Britons pump £46billion a year into gambling machines: Amount wagered nearly double in four years

Dubbed the ¿crack cocaine¿ of the high street, the machines allow punters to lose up to £100 every 20 seconds

Gamblers wagered a staggering £46billion on betting terminals last year – nearly 50 per cent up in four years.
Dubbed the ‘crack cocaine’ of the high street, the machines allow punters to lose up to £100 every 20 seconds. They have been linked to the laundering of drugs money and councils are trying to rein them in.
But Gambling Commission figures show that bookmakers raked in profits of £1.55billion from the terminals between April 2012 and March 2013. It also found that more than 600,000 children were either stopped in – or trying to enter – betting shops last year, six times as many as in 2009.
The House of Commons will vote today on whether to reduce the stakes and prizes from the fixed-odds machines. ‘They’re a menace to every high street,’ said Tom Watson, a leading Labour MP.
‘The Government has it in their power to act. We hope to persuade them this is now an urgent matter.
‘David Cameron has voiced his concern about the damaging affects of these high stake machines.
‘MPs have the opportunity to send a clear signal that they expect ministers to take a precautionary approach by lowering the stake values from £100 to £2 on this category of machines.’
The Gambling Commission figures show bookmakers typically take a profit of around 3.4 per cent from the fixed-odds machines, which allow punters to play games such as roulette.

 The £1.55billion profit was 7 per cent up on 2011-12 and 47 per cent higher than 2009. Since the recession began in 2008 betting shops have seen their take from these machines grow from 33.9 per cent of turnover to 49.4 per cent.

Ministers have however refused to limit the stakes or the payouts.

Beating the odds? Punters are spending more and more on fruit machines and other betting terminals

Fears: Worryingly, the number of children trying to enter betting shops has also spiked. File picture

A Department of Culture review last month accepted the dangers but said it was ‘not clear how great an impact a reduction would have on gambling-related harm’.
Labour MPs will today vote to throw out the entire review when secondary legislation making it law is presented in the Commons.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling and the Stop the FOBTs (Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals) campaign will hold an event in Parliament calling for the £100 maximum stakes to be cut to £2, the maximum on most fruit machines.

Con-Dem: John Leech, the Liberal Democrat MP for Chorley, say the machines are 'highly damaging' and can ruin people's lives

The vote puts the Liberal Democrats in an awkward position. The party has repeatedly raised concerns about the spread of fixed-odds terminals but Nick Clegg’s MPs are set to nod through the plans while a review on the potential harm is completed. That is not due to report until next autumn.
Lib Dem culture spokesman John Leech MP said: ‘We will not be lectured on fixed-odds betting machines by Labour. It was Labour who introduced these highly damaging and addictive gaming machines that have wreaked so much damage to people’s lives, in the face of Liberal Democrat warnings.’
The Gambling Commission report reveals chilling evidence about the rise of problem gambling.
The number of people who have ‘self-excluded’ themselves from betting shops because they can’t trust themselves to bet responsibly, has doubled over the past four years from 11,424 to 22,485.
Some 588,000 under-18s were stopped when they tried to enter a betting shop last year and a further 27,000 were challenged once they had placed a bet. In 2009, just 109,000 underage gamblers were accosted.
Ministers have come under pressure from the gambling industry to keep the stakes and prizes the same.
Fixed-odds terminals represent 51 per cent of betting shop profits and 67 per cent of the profits from all betting terminals.
There are more than 33,000 of the machines in betting shops, which are limited to four per outlet.
Adrian Parkinson, a spokesman for the Stop the FOBTs Campaign, said: ‘The explosion of FOBT gambling on high streets is building huge social problems in the most deprived areas. It’s down to MPs through today’s vote to block the government and deal with these addictive machines.’
Leslie Macleod-Miller of BACTA, which represents British amusement arcades, backs a cut in stakes.
He said: ‘The amusement industry supports social responsibility.’