Think about the best moment of the last World Cup: Argentina and France trading goals until it came down to penalties, maybe, or Morocco knocking out the big teams one by one on their way to the semi-finals. Now think about where everyone was looking: at the screen, together, in the same room. Amazing moments, shared by millions of people across the world. That’s what it’s all about.
This time, a lot of those moments will reach you when you are on your own. The time difference puts many of the games on late at night here, group matches around 11pm and knockout ties past midnight, which is exactly when you are most likely to be watching on the sofa with your phone in your hand.
The betting companies know this better than anyone. Research published by Nationwide in February found that 83% of 18 to 24-year-olds expect to bet more during this year’s big sporting events, with the World Cup the biggest draw. Most of that increase is men.
Their whole summer is built around the idea that you will watch the football with one eye and your account with the other.
How the apps pull you out of the moment
None of this is an accident. A betting app is precision-engineered to do one thing: keep you on it. Gambling is a multi-billion pound business employing armies of behavioural experts, analysts and even mathematicians and statisticians whose job is to keep you hooked and to ensure that the house always wins.
Start with in-play betting. You used to put a bet on before kick-off and then just watch. Now you can bet on almost anything while the game is happening: the next corner, the next throw-in, who scores next. A pre-match bet is one decision, and then you are done.
In-play betting is a decision that never ends, so instead of watching the match you end up working it: refreshing the app, half-listening to the people around you. The goal everyone remembers happens while you are looking down at your phone wondering what it means for your acca.
Then there is the near miss – a trick borrowed straight from slot machines. When four parts of a five-part bet come in, the app makes a point of showing you how close you got, one result short of the whole thing landing. Coming close sets off almost the same feeling as winning, which makes you far more likely to go again.
‘Nearly winning’ is not winning. It’s just losing, dressed up to feel like bad luck.
And then the notifications. They don’t arrive at random. They’re timed for the biggest moments of the match: the extra time, the red card, the penalties. That is when you’re most wrapped up in the game, when the room is loudest and you’re in it with everyone else, and it’s exactly when the app pings to pull your eyes back down to the phone. It’s competing for your attention more than your money, and once it has your attention, the money follows.
A few honest questions
If you have a bet this summer, and plenty of people will, none of this means you have a problem. Many people will put a fiver on, almost everyone will lose that money, and 99% will never think about it ever again. But knowing how the apps work just helps you notice if something starts to change.
So here are a few honest questions to ask yourself before things kick off on Thursday.
Worth asking yourself:
- Will I be watching the match, or watching my bet?
- Last time, did I put on more than I meant to, or go back for a second or third time?
- Am I logging on the next day to win back what I lost the night before?
- Am I staking more than I used to, just to keep it exciting?
The two-minute check
If any of those questions made you stop and think, we have put together something that might help. It’s a short, private check you can do on your own in a couple of minutes. It doesn’t collect any personal details or confidential information, and nobody else sees the answers.
It’s based on the standard screening tool used in the official national gambling survey, and it asks about the past year rather than just this tournament. The World Cup might be what got you thinking about it, but the check looks at the bigger picture.
At the end, you’ll get a short, practical plan based on your answers, whether that means a few small changes or a pointer towards proper support. Either way, you come away with something to do.
Getting your head back in the room
With the tournament just days away, now’s the time to think about how you’ll stay in control:
- Turn off the betting app’s notifications. This is the single most useful one. No half-time buzz, no half-time pull.
- Set a deposit limit now, while you are clear-headed, and make a point of sticking to it.
- Block gambling entirely if you’d rather not have the option this summer. GAMSTOP covers every licensed UK site at once, and Gamban does the same across your devices. Both are free.
Look out for each other
One last thing: if it’s not you, it could be a mate. Gambling harm is usually quiet, which is why the gambling adverts go all-out with dancing elephants and other nonsense to make it look more exciting than it is. In real life, it’s the friend who has gone quiet, who keeps checking his phone, whose mood doesn’t quite match the game. If that is someone you know, you don’t need the perfect words. “You alright?” does most of the work.
And if it is you, there is free, confidential help available at any time of day or night.
Where to get help, any time:
- National Gambling Helpline: 0808 8020 133, open 24/7
- Online chat and WhatsApp at gamcare.org.uk
- Betknowmore UK, who offer free and confidential support
The football this summer will be worth staying up for. The best of it will happen with other people, watching at the same time, when nobody in the room is looking down at a screen. That is the part the betting apps are competing for.
Watch the match. And come on England.
