Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Long View

Factual: History

History series in which stories from the past shed light on current events

Jonathan Freedland presents the series in which stories from the past are compared with current events.

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Long View: Gambling and New Technologies

Gambling and New Technologies

BBC Radio 4 - The Long View, Gambling and New Technologies

Jonathan Freedland asks how new technologies transformed gambling in the 1840s and today.

Jonathan Freedland is at Lingfield Park Racecourse to find out how new technologies transformed gambling habits in the the nineteenth century and today.

In 1852 Charles Dickens commented on a new phenomenon, "Presto! Betting-shops spring up in every street!". Several hundred of these back-streets shops had suddenly appeared in London and hundreds more opened across the country as railways and the electric telegraph made off-course betting possible. 

At Lingfield Park Racecourse, Jonathan Freedland and his guests take the long view of gambling and new technologies as they tell the story of the emergence of Victorian betting shops and ask how gambling is changing today, in the era of fixed-odds betting terminals, smartphones and in-play betting. 

Joining Jonathan are historian Carl Chinn, the actor Matthew McNulty, Paul Leyland of Regulus Partners, Dr Heather Wardle of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Malcolm George, Chief Executive of the Association of British Bookmakers. 

Producer: Julia Johnson

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Long View

Gambling and New Technologies

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4