£30m lost on the ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling City punters flush away huge sums on betting terminals
BIRMINGHAM punters lost more than £30 million in just one year on machines labelled the “crack cocaine of gambling”.
The fixed odds betting terminals have become a huge revenue driver for bookmakers, offering video roulette and other sports to bet cash on.
Now new figures have shown punters at Birmingham’s 712 betting shops lost £31,545,000 on the machines last year – worse only in the UK to Glasgow.
Birmingham’s New Street was previously ranked as the fifth worst area for the losses, with punters frittering away more than £1.6 million.
The touchscreen machines offer scores of casino games including roulette, letting gamblers stake up to £100 on the spin of a wheel.
The casino-style games machines have earned their nickname as being the crack cocaine of gambling.
Campaigners want a law limiting the maximum stake to as low as £2 to reduce the impact on gamblers.
The Government is currently carrying out a review on gaming machines. Bookmakers claim a reduction in stakes on the machines would force shops to close and leave thousands of people out of work.
A former gambling addict revealed how he blew £200,000 in ten years after becoming hooked on fixed odds betting terminals.
Simon Perfitt, 60, went from a well-paid job to living on benefits after he started playing the machines – blowing up to £3,000 per day. The businessman had led a lavish lifestyle back in 2001, working in the e-commerce sector which allowed him to own a Porsche.
He had also just moved in with a new girlfriend.
But Mr Perfitt, from Dudley, lost it all after becoming addicted to playing roulette on the fixed odds machines.
He said: “These fixed odds betting terminals destroy you. I became addicted instantly after a friend who played the machines asked me to pop into a bookies one day and have a go. After that, all I thought about all day was gambling. I worked to go on these machines and could spend up to 12 hours a day in there.
“I used to get up early and go in to the bookies before I went to work, at lunchtime and would go straight into one after work. Within 10 years I had lost £200,000, a relationship and my home as well.”
Bacta, the trade association for the UK’s amusement and gaming machine industry, is currently campaigning to get the machine stakes reduced from a maximum of £100 per spin to £20. John White, chief executive of Bacta, said: “FOBTs are hardcore gambling machines, wholly unsuitable for high-street venues, and expose everyday punters to the risk of gambling harm.”