Chrirstmas has come early for the Boomakers

Firstly Bookmakers report profits from FOBT's are soaring.
Secondly The BBC cancel tommorrow nights damming documentary to be shown on gambling, and finally The Government are NOT going to publish a report on FOBT's next week as expected.


All bets are on as MPs duck ruling on betting machines despite calls to curb gambling

By Sarah Bridge

The bosses of Britain’s leading betting chains could be forgiven for thinking that Christmas has come early.

First, both William Hill and Ladbrokes last week revealed that revenues across all parts of their business were continuing to soar – from betting machines, sports betting, online casinos and smartphone apps.

Then a potentially damning TV documentary claiming to show the ‘darker side’ of the industry scheduled for tomorrow evening was postponed at the last minute by the BBC for a programme on Jimmy Savile.

And finally it emerged that the Government’s long-awaited response to the Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s report on the Gambling Act 2005 will not, as expected, be published this week, taking the spotlight away from issues such as how many of the controversial fixed-odds betting terminals should be allowed in High Street bookmakers.

These machines are in nearly every bookies, though there is a limit of four per shop. They offer slot machine and roulette-style games, allowing punters to stake up to £100 a spin on roulette and win up to £500 on just a 50p stake on the ‘slots’.

Surprisingly, the select committee recommended lifting the limit on the number of machines, which could lead to a million-pound boom for bookmakers, who say the machines provide harmless entertainment and strongly resent them being dubbed the ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling.

But critics and a growing number of MPs say the machines are dangerously addictive and must be curbed.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport denied last week that its response had been delayed, citing the Olympics, the Cabinet reshuffle and ‘staffing issues’ as reasons why it was not yet ready to respond.

But Westminster sources say the Government isn’t willing to take on the powerful bookmaking industry, especially as it pays more than a quarter of a billion pounds in tax every year.

‘The select committee report recommending that the limit on machines per shop could actually be lifted was the last thing the Government wanted,’ said one source.

There is certainly growing opposition to betting machines in Westminster. Last month, Liberal Democrat Communities Minister Don Foster called for the maximum stake to be £2 and claimed to have got David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Danny Alexander to reject the committee’s call for restrictions to be lifted.

‘For too long this problem has been swept under the carpet. There’s no doubt this is ruining people’s lives,’ he said.


He is backed by Labour MP Clive Efford, who said: ‘There is overwhelming evidence that these shops are often in deprived communities, that people are losing money on these machines that they can’t afford to lose, and at the very least we should be looking at the amount of money staked and the speed that games can be played.’


But Labour MPs face accusations of hypocrisy as it was under the previous Government that the industry was liberalised.

‘It is very easy for them to be bullish now about what they would do if they were in power, but the truth is they were in power when the current regime was set-up,’ said one critic.


Ladbrokes last week announced an 11.5 per cent rise in machine income for the past three months alone. But while the bookmakers’ shareholders might be happy, staff on the front line tell a different story.


One employee was told last week by a customer that he wanted to kill himself because he is addicted to the machines, while another said one of her customers has lost his wife and his job through his addiction and his children have disowned him.‘It’s heartbreaking to see what misery we offer,’ said another.


Lucrative day in the London life of the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’


9am, Victoria: The first customer arrives, a smartly dressed commuter who feeds in two £20 notes and instantly wins £46 on a slot machine game. He smiles. He continues to gamble and within ten minutes has lost the lot.


11am, Wandsworth: There is a promotion offering free play for five minutes and the winner over the day gets free machine credit. ‘Would you like to enter our competition?’ a shop assistant asks one elderly man placing a bet. ‘No thanks, that’s how people get addicted,’ he retorts. ‘That’s the idea,’ laughs the employee.

1pm, Kensington: Three men and a woman are playing machines and two people waiting to play. One player, tall and with an east European accent, starts losing heavily and is getting angry with the machine, thumping it and swearing. Another punter, a regular in his 50s who keeps ignoring his ringing phone, is playing a slot machine game and has more than £100 in credit. After a while he is feeding in more money and leaves looking glum. He claims still to be £300 up though, having cashed out before hitting a losing streak. The woman, who is in her 60s, has run out of cash so she puts £20 on her machine using her debit card at the counter. Ten minutes later she is putting another £30 on her card.


5pm, Balham: Every machine is busy, with a cluster of teenagers playing in a group on one machine who seem to be winning hundred of pounds each time. It turns out it is the demo game. A man in his 30s wearing workman’s overalls loses all his money and leaves. He comes back a few minutes later with £100 that he has just got out of the cash machine next door. His mates advise him against playing on but he insists and loses the lot. Two boys in school uniform come in and the machines instantly go black until they have shown ID to the counter staff.


7pm, Battersea: Two men are huddled together playing roulette on one machine, studying the list of previous winning numbers and berating each other loudly when they pick a losing number.

9.50pm, Clapham: It is closing time and there are three men still playing, frantically trying to get a big win before the machines are turned off. ‘Last bets now please,’ shouts the lone staffer. The machines are finally turned off.


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2220632/All-bets-MPs-duck-ruling-betting-machines.html#ixzz29wcnzh5y
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