In the UK, Channel 4’s Dispatches programme is to investigate the growth in high street betting shops and the impact of fixed odds betting terminals (B2).
Airing at 8pm on Monday, August 6, the TV show’s Michael Crick is to investigate what is described as “the rise of high street gambling” in the UK and the consequences of this in terms of problem gambling. FOBTs have long been the subject of debate, with many opponents within the gaming industry itself. However, a recent report submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by a House of Commons select committee recommended that betting shops be permitted to offer more than the current maximum of four B2 machines and that adult gaming centres be allowed to offer such machines themselves. In response to these recommendations, Derek Webb, inventor of Three Card Poker and founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, criticised the report. “Already 80 per cent of turnover in betting shops is derived from gaming on FOBTs, with the remaining 20 per cent from betting over the counter,” he said. “Betting licences are being used primarily for gaming rather than betting, which is contrary to the primary activity licensing requirement. Adding more FOBTs in betting shops only makes a further mockery of the law.”
