Imitation Games

This is a brilliant, deeply disturbing book. Carefully researched, engagingly written, it’s part social and economic history of the exponential growth of global sports betting, with closely drawn sketches of the remarkable entrepreneurs who saw the possibilities, turned the industry from horse-racing to football, and pioneered the advertising and digital technologies of continuous betting. It’s also a searing indictment of the hijacking of sports, transforming ‘the beautiful game’ into the compulsion of endless betting, deliberately addicting players, managers and fans alike, with devastating financial and family loss, including suicide. McGee’s harshest words are for the sports bodies and governments who willfully ignored the abundant evidence of gambling-related harm, blinded by the large sums of money paid by the industry. It’s an urgent read for anyone who loves sports.

Bruce Kidd, Professor Emeritus of Sports Policy University of Toronto

As the number of gambling related suicides, bankruptcies and family break-ups mount we at last have a book that explains how we let this happen, what the real costs of the industry are, and what sport might do about it

David Goldblatt, author of The Age of Football and The Game of our Lives

A gripping, must-read account that is as lyrically written as it is forensically researched

Rob Davies, author of Jackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain

A forensic analysis of how gambling risks consuming football whole. Imitation Games lays bare the changes that have been unfurling before your eyes. A must read for any sports fan seeking to understand how we got here

Aaron Rogan, author of Punters: How Paddy Power Bet Billions and Changed the Gambling World Forever

Imitation Games is a detailed, authoritative and damning analysis of the rise of the sports betting industry in the UK since the early 2000s, and the impacts now seen on public health. It also lays bare how this business model continues to echo around the world, from sub-Saharan Africa, to Canada and the US – Darragh McGee’s book demands a global audience.

Dr. Luke Clark, Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada

A masterful, multi-layered account. McGee takes readers on a gripping journey through the dark machinery of modern sports betting—from punts and push notifications to data tracking, debt, and addiction, revealing how an industry built on predation has weaponized technology to exploit human vulnerability

Natasha Schüll, author of Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas

In meticulous and devastating detail, Darragh McGee reveals how football sold its fans to the gambling giants. Read this book to learn the truth about the game you love

Oliver Bullough, author of Everybody Loves Our Dollars

[A] much-needed investigation into the way in which gambling has 'hijacked' sport, penned by a global health sociologist and leading expert in the field

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