Paddy Power has warned the British government it will go to court to halt any attempt to crack down on casino-style electronic table games by creating new and tougher planning rules for betting shops.
The Dublin-based bookmaking giant, which is seeking to challenge the dominance of rivals such as William Hill and Ladbrokes on Britain’s high streets, says reforming the planning system to block new betting shops would be “anti-competitive” and would “clearly benefit” the existing large operators.
Those who oppose the e-tables consider them a leading cause of problem gambling and other social ills and contend that betting shops are proliferating nationwide in order to install more of them. Though limited to four per location, the games, principally electronic roulette, have emerged over the last decade as the No. 1 money-maker for bookmakers. Recent statistics from the UK Gambling Commission show 33,320 of the controversial machines in operation as of last year, when they generated gross gaming revenue of almost £1.6 billion, a 60 percent increase since 2008. Local governments have joined forces across the country to lobby Parliament and the government for tougher zoning regulations that would allow them to curtail further increases by using licensing to prevent the clustering of betting shops in commercial districts.
Such reforms, however, would hit new market entrants such as Paddy Power especially hard. The company has only a 3 percent share of Britain’s high streets, while Hills, Ladbrokes, Gala Coral and Betfred enjoy a virtual oligopoly with a combined share of around 90 percent.
The government has said it will hold off on adopting any new rules until the Responsible Gambling Trust concludes research into FOBTs this autumn.
In the meantime, the industry has rolled out a new voluntary responsible gambling code that allows players to pre-set betting limits and provides for automatic alerts at the games to warn players when they have spent £250 or have been playing for 30 minutes. Bookies have also agreed not to advertise the games in their shop windows.
