There has been a long running and heated debate over the controversial Fixed Odd Betting Terminals that are sited in virtually every betting shop across the country.
The debate centres arround a proposal for restricting the maximum stakes on these machines to £2 down from the current £100.
This is opposed by the gaming industry.
They along with other opponents of the reform argue that it will drive the gambling addicts to online betting and also lead to job losses due to betting shop closures.
It is a fact that the profits from FOBTs have fed the growth in shops often in areas of deprivation and a lot of the people playing them are losing money that they can ill afford to.
So simply reducing the stake may not solve the perceived problem and may also have unintended negative consequences.
Gambling attracts people from all sections of society.
However the group that is of most concern are the cash-strapped unemployed who have time on their hands and spend it in the bookmakers.
The FOBTs appear to offer a route to extra money which is so badly needed.
Of course the house nearly always wins.
Frustration at losing can lead to anger machines get vandalised.
Even worse hard pressed betting shop staff are the victims of violent assaults.
This situation is a creation of the deprivation that exists in much of contemporary Britain.
The only winners being the top executives of the betting industry who are earning millions.
The Head of the Bet365 company was recently reported to have paid herself an annual salary of £265 million.
I believe we have to look to do something for the losers in this gaming industry.
Legislation is needed to protect betting shop employees, with rules around pay and working time to match.
To many shops are staffed by a lone employee earning just the minimum wage and as in many other sectors of our economy scant attention is often paid to working time regulations.
Longer term we need a Liberal plan for a society where everyone has a value and nobody is condemned to years of idleness without enough money to enjoy a decent life.
* David is a member of Horsham and Crawley Liberal Democrats
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8 Comments
Some sympathy with the issues, but please get facts right.
Bet365 is an on line bookmaker and does not operate Fixed Odd Betting Terminals
In the USA gambling, prostitution, loansharking and drugs are called the rackets. There is a reason. These are old age human traits that are facilitated not discouraged by prohibition.
I used to visit Atlantic City quite regularly during the late eighties/early nineties when the Trump Casino was opened on the boardwalk there. The Casino’s made 70% of their income from slot machines. Customers were bussed in from New York City, Philadelphia and Trenton across the tri-state area. They were mostly welfare recipients and could even cash their entitlement checks at the Casino’s.
Betting shop staff in the UK need to be able to work in a safe environment, just as bank cashiers do. Gambling is not going away and it is a trait that crosses all sectors of society – rich and poor alike.
Bet365 is the bookmaking business of the Coates family (owners of Stoke City Football Club). They operate 59 betting shops in addition to the online business. It is the expansion of online betting that has seen them grow from a small regional business to an International player in online gambling.
In the 12 month period ending March 31, 2014, the company made profits of £320.9 million. This represented over an 80% increase on the previous 12 months profits of £179 million. Total revenue had increased by nearly 40%, to £1.3 billion, based on customer wagering of over £26 billion.
Also in July 2014, Bet365 founder, Denise Coates, announced that £105 million of those yearly profits was being donated to the Bet365 Foundation to support charities.
In 2017, Denise Coates became the highest paid executive in UK with her £217m salary.
While Bet365 remains headquartered in Stoke, in May 2018, Bet365 decided to increase their presence in Malta due to regulations in various jurisdictions. But they keep a strong commitment to Gibraltar.
People addicted to gambling are vulnerable people and those that make money out of them are the pits. The gambling industry should be heavily regulated by government to prevent people spending beyond their available disposable income. Our town centre is littered with gambling shops which helps In making the town centre an unattractive place to spend ones time.
We have to listen to the psychologists/neuroscientists. It is a long time since BF Skinner demonstrated how gambling is an addiction; how operant conditioning with a variable ratio schedule, which gambling is (getting a reward is unpredictable), is the strongest schedule for establishing a well ingrained behaviour trait.
Basically these machines are highly manipulative and are guaranteed toi ensure that the more manipulated people are (addicted), the more they lose money.
Certainly reducing the stakes to £2 or lower can reduce the rate at which people lose money. Depending on how the gambling addiction was developed it is not necessarily the case that gambling activity will automatically transfer to another medium, though if it can happen it will happen in any case.
Once the mechanism is understood and it is accepted that addiction is the antithesis of liberty, it is obvious that these machines need to be tightly controlled or else removed.
After the budget the minister resigned, but her action was overshadowed by a wave of resignations from the cabinet because of Brexit. If the PM has not noticed the increase in gambling addiction, she should. Have a conscience and give Tracey Crouch her job back, ideally replacing her previous S of S.
Make Jo Johnson the Brexit minister and give him a free hand. This man has a future.
Thanks for the comments.
Another point that I didn’t make in my article is how the FOBTs have changed the atmosphere in betting shops and not for the better.
A lot of older followers of horse and greyhound racing go to the shops to watch the sport live.
If they do bet it’s usually very small stakes.
The FOBTs and their users are often very noisy.
It was summed up for me when I asked a member of staff in a Ladbrokes shops if he welcomed the plan to introduced the £2 stake.
His response was ‘yes because it will mean a better class of customer.’
He went into explain that he had worked there a long time and looked back on the relatively peaceful dares before FOBTs were introduced fondly.
It would also help to remove all gambling advertising off TV, as this only feeds the problem of vulnerable people being milked for their cash.
Robin,
would removing all gambling advertising include the National Lottery results show broadcast on ITV now?