Fat chance of betting reform
I grew up listening to Tina Turner and even today there’s nothing more likely to lure me on to the dancefloor than the opening bars of Proud Mary or Nutbush City Limits.
Her enduring career, that unmistakable sexy growl and her triumph over personal tragedy combine to make her a true icon.
So I can’t wait to see the new stage production of Tina the Musical. She is, and always will be, simply the best. This week the Gambling Commission recommended that the maximum stake on highly addictive Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) should be reduced to £30. On Talkradio this week I spoke to Matt Zarb-Cousin, from Fairer Gambling, who likened these machines to crack cocaine, and would like to see them banned. There is clear evidence that FOBTs exploit the vulnerable, allowing them to gamble up to £100 every 20 seconds on roulette and blackjack terminals. But because these machines rake in around £1.8billion per year for bookies and around £700million in taxes, Matt thinks there is no appetite for axing them, even though they ruin lives. So instead he is calling for cutting the maximum stake to £2 and reducing the maximum number of machines in a betting shop from four to one. Those measures sound so reasonable you’d think the Government would be certain to adopt them. But given the vested interests at play here, I reckon the odds are about the same as winning on a FOBT.