Now Church says: Don’t go soft on ‘crack cocaine’ betting machines
THE Church of England yesterday begged the Chancellor not to abandon a clampdown on High Street betting machines branded ‘the crack cocaine of gambling’.
A senior bishop warned Philip Hammond that there was alarm in the Church over signals that the Treasury had halted plans to slash the stakes gamblers can pump into the machines.
There are now almost 35,000 fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in the country and gamblers can bet £100 every 20 seconds, making it easy to rack up thousands of pounds in losses on the touchscreen machines that offer casino-style games such as roulette.
The machines have been linked to addiction and money-laundering.
A review backed by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was aimed at reducing maximum stakes to £2 – but the Treasury fears doing so could mean losing £400million a year.
The Bishop of St Albans, the Right Reverend Alan Smith, wrote to the Chancellor yesterday to warn of ‘concern’.
He told Mr Hammond: ‘I would be grateful for reassurance that the review will publish this autumn as planned, and that proposals to curb the effects of FOBTs will feature within it.’
The Church’s parliament, the General Synod, called for FOBT stakes to be cut from £100 to £2 earlier this year.
The bishop said: ‘Clergy and congregations are providing frontline support for a great many vulnerable people who are at risk of gambling-related harm, and whose lives are often blighted by the presence of FOBTs on our high streets. They see daily the effects of the £1.82billion that was lost on these machines last year.’
He said he understood the pressure on public finances but added that, given the levels of harm caused by the machines, the review should be published to prompt a public debate.
Last week a Whitehall source said the Treasury feared that cutting the stake to £2 would be ‘financially crippling’.
Since the Government lost its majority in June’s general election, several other r revenue-raising measures have been abandoned, including pledges to cut free school meals and winter fuel payments, a as well as a move to reform social care.
Government borrowing has also risen t this year, putting pressure on Mr Hamm mond to keep the purse strings tight.
Critics say FOBTs are disproportiona ately found in poorer areas.
Figures published in May revealed that on more than 650 occasions gamblers have blown more than £5,000 on FOBTs in just a year, while players lost £1,000 on 233,071 occasions.
The Daily Mail has led the way in highlighting the harm caused by the machines, demanding action to protect the vulnerable.
The total amount that has been lost on FOBTs has soared by 73 per cent since 2009, despite the number of machines rising by only 9 per cent to 34,388 over the same period.