Closing high street betting shops will not make problem gambling go away
Punitive action by government risks losing all the progress that has been made by local bookies, argues Donald Morrison
These are tricky times for the high street retailer. Retail sales in July rose by just 0.9 per cent according to the British Retail Consortium, while the Office of National Statistics reports retail sales growing at their slowest pace since 2013.
Our high streets are facing the squeeze from online retailing and the growth of out of town shopping centres. Countless high street names, like Woolworths, BHS, HMV and Comet have all gone to the wall in recent years.
Of course, high street bookies are not immune from such pressures. Rising costs and changing consumer preferences have seen hundreds of betting shops close, including dozens in Scotland. There are now almost half as many betting shops as there were in the 1970s and smaller independent bookies, many of them family run, have been particularly badly hit.
The high street bookie nevertheless remains an important part of the retail mix. A stalwart of our high streets since the early 1960s, they continue to add to the vibrancy of our towns and cities, generating business for other retailers and providing a safe environment where people can gamble responsibly in shops that are tightly regulated and staffed by trained professionals.
Betting shops also make an important contribution to Exchequer revenues, jobs and business rates. In Scotland alone, bookies contribute more than £110 million in taxes and rates and employ 5,000 people. Many of our staff have worked in the industry for decades.
Betting shops are also leading the effort to tackle problem gambling, both in shops and in their communities.
Fortunately, problem gambling in Scotland is low, at 0.7 per cent. But it’s an issue ABB – the trade body for betting shops – takes extremely seriously. We don’t want problem gamblers in betting shops. We want people to spend only what they can afford.
Bookmakers have made huge strides in recent years in their efforts to tackle problem gambling. Several new measures have been introduced, including mandatory time and spend alerts on gaming machines, a nationwide multi-operator self-exclusion scheme and new player awareness technology that allows shop staff to monitor player activity for signs of potentially problematic behaviour.
Our work isn’ t just confined to shops. Earlier this year, we launched an outreach project aimed at secondary school pupils. Research shows that young people who gamble are more likely to become problem gamblers as adults; so, over the past few months, we have been working with addiction specialists to highlight the risks associated with problem gambling among young people. To date, more than 1,000 pupils–in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverness–have participatedin the project. the campaign will resume in the autumn when we hope to reach out tom anymore young people across the country.
This summer we also launched a responsible gambling campaign in the Merkinch neighbourhood of Inverness, working with local charities to raise awareness about problem gambling and offer counselling support. This is the first community-based responsible gambling campaign of its kind and we intend to roll out similar initiatives across Scotland.
Despite the rapid growth of online gambling, bookies have remained relevant because they have adapted, embracing technology to provide more choice and a better customer service. Punters can increasingly bet in shops on sporting events around the world at the touch of a button. Betting shops are no longer the dreary, smoke-filled gambling dens they were 50 years ago. They’re modern, well-maintained retail units.
But the industry is facing an uncertain future as the government considers whether to reduce stakes on gaming machines. Since the General Election, anti betting shop campaigners have renewed their calls for a maximum£2 stake on gaming machines in bookmakers (known as FOBTS). They argue that FOBTS are uniquely addictive and that stakes should be capped in order to reduce harm.
But, FOBTS have been in betting shops for more than 15 years and problem gambling has remained static during this period. Furthermore, the narrow focus on FOBTS masks the fact that spending on other forms of gambling is significantly higher. Lotteries account for 27 per cent of total gambling spend, almost twice as much as FOBTS. However, lotteries are not subject to the