The Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBT) has come under fire again as a London borough has gone to court to try to stop more bookmaking shops opening in its territory.
It would be a landmark victory for Newham Council in East London if it manages to successfully oppose three more bookies’ shops opening.
Newham already has no fewer than 82 bookmakers’ shops in its six square mile borough, 12 of them from Paddy Power, which has applied for permission to open the three new ones.
Newham is arguing that bookmakers are deliberately targeting poorer areas where shops are used “primarily for gaming rather than gambling.” It is assumed that this is an attack on FOBT machines that traditionally find a home in licensed betting shops.
Newham is rejecting the Paddy Power applications on the grounds that the primary profits would come from terminals and that local authorities have limited power to fight betting shops that are increasingly being run as ‘clusters’ on high streets to circumvent planning laws. It insists that more bookies’ shops will mean more anti-social behaviour.
FOBTs now account for £1.4bn in sales in the UK, up 40 per cent since 2008, and represent around half of the profit made by bookmakers.
