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By BAE Systems Plc

FOBTs - Fairly Obvious ‘Barnacles’ on Tories

Campaign for Fairer Gambling | Campaign for Fairer Gambling

4 min read Partner content

Roulette machines still an issue after Government’s “light touch” proposals according to the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.

The Tories re-election strategist, Lynton Crosby, knows the benefits of “ getting the barnacles off the boat”. This means avoiding going into an election with outstanding issues that will hurt the party.

However, the media was unimpressed with the Coalition’s recent proposed measures to “deal with” fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs), as it was clear they had misjudged the public mood. A YouGov pollshowed that 73% of voters favour a FOBT stake reduction, with a split by party of 80% Labour, 75% Lib Dem, 74% UKIP and 69% Conservatives.

A Populus pollof MPs released in May showed that 53% of all MPs agree that more regulation and direct monitoring of operators is needed when it comes to responsible gambling. However, when broken down by party, 88% of Lib Dem MPs, 76% of Labour MPs and only 25% of Conservative MPs think gambling needs more regulation. Regarding FOBTs specifically, 81% of Labour MPs think they are dangerously addictive compared to only 45% of Conservative MPs.

In part, this disparity could be due to the fact that many Tory MPs are from wealthier areas, which are less impacted by the negative aspects of FOBTs. Overall though, the contrast shows how out of touch Conservative MPs are on FOBTs, not just with their parliamentary counterparts, but also the wider public and even their own supporters.

Prior to the recent Ministerial announcement, the Government could always blame FOBTs on Labour and the 2005 Gambling Act. But, now that the Prime Minister has "had a proper look" and "taken action" the Tories have validated FOBTs at £100 a spin, with no basis of promised research or empirical evidence to support its decision.

So, in the face of economic scare tactics from the bookmakers and their flawed representations, the Conservatives have made the same mistake Labour did in 2005. They cannot claim to be correcting Labour’s mistakes.

It should always be remembered that no government was willing to regulate bookmakers until the 2005 Gambling Act, leading to a sector culture which enabled the illegal introduction of FOBTs to start with.

Also, Labour had virtually none of the FOBT evidence base in 2005 that the government has today, so the Tories now own the FOBT issue.

Meanwhile, the Campaign will continue to expose the bookmakers misleading activities and the establishment incompetence in dealing with FOBTs. In a recent letter to Helen Grant MP at DCMS, we explained some of the more obvious dangers of relying on the pending research. Attachments to the letter included advice on how data can be used to identify FOBT money-launderingand how the focus of FOBT research should be on FOBT roulette, which accounts for over 70% of the FOBT profits.

Another attachment is a Fact Check. This is a Campaign rebuttal of the misleading claims made in a pro-FOBT document entitled "Gambling Machines in Betting Shops" which has not been made public, but is reputed to have been covertly presented to Government by the Association of British Bookmakers.

The Prime Minister has to make a definitive choice between the voting public or the gambling industry later this year, when the long-awaited Responsible Gambling Trust research is presented.

He can allow his thinking to develop along compassionate and ethical lines and consent to a reduction in maximum stake from £100 to £2 per spin. This would not be a U-turn, just the right step in the right direction towards a solution - away from the far right adulation of free markets, which fails to take into consideration any of the social and economic consequences, including problem gambling, crime and proliferation of betting shops in deprived areas.

Any other course will leave the Tory ship sailing into May 2015 with the FOBT barnacles still very much super-glued to a leaky hull.

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Read the most recent article written by Campaign for Fairer Gambling - DCMS Triennial Review of Stakes and Prizes now 'long overdue'

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