Bookmakers call for inquiry
The UK gaming industry is fighting back after a recommendation by MPs that maximum bets on fixed-odds betting terminals by slashed from ?100 to just ?2.
According to the BBC, the Association of British Bookmakers has slammed a December report on FOBTs from an all-party parliamentary group on the high-street betting machines, famously referred to as “the crack cocaine of betting.”
The MPs’ report noted that bookies declined to take part in the study. “We were disappointed and fear this is a reflection of their denial of the problems associated with FOBTs and a reluctance on their part to speak to policy makers about appropriate regulation,” the study said.
That comment sparked ire among the bookmakers, who called the study “deeply flawed.”
“We strongly believe that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards should urgently investigate” the lawmakers, wrote Malcolm George, chief executive of the ABB, wrote. “This group of MPs has operated in secrecy, provided no transcripts of the evidence given to their meetings and operated throughout behind closed doors away from public scrutiny.”
He said betting shops are already closing at the rate of more than 100 a year and if the findings of this report were implemented, it “could spell the beginning of the end for the high-street bookmaker.”
There are 34,809 touch-screen electronic gaming machines in 8,709 betting shops across the UK, reported the BBC; together they represent more than 50 percent of bookmakers’ profits.
MP Carolyn Harris, chairwoman of the parliamentary group, responded to the criticism saying there is now “a clear case for the government to substantially reduce the maximum stake which can be played on FOBTs.”
“These machines are easily accessed in the most deprived areas, sucking money out of the pockets of families,” Harris said. “I support a responsible gambling industry, but there is nothing responsible about how FOBTs are currently being operated.”
The report cited figures showing that in 2015 £1.7 billion was lost by gamblers playing on FOBTs, each of which won £48,724 that year.
