THE GUARDIAN - THE DANGEROUS WORLD OF BRITISH BETTING SHOPS

Longest article ever!! Powerful though.

It could have been three times as long. It can be as long as necessary, until the point finally gets home to the employers to fix this issue. I thought it was illegal for people to work alone where any type of machinery was involved.
Morally, employers have a duty of care. Aren't Unions having a say in this ? In 2016, in a country like the UK, this situation should not be happening. The blame comes down, in my opinion, to the installation of the FOBTs.
Betting shops of old, are a thing of the past. What we have now are Casinos on every High Street. As the article stated, in Casinos , because of the monies involved, and potential for trouble when money is lost, they have bouncers.
Whereas in betting shops, it's expected a single person, often a woman, is in sole charge,
Despicable. New legislation is rapidly needed.

Thanks for posting Aviboyd,it's a read and a half.

Speaking as someone who has had a gun held to my head whilst his companion yelled "shoot him" i read that entire factual account of life in a betting shop with a profound feeling of deja vu..harrowing indeed but many thanks for putting it up on here.

and where are The Gambling Commission???????

More worried about mums and dads putting on £2  at the racEcourse for their kids on a fun day out

GET REAL GAMBLING COMMISSION...STOP THIS SINGLE MANNING...MAKE YOUR EXISTENCE WORTHWHILE , OR ARE U IN THE PAY OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH VILE MPS SUCH AS
ARCH RIGHT WINGER PHILIP DAVIES

Well said nightfly

If the tories are getting 25% of the proceeds they will do f all
responsible gambling my big fat arse.

Great article

RIP Andrew Iacovou

A lone worker on minimum pay working up to 16-hours a day for Ladbrokes. Disgraceful.

It's the new world order. If you don't want to do your poxy job for crap money there are plenty coming into the country who will, a policy the Guardian is fully behind.

The Guardian is not behind that policy. The Guardian is behind stronger union rights that would end this sort of thing and by default deter foreigners from seeking employment here.

Just like the Mail et al, the Guardian does a fine job of brainwashing it's readership.

There's no brainwashing in the above article.

Just an honest account on what is going on. No distortion, just facts. Maybe you should read it.

RIP Andrew Iacovou

so sad to read...just doing his job for little more than minimum wage working all hours to provide and murdered....

Bookies same to their own employees as they are to punters that are fleeced - utterly uncaring.

Is there really a much more immoral business than these guys, which is legal?

Try the city of London, for world corruption and total immorality

and where are The Gambling Commission???????

More worried about mums and dads putting on £2  at the racEcourse for their kids on a fun day out

The days of mums and dads putting on £2 are long gone ... it's down to £1 now.

What a harrowing read,so many awful stories recounted all in the name of earning an honest living

Absolutely depressing reading; beggars belief that this can go with all of the technology which exists in betting shops which would at least keep sight of employees at all times - as the judge said the employer is extremely negligent - the executives should be forced to work in some of their shops for a week each year - wonder how long it would take to change procedures - not long i'd say!

A long read, but was well worth it as it definitely hits home.

A few points....

1) The section about if over the counter business falls then we will man the shops accordingly.  Why not just shut them full stop.  If I want to get a bet on, you have many other platforms available to the everyday user.  We will survive, I'm sure.

2) Hills now use a "buddy shop" system on a night time.  I don't know the exact use of it, but something along the lines that you must call them every hour to report that you are ok.  Not hard for someone to do the shop over minutes after the phone rings and the young girl behind the counter says "yes, I'm fine thanks" and puts the phone down.  Just another tick box covered when asked what they have done about single manning.

3) How many of the stories of people attacking shop staff have stemmed from Trap 6 not staying on well enough after giving 10 lengths to the 1 dog ?  How many stem from the 4/6 favorite at Redcar not winning when you thought it was a dead cert ?  Not many.... they all stem from FOBT losses yet nobody higher up the echelon seems to want to control them because of the money they make.  Only last Friday, at lunch time in a Hills in a city centre location.  I was in for just under an hour, and I think I saw one or two bets taken over the counter.  At the same time, all 4 machines were in constant use with some getting £100 topped up on their debit cards every five or ten minutes.  If I see or hear anyone getting disgruntled with the FOBT in a shop, I'm gone.  I carry money around with me for betting purposes and I'm not in there to get robbed when someone has lost their rent or the food shopping money this week again on them.

4) As a PTL customer in most shops, I have given up on the industry and see what it's all about.  However, there is no point giving stick and hassle to the low level shop staff.  I get on well with them all, and if I'm knocked back on a bet, I know it's not their fault.  They have enough crap to deal with during the day for my type to be another problem to them.

My mum worked in a betting shop a long long time ago, and when I turned 18, I saw working in that envrionment as the dream job.  Sat talking to everyone about betting and what they fancied.  Watching racing, football etc... all day long and getting paid for it.  I turned 18 just before the millenium and before the FOBT's hit the high street.  I'm happy to say I never followed my dream job and stayed this side of the counter.

Were you Wakey Stan? ^

WA

Spot on with your point 3)

As someone who works in the industry, it's quite frightening to read....


one city where I work quite regularly has fourteen LBO's....


the homeless are the non working see the shops as the equivalent of The Sally An !

regularly , *

Wilcat Army

1)Because it's still profit and shops are their primary promotional vehicle if nothing else. There are people, prime betting shop customers among them, who either don't have credit cards or simply won't use them for gambling. Remember, they need to be shaken down too.

2)Yes, how very reassuring. Box ticked as you rightly point out.

3) Key point. If it can be definitively proven, which I think it can, that there is a direct link between FOBTS and increased violent attacks, then the bookmaking firms should be forced to take real and effective steps to protect their shops and vulnerable staff or face legislation banning them. Wouldn't be holding my breath, though.

4) Yeah, it's not their fault.

Imported filth. RIP Andrew

This very subject of single manning was discussed on here a few weeks ago. My view was that nothing can be achieved without Trade Union organisation and representation of the staff. All this talk of bookmaking companies and the Gambling Commission sorting it out is just pie in the sky. As well as representation the unions can also provide the use of their legal services.

The shop that Mr Andrew Iacovou was murdered was a shop a friend of my nephew used to work in occasionally during the summer holidays and when there was a shortage of staff. Believe it or not, the Ladbrokes shop was directly next door to the Morden Police Station, which is close more often than open; this Ladbrokes shop, according to his friend, was the best performing and profitable one in the area and it was not uncommon the takings could be £50/75k per week - imagine that in a year!

When he was with Ladbrokes the then district/area manager was someone who's only concerned with his shops profits and not much else, and hugely unpopular, and single manning was already in operation when there was an acute shortage of staff in the area. It was alleged this individual had told his staff to stuff their banking money in their underpants enroute to the banks/post offices nearby the Ladbrokes betting shops.

The shop has been closed since the incident with flowers placed respectfully at the entrance on the anniversary of Mr Andrew Iacovou's murder.

Out of this horrible incident and many others it does prove their needs to be some union participation in attempting to coerce employers into creating a safe environment for staff to work in. Of course there are many limitations on what a union can do when laws and regulations are constantly repealed to supposedly allow employers to operate in a free market - something for those who repeatedly complain about employee power to deliberate on.

the weak link is the  manager or assistant,having to check FOBT ,or open it for cash reasons after punter says something wrong

Happens on a daily basis, knowing your customer's helps but,


I'd hate to be in a West End shop ( open till midnight), when the drunken hordes arrive to gamble after imbibing alcohol... single manning in those circumstances must be horrendous !

Indeed, especially when there is a dispute and/or possibly a machine malfunction and the manager has no choice but to do it there and then and the contents are usually cash.

And, closing the shop with ''lairy'' louts milling about, women should not have to do it, END OF !   

Looking forward to a hard-hitting follow-up in the Racing Post.

Saddo,

No, but I know Stan.


Going back to another point in the article that I forgot to mention....

The shop had all 4 of it's FOBT's smashed up, but they were all replaced the very next day.  Consider that against something simple as a broken toilet... I know some shops that has taken over a week for them to be fixed !!  How comes the loo's aren't high on the agenda of "get fixed fast" as with the FOBT's to enhance the "Customer Experience".  (Yes, I know the answer).

I'd love to see the District Managers or those in the Ivory Towers at the Big 4 do something similar to the Undercover Boss show on Channel 4.  And actually do a week of the graveyard shift by his/herself in a run down sh*thole where crime figures are high... and then tell us theres no problem single manning (especially females) all night long to look after the amusement arcade.

a sombre read that invokes anger especially at a complicit govt.(irrespective of who is in power) that is making so much money out of gambling taxes that it will never do the right thing by the lowly paid betting shop employees

those f*cking FOBTs should be blown up..just magnets for society's feckless,degenerate detritus

on june 17 there will be another story the press can print about an attack at you know where

I think the CEO of these companies are complicit (along with the useless Gambling Commission/Government), and should be taken to task properly. As said above how many of these would let their own sons/daughters single man? Surely they have a duty of care and need some sort of lawsuit against them, and maybe then they may change the way THEIR companies are ran. Vile and disgusting management imo.

The answer is people power. In other words, people should not accept jobs in betting shops until the work conditions and pay are vastly improved.

For example, how many people would accept a job cleaning the outside of the Shard at the top for minimum wage?

Surprised nobody has mentioned who was MD of Retail at Ladcrooks when they introduced single manning across their estate between 2011 and 2013 and who was in the role the day Andrew Iacovou died.

One Nick Rust - who presided over an era when Ladcrooks went from being a revered name on the High Street to a company with an appalling reputation for treating both customers and staff with utter contempt.  One must wonder what kind of legacy a man of with such morals will leave following his time at the BHA...

All he will be worried about leaving with is a massive payoff and pension - the same as every other buffoon at the BHA (imo of course). Expect once the Racing Post do a proper bit of journalism on the subject they will ask him....

I once asked Nick Rust at a Corals manager's forum why customers in the shops couldn't have the same early morning prices afforded to on line / phone customers...


He wasn't aware that Corals advertised in the red top daily's !

what affect would a total strike by betting shop staff  have ? are they all in same union, not sure which one would be, is it usdaw ?
surely whatever union concerned should be heavily involved , this cant go on.

As I understand it Unite are the union involved with these workers. Unfortunately they have not got enough members to secure proper representation. Much needs to be done both by the union and the workers themselves, but this industry hasn't got much of a record for union involvement.

ok, cheers sparrow.

A bloke I know works in spoilborts and because someone made a complaint about him previously over not being at the counter to take a bet(he was in the loo and was working alone) he now has to ask the customers if they have a bet that's going off soon anytime he needs to go to the loo. Demeaning and awful.

whats he meant to do soil himself ?

Jun 2, 2016 -- 9:33AM, morpteh mackem wrote:

whats he meant to do soil himself ?

I suppose if he doesn't eat or drink all day he might be ok until he gets home, although he sometimes works the whole day from opening in the morning until closing at 9 on his own. But to be fair to his employers for these long shifts they send someone to take over for a whole half hour so he can go out to lunch/use the toilet and get some exercise.

thats good of them

"And where are the Gambling Commission?" As in most cases, doing sod all. Senior Directors probably at another international conference telling everyone how good they are, whilst we know, they are pretty useless.

While I totally agree with you cricket, the GC are a completely useless and spineless organisation, I think that the blame for that must lie in the fact that they don't actually have any powers. 

In reality, if the UK want to be taken seriously as a gambling power again, The GC needs to be completely disbanded and replaced with a brand new regulator that actually has the ability to do something about the huge list of issues and problems that the industry has.

In its current form, the GC is simply not fit for purpose.