Betcha we gotcha

Bookies set to lose fight over £2 spin limit

ONE of my all-time favourite stories – which I’m assured is true – goes like this.

A bloke in a betting shop starts gambling on the football and gets 20 out of 20 results wrong.

He then does the same for the rugby. Bets on every match. Loses the lot.

Has a horse in every race. They all lose. Then he bets on the cricket. Then the golf. Same again.

Finally his mate says: “Who do you fancy for the tennis tonight?”

And the bloke shakes his head and says: “Nah. Wouldn’t touch it. Don’t know anything about tennis.”

It never used to be unusual to hear the sound of laughter when you walked past a bookies.

Families

But times have changed and the atmosphere in betting shops has become quite different.

For years now the Sunday People has campaigned against FOBTs – fixed-odds betting machines.

Known as the crack cocaine of gambling, they devour money at an incredible rate, £100 a spin. They are used to launder money. Britain is the only developed country that allows these machines on the High Street.

I was invited to a parliamentary committee session investigating FOBTs. The evidence came from half a dozen people whose lives had been ruined by FOBTs.

They had lost houses, jobs, families. We’ve also had readers getting in touch with their own stories. Martin from Glasgow said: “It soon became clear playing the FOBTs that with the speed of play they were highly addictive. I was hooked and stayed hooked for 13 years. “I was a taxi driver working with cash earning £80 to £100 daily. It was gone in minutes. “The destruction had begun with all the lies and mistrust. Having to fund this addiction soon took away all rational thinking.” Now the Government has signalled it is about to do the right thing and reduce the stake to a maximum £2. It’s what the Sunday People has been campaigning for. And we’re not alone.

Almost two thirds of MPs, 93 local authorities, the General Synod, the Royal Society of Public Health and many, many other agencies all agree.

The only group who have fought the change are the bookies, who claim it will shut shops and cost jobs.

But the real reason is that it will cost them money. John White, from the gambling trade association BACTA, pointed out these multinational companies can easily absorb the impact of stakes going down to £2.

He makes the point that gambling has been going on profitably for centuries while FOBTs have been around for only 15 years.

And there should be no resistance to the imminent ruling, despite lastditch attempts from the bookies. So expect the announcement shortly. Although, when it comes to this Government, there is no such thing as a sure thing.