Council leader Ravi Govindia has welcomed the announcement of a Government review into high-stakes fruit machines amid growing concerns they’re fuelling a rise in problem gambling across the country.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a review of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and the role they may be playing in driving up levels of gambling addiction.
Cllr Govindia has repeatedly voiced concerns about the spread of these machines into the high street and has been a vocal supporter of a cross-party campaign launched last year by the Local Government Association to limit the impact of betting shops and the FOBTs they often contain.
These high stakes fruit machines are viewed as particularly dangerous because they allow people to wager - and potentially lose – hundreds of pounds a minute.
Their spread, plus the proliferation of betting shops in high streets and the promotion of gambling and betting on TV screens can be traced back to The Gambling Act 2005 which liberalised the industry and removed many of the checks and controls that had previously been in place.
Cllr Govindia said: “I welcome this review and I sincerely hope that the spread of these wretched machines can be curtailed and that the harmful impact they can have on vulnerable members of our community can be eliminated.
“In my view, the Government needs to amend the 2005 Gambling Act which opened the floodgates and has encouraged the growth in betting and gambling that is now so commonplace.
“It was this legislation that that made it much harder for local authorities to oppose new betting shops and FOBT’s and which also allowed gambling companies to begin advertising so widely on TV screens.
“I welcome any Government action that limits the spread of these damaging and destructive machines – and in a perfect world the 2005 legislation would be radically changed to outlaw these high stakes machines altogether.”
Simon Blackburn, chairman of the Local Government Association's safer and stronger communities board, said: "Councils have long called for a review into gaming machine stakes, so the announcement by the government today is a significant step in the right direction.
"Councils up and down the country are worried about the number of high-stakes FOBTs and betting shops on our high streets. Someone playing on a machine can lose £100 in a matter of seconds in a single play on an FOBT. This is money many people can't afford to lose."