The U.K. government’s attempts to rein in betting on fixed-odds betting terminals, which have been called the “crack cocaine” of betting, may have no more high-profile representative than Lord David Lipsey, who has recently slammed the betting industry for growing an industry that won £1.6 billion from British gamblers in 2013 alone.
Punters in Scotland bet more than £4 billion (US$6.1 billion) on FOBTs last year, reported the London Daily Mail, including £2 billion wagered by low-income Scots. And the Campaign for Fairer Gambling in Northern Ireland also wants to call a halt to high-stakes betting machines, which separated bettors from their money to the tune of £535 million in a single year.
Anti-FOBT activists say the machines, which may number more than 30,000 across the UK, are fueling problem gambling and anti-social behavior. Punters can bet up to £100 every 20 seconds on the machines, which feature games such as roulette, blackjack and poker and have a maximum payout of up to £500.
“If betting on a horse race is the full sexual intercourse of betting and gambling, with foreplay when you select your horse and mounting excitement as the race goes on … then FOBTs are a form of onanism,” said Lipsey. “You see sad-eyed blokes?it is always blokes?in front of porn-like machines, made very glittery and unrealistic, shoving in pounds for momentary pleasure.”
Lord Nicholas Bourne of Aberystwyth later called Lipsey’s comments “Fifty Shades of Betting Shops.”
According to Politicshome.com, Lipsey has a vested interest in racing as a former non-executive director of British bookmaker the Tote, a chairman of the British Greyhound Racing Board and a member of the All Party Parliamentary Betting and Gaming Group. But he is not alone in his criticism of FOBTS, which have become the subject of fierce debate among the lawmakers who oppose them and the bookies who defend them.
Bookmakers “were legendary lobbyists once upon a time,” Lipsey said. “If William Hill or Ladbrokes came through your door you shivered with fear and slavered to do their will. But now their approach has been that of the tobacco industry at its very worst.”
The Telegraph published the leaked internal strategy documents showing that Ladbrokes, for one, aggressively courted lawmakers, select committees and top ministers, including the chancellor of the Exchequer, to allow betting shops to maintain telephone betting in exchange for reduced taxation, reported Politicshome. “The bookmakers have subsequently avoided £1 billion of UK tax via their remote sites targeting British gamblers,” the website reported. “They have also avoided full compliance on parity with casinos under EU money-laundering regulation.”
Also according to the website, the bookmakers introduced high-stakes FOBTs. Opponents of the high-street games want the stakes brought down to between £2 and £5.
“I find it completely unacceptable that people can lose an entire week’s wages in a few minutes with these machines,” Scottish lawmaker Jim Murphy told the Scottish Daily Record. “Of course people can lose the same amount on the horses or dogs in a bookies, but these machines lure people in and hook them on a habit that is becoming so destructive.”
Lipsey says the government must “stop the terrible affliction that genuine addictive problem gambling can do to people and their families.
“As far as I am concerned, it is not those who shove every penny they can get hold of into these damned machines who are the only people with a gambling problem,” he said. “Anyone who stuffs a hard-earned £100 into a slot has a gambling problem. You therefore have to tackle it across the board.”
