The Labour party is to use an opposition day debate today to urge the government to take action on fixed odds betting terminals located in licensed betting offices.
Last month, Labour leader Ed Miliband announced plans to pass legislation - if the party is elected - to provide local councils with the powers to control the number of betting shops and FOBTs in their areas. The government, it claimed, has failed to address the issue, despite calls for the stake on such machines to be reduced.
“Over recent months, we’ve seen the Tories and Lib Dems posturing on fixed odds betting machines, but totally failing to act,” said Shadow Minister for Sport Clive Efford. “This week, Labour is calling a vote in parliament to give local people the power to pull the plug on these gambling machines. If the Tories and Lib Dems refuse to back Labour’s proposals they’ll have to answer why they are standing up for the large betting companies rather than communities across the country.”
Welcoming the news, Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said that the government should not wait to take action until “time-consuming research is delivered.”
“Generally, if a product is suspected of causing harm, it is removed from the market while research is carried out to ensure it is not harmful before being made available again. FOBTs are not just suspected of causing harm, there is empirical evidence that proves they are the most addictive form of gambling. The law of the land, the 2005 Gambling Act, requires the prevention of harm to the young and vulnerable as a licencing objective – but bookmakers’ FOBTs are breaching that objective.
“We are very pleased to see that the Labour party is pushing ahead with this issue and putting pressure on the government to take action sooner rather than later. The government has enough evidence to justify a precautionary reduction in the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2, in line with all other gaming machines in the UK.”
