I finally had my minute of fame! My Channel 4 debut when I was asked to do an interview for 4thoughtTV, the theme for my particular week: is gambling immoral?
The programme is on channel 4 just after the evening news, a 2 minute clip with people discussing controversial topics and their view for against the particular subject up for discussion.
I was very nervous and disappointed to discover that there was no hair or make up on set!
The producer Eammon led me into the studio a white painted room with an red chair in the middle for me to sit on.
It was nerve racking sitting in bright light being asked questions by the producer Eamon whose face appeared on a screen in front of me which was the camera lens. After about half hour I started to relax a bit and get into the flow of conversation. I was surprised how emotional i got after recounting a few stories of my time working in a casino and encountering problem gamblers on a daily basis, i had forgotton some of the emotions i experienced at the time. The hour interview was edited down to just over a minute!
Here is a clip of me on the show:
http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-gambling-immoral/catherine-harrington?autoplay=true
A lot of people were very surprised at my interview because they had expected me to be promoting gambling because of me running my own fun casino business.
My answer is that fun casinos are purely for entertainment and fun, no real money is involved so we provide the glamour and excitement without the danger of losing real money. Often after an event guests will tell me that they learnt a lot from their fun casino experience and could see how easy it could be to lose a lot of money and how addictive it could be.
I am not totally against gambling, my point is that casinos exploit vulnerable people, not everyone has a gambling addiction but those that do it’s hard to escape as regulations have got less with 24 hour casinos (some of my croupier friends that still work in the casino tell me that it’s not unknown for someone to stay in the casino gambling for 3 days) and it was more restricted before, nowadays it’s on television and online making it accessible to more people for more of the time and seems to be advertised everywhere. I think gambling should be more regulated than it is as it is just as addictive and dangerous and destructive as alchoholism or drug addiction and can ruin lives if left unchecked. There are not currently enough safeguards to recognise and prevent problem gambling
Absolutely fantastic night with Steve and Catherine. They really made the night. Lots of people who hadn't played before and they made everyone feel comfortable, giving them tips and tricks. We all had an absolute fantastic night!