my youngest daughter has just woken up (AGAIN) I will have to cut this short, mind you I have probably bored you all by now, but to summarise..
I don't think that there is a 'one size fits all' answer to anything in the world, and nor should there be. We can blame the fruits, the lottery, the horses, the pools, the football acca's or we can blame ourselves if we go too deep, for me the issue will lie with me if I lose XX.XX on something. When I had a flutter online, and I spent my credit cards as angry/frustrated as I was, it was my own fault (and btw I detest online gambling) but I always look to take a positive from a negative, then it becomes a neutral, I realised the danger that IF I owned a house I could lose my house IN my house! For me that was no longer something I could look as enjoyment. Perhaps it being on a screen made it too easy to spend the money, I do not know but these fingers that are typing this now are the ones that did it, taking direction from my brain, so I did it, knowing I should of stopped, but the greed of the chase and ME not listening to my own advice made me play to win, and of course if you PLAY TO WIN, you CANNOT win, because your will always want more. I could argue that the stakes were too high or prize were beyond my dreams, but I chose to play it and chose to keep spending.
Set youself a limit, be it booze, gambling, eating or collecting things (just as addictive btw and can be as costly often confused with investing but we all do it) and if you can't then its not for you. If its not fun then time to sort it as we have one life, we have to have fun. One thing though, we come in with nothing and we go out with nothing and the worst addiction in life is being addicted to money. You cannot be rich in life and rich in money and I once knew somebody that was so poor that all he had in life was money.
All the best all and no intentions whatsoever to offend or upset, life is too short, and be assured I write this as a player not an 'operator' which I hate to be branded, but as a fellow player of life, I bid you farewell,
Dave aka Mr P's Classic Amusements
