Forces push for low stakes
Hilary Douglas, campaigns director of the Association of British Bookmakers, has refuted a publicized report saying Scottish gamblers lost £160 million (US$237 million) in 2014. But representatives of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling say Douglas is wrong, and the original published figure was accurate. Douglas said a recent Health Survey show that problem gambling rates are low, at about .04 percent, reported Gaming.com.
The fair-gambling group says £160 million “is in fact an estimate of the total losses, which has been derived from Gambling Commission data, operator annual reports and research carried out by the Responsible Gambling Trust.
“We note,” the group added, “that Hilary Douglas does not provide an alternative figure.”
According to the group’s figures, research by the RGT found that 37 percent of FOBT users are problem gamblers. Forces throughout the U.K. are pressuring the gaming industry and the government to reduce the maximum stake to £2 per spin “to reduce the harm that this highly addictive product causes,” wrote Derek Webb, Adrian Parkinson and Matt Zarb-Cousin of the Nottingham-based Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
The U.K. government has pledged to rein in betting on fixed-odds betting terminals, which have been called the “crack cocaine” of betting, and has criticized the industry for machines that won £1.6 billion from British gamblers in 2013 alone. Anti-FOBT activists say the machines, which may number more than 30,000 across the country, are causing problem gambling and anti-social behavior. Punters can bet up to £100 every 20 seconds on FOBTs, which feature games such as roulette, blackjack and poker and have a maximum payout of up to £500.
