The
Campaign for Fairer Gamblingestimates of Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT) activity for 2013, covered extensively by the
Guardianand other media outlets, showed that FOBT revenue is disproportionately generated from the most deprived areas. The Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) retaliated by publishing an article on its website entitled: “Gambling industry issues warning about
Campaign for Fairer Gamblingdata", claiming to have shared its concern with sections of the Government, MPs and media.
Once more the ABB is willing to make commercially motivated, false and malicious statements to preserve the FOBT status quo and discredit the Campaign. The ABB article states that the
Campaignis "inflating participation levels and stake amounts in a number of the most deprived areas, while deflating those in a number of the least deprived areas."
The reality is, as the
public explanation of the figuresshows, the
Campaignapplied regional weightings based on historical data. The only areas of the country which were weighted higher are London, the South East and the South West - the wealthiest regions, whilst all other regions - the poorest - were weighted lower - exactly the opposite of what the ABB is claiming about the Campaign.
The DCMS is relying on the ABB to implement its latest Code of Conduct - ten years after its first failed Code that allowed us to reach the situation we are in today. The Gambling Commission has not endorsed the Code as it is not evidence-based,
as confirmed to Graham Jones MP. Any tightening of the Code will still not be evidence-based and, as DCMS relies on the Gambling Commission for advice, we trust that DCMS will not endorse the Code.
The ABB has requested a meeting with the Prime Minister claiming that the tax increase to 25% would have a "catastrophic" effect on the horse racing levy, but they have not provided any evidence to support this claim. A betting shop customer will not stop betting simply because they have eight betting shops to choose from in their town centre instead of nine.
Another claim made without any evidence to substantiate, is that illegal gambling will increase if FOBTs are restricted. However, they fail to point out that the introduction of FOBTs just over a decade ago had no impact on illegal gambling related to organized crime. There was no illegal B2 gambling before FOBTs, no record of any since and unlikely to be in the future.
Questions we urge the Prime Minister to ask of the bookmakers are:
1.Can you show me a list of all new shop openings over the last several years so that I can see definitively whether you target deprived areas?
2.Can you tell me which companies are, or have been, subject to Gambling Commission investigation regarding money-laundering that has not yet been made public?
3.Can you explain to me how if “70% of FOBT gamblers lose an average of £7.55 per session and gamble less than once a month” as you say, then, as this equates to less than £100 million per year, who are the 30% of FOBT gamblers losing the other £1.4 billion, and how much each on average are they losing per year?
At the same time the FOBT suppliers have requested a meeting with Helen Grant at DCMS. The
Campaignurges Helen Grant to ask the suppliers the following:
1.Last year the Gambling Commission reported 8,599 criminal acts in betting shops requiring Police assistance, but as many people are now aware, due to operators encouraging non-reporting of these incidents, this figure is grossly under-reported. Can you provide statistics showing the volume of FOBTs damaged in betting shops?
2.Can you provide the DCMS and the Gambling Commission with full access to all FOBT data? (The research which was supposed to be data-based has not resulted in any Government access to data.)
There are three immediate new sources of evidence that government should consider before making any decisions on FOBTs.
Currently the Government intends to rely on Responsible Gambling Trust research.
A Fair Game reportpublished by Goldsmiths University, explains how industry funded research should not be relied upon.
Currently the Government purports to understand the economic consequences of FOBT restrictions.
A NERAreport published by the Campaign explains how the true risk to bookmakers of FOBT restrictions has been dramatically overstated by the ABB.
A
video by the Guardian revealscontinued FOBT money laundering, betting shop managers’ dissatisfaction, shop clustering in deprived areas and insider data from Ladbrokes.
The Government will look foolish continuing with the proposed leaked announcements as they have not had time to take this evidence on board.
Derek Webb is the Founder of the
Campaign for Fairer Gambling
.