3 ms·

It was far better in the UK before the massive deregulation of gambling. It has gone much too far. Our poorest areas have high streets with 4 or 5 betting shop

It was far better in the UK before the massive deregulation of gambling. It has gone much too far. Our poorest areas have high streets with 4 or 5 betting shops in spitting distance of each other. Addiction and problem gambling has snowballed out of hand. The self exclusion scheme is widely abused by bookmakers. The levy on betting shops pays lip service to the damage done. Fixed odds betting machines are a licence to addict the public whilst printing money. I don't wish to abolish gambling, but I sure wish the regulations simply returned to those of the 80s or early 90s (i.e. before Tony Blair broke it).

jdietrich 9y ago
The singular problem is FOBTs. Pretty much everyone in the industry hates them, except of course for the big four bookmakers who profit from them. They're the reason for the absurd over-concentration of betting shops in certain areas, they're the reason for the failure of self-exclusion, they're killing the racing industry and they're a gift to petty money-launderers. As a gambler, I can't stand them - local betting shops used to be rather convivial places, but FOBTs have completely poisoned the atmosphere. It's looking near-certain that the maximum stake for FOBTs will be reduced to £2, which is a reasonable starting point. The big four bookies are extremely nervous about the upcoming triennial review of gambling regulation, which is good news for everyone else. https://sbcnews.co.uk/retail/2018/01/22/dcms-deliver-uk-bookmakers-2-fobt-nightmare-scenario/ https://sbcnews.co.uk/retail/2018/01/22/dcms-deliver-uk-book...