Posted on 01/26/2005 12:03:34 PM PST by tjwmason
Labour wants to reduce the size of Teddy bears given as prizes in seaside arcades to discourage children from a lifetime of gambling.
The Tories have condemned the move as the nanny state gone mad and say cuddly toys do not turn children into gambling addicts.
Under the same Gambling Bill, which will pave the way for eight Las Vegas-style super casinos with machines offering unlimited money prizes for adults, ministers want to introduce tougher regulations on the humble seaside arcade machines.
The plans, criticised in the Commons this week, involve cutting the maximum value of a Teddy bear prize, or cash winnings, from the current £8 to £5.
The move is partly in response to calls from faith organisations, such as the Salvation Army, to ban children from using the machines.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "The Government believes that children should be able to play these machines but the stakes, and prizes, should discourage them playing them too much."
The move has prompted protests from the arcade industry and MPs. "For a very small amount of money, the machines give a great deal of pleasure to people hoping for a Teddy bear," said John Gummer, the Tory MP and former Cabinet Minister.
Oh, not that kind of teddy. Never mind...
A visit from the Teddy Bear inspector: "'Ere then, gov. Let's have at look at your Teddy. Bit big, don't you think? You could be in a lot of trouble you know! Now, my measuring stick, given to me by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, indicates that you, sir, are a criminal! Off you go!"
In all my life I have never seen anyone actually win one of those big prizes at a carnival game. It was always little crap from under the counter.
Maybe the kids will learn something when they see that the games are rigged, and no one ever wins the big prizes.
Good heavens. They've gone completely mad.
So Monty Python wan't humor, it was life as Brits saw it.
"In all my life I have never seen anyone actually win one of those big prizes at a carnival game. It was always little crap from under the counter."
I won a huge dragon for my daughter last summer on one of those hit the thing with a big hammer and ring the bell thingies.
Then child number 2 started whinging about wanting one too so I had have another go.
The 2nd one wasn't as easy for some strange reason.
Ended up spending a fortune and nearly rumptering myself and had to settle for a mid sized one anyway.
Bar Stewards!
That is very silly and I demand that the silliness immediately cease.
They'll nicking motorists for eating apples at the wheel next (and probably using a helecopter to get the photo-evidence)
"That is very silly and I demand that the silliness immediately cease."
Sod off!
We love our silliness!
It's one of the things that makes us British.
So you leave our silliness alone and find yourselves your own national chacteristic.
I've never seen anyone win one either... but I do see people walking around with them. Sometimes I wonder if they give them out to a few people just to make others think they can be won???
They aren't rigged in Las Vegas. If the kids are happy, they'll play all day winning enormous prizes and that means their parents will be spending all day in the casinos! It's fun playing some of those games if you can come in at a time where there aren't too many of those little squealers.
I like the idea of an unlimited prize, and visualize a money bill with a horizontal "8" - infinity - on it. Getting change on purchases would be a problem, though.
They pay people to play at those games. They'll give them non-weighted milk bottles to throw a ball at, special basketballs that aren't over-inflated, that kind of thing.
Yeah, right, the cute, cuddly bears are the problem... Everybody blames the bears...
Welcome to 1984, Oceania, 'er, Great Britain. George Owell would be proud.
In other news, Britain wants to ban the knife, and British hospitals now expect you to bring your own soap.
My dad won one of the big prizes doing the coin toss game. I remember because I ran into a couple of friends from school. One was a boy who liked me. He kept doing the dart toss and wound up with this teeny dog. Then, along came my dad to give me the big Spuds MacKenzie dog (back in the '80s, obviously) that he had just won for a quarter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.