Agreed Kendal. We have all been on the “chase” especially when I was younger but that was my fault not the bookies. One thing that has changed is the proliferation of online bookies and slots which are aimed at the mug punter and people who are not interested in horse racing/dogs, I very rarely go to a betting shop now and when I do it is mainly people playing the fobt machines with no interest in the horses.
A friend of mine has a daughter who played the slots online and ended up with a massive debt well into 5 figures, she had no interest in gambling before but these slot games that are advertised incessantly on the tv are what got her started, small stakes to start with and then chased her losses.
The radio 4 consumer show You and Yours regularly has programmes solely about gambling addiction and it is widespread among younger people, and the bookies even though the person may have stopped because of debt still send them literature about the services they offer.