Date, Time and Venue: Thursday 17 November, 1900-21.00 in The Brunswick Inn, Derby
Tickets (£3 plus fee) on Eventbrite:
In our latest ‘Letter on Liberty’ discussion, gambling writer and amateur poker player, Jon Bryan will introduce his new Letter – Risking it all: the freedom to gamble. Jon argues that we should all be concerned about the introduction of more restrictions on gambling. Almost every proposal on gambling regulation today is about limiting what we can do, he argues, often taking away both our privacy and basic freedoms. The narrative behind concerns about gambling is the idea that the state should step in and control our finances, as we cannot be trusted with them. The consequences of accepting controls and restrictions in this area of life, he argues, sets a precedent for their introduction elsewhere.
Kieran Saxon and Anne McDonnell will be respondents. Join us to discuss why being free to risk it all is something worth protecting.
Buy Jon’s Letter on Liberty (or download for free) here
About Jon
Jon is a gambling writer and (amateur!) poker player. He is a recreational gambler who decided to put pen to paper to try and challenge the dominant narrative in the debate about gambling, the public and government regulation.
He has played poker for all of his adult life, and played in the 2006 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas, after coming first in an online poker tournament against 500 other players. He still regularly plays poker, usually in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he lives with his family.
Frustrated by both the one-sided narrative in the debate on gambling, and the lack of a voice for the gambling consumer, Jon began to write about this in 2017. He is now a regular contributor to the website SlotsHawk and an occasional writer for Gambling Insider. Jon has also written articles for online publications including spiked and the Future Cities Project, as well as appearing on Sky News, Sky Racing, Wright on the Nail podcast, and BBC daytime discussion programmes on gambling. Jon also spoke about gambling and freedom at the online Babbleon in December 2020 organised by WORLDwrite.
Jon is active in his local community, including being treasurer of the Great Debate – a group based in the north east that organises talks and debates. He has also written articles for their website on gambling at www.thegreatdebate.org.uk
Follow Jon on Twitter @JonBryanPoker