The bookies are being deliberately disingenuous: they are twisting the argument by inferring that the money presently spent on fobt will not be spent on other sporting events like football and horses instead.

No one has ever suggested/hinted or stated that the money presently spent of fobt will be spent on any other sports like football and horses. What opponents of fobt are saying is that fobt has been specifically and scientifically designed to maximise addiction of the player in a short period of time ie fobt is able to penetrate into the pathways of the brain that induces addiction. As such, it has been nicknamed the "crack cocaine of gambling"; this has been proven medically and professionally causing utmost miseries and detriment to society.

The maximum stake of £100 per spin for every 20 seconds is also excessively high which has added to its addictiveness and attractiveness; it increases the player's perception of a big win which is wholly misleading and untrue - fobt is another form of gambling but at monumental risks to the player because one can incur big losses in a short space of time thus nicknamed the "crack cocaine of gambling".

The Sport of Kings must not be funded from the proceeds of fobt - the crack cocaine of gambling - through the Horse Racing Levy. Instead, the high street bookies should re-focus on other avenues of revenue/profit generation eg being bookmakers again by taking more sporting bets (the original reason for their existence).


Fobt is evil, and has no place in the high streets. Its presence must be carefully monitored. And its proceeds must not be used to fund the Sport of Kings.

The article today, with once again a cynical lack of balance or viewpoint from the other side of the argument, was pretty much suggesting that addicted FOBT players should continue to be exploited because otherwise the bookmakers seeking to exploit them might have to close down...

Fobt generated over £1.5bn for bookies with minimum costs and uncertainties, and the Horse Racing Levy which funds horse racing is a direct correlation to this eg the greater the revenue/profit generated by bookies the greater the contribution towards the Horse Racing Levy.

If necessary close the majority of high street betting shops as they are a surplus to requirement with the bookies no longer willing to take bets on other sorts. They are also an eye-sore; not value enhancing to the area; educational; socially friendly.

The fobt is evil - make no bones about it. And the closure of betting shops in some high streets is necessary to redress their recent proliferation. In a nutshell, fobt has no place in high street bookies; fobt is the scum of gambling, and any person/entity pedalling it will be rightly and correctly tarnished with the same brush, in my book.

The argument of the Racing Post/BHB axis genuinely seems to be that it's just fine for the addicted to continue be exploited, as long as people who can afford £20,000 a year to keep a horse in training don't have to race for a bit less prize money...

If the fobt is such an unimportant and irrelevant revenue/profit source for bookies may I ask why they are fighting tooth and nail using misinfo to rebut any fragment of opposition to their present maximum playing stake?

I'd like the head honchos of bookies to publicly declare and defend revenue/profit from fobt is not used to finance the Horse Racing Levy; the revenue/profit from fobt is not directly correlated to the maximum stake of fobt; the present level of high street betting shops is not directly correlated to fobt.

The closure of high street bookies and the reduncies resulting are just consequences of an evil trade that should have been culled and not allowed to proliferate to its present level. Tough...but needs must!

Demoralising stuff Ronnie.