Smallscreen News

Red or Black blasted for 'glamorising gambling'

Feb 7, 2012, 11:01 GMT

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell's 'Red or Black' game show has been blasted for glamorising gambling.

The ITV1 programme - which is hosted hosted by Ant and Dec - has become the subject of a complaint by the Gambling Commission, which met with show bosses on Friday (03.02.12) over concerns about how easy it makes the game of roulette appear to viewers.

The Gambling Commission is reportedly worried after four people won the main prize of £1 million by simply choosing between the colours red and black.

A source told The Sun newspaper: 'Put it this way, if the Gambling Commission kicks up a big fuss about your show publicly, it is unlikely that you would go ahead with it.

'The Commission has concerns the show is glamorising gambling as so many people won £1 million last time and did the best part of nothing to get it.'

Series one of 'Red or Black' attracted disappointing ratings and insiders have revealed plans to make the show more exciting for viewers.

One programme source said: 'The idea is to inject a bit more jeopardy. We could have the red players versus the black players in some sort of challenge.'