Daily Mail – Gamblers wagered a staggering £46billion on betting terminals last year – nearly 50 per cent up in four years.
Dubbed the ‘crack cocaine’ of the high street, the machines allow punters to lose up to £100 every 20 seconds. They have been linked to the laundering of drugs money and councils are trying to rein them in.
But Gambling Commission figures show that bookmakers raked in profits of £1.55billion from the terminals between April 2012 and March 2013. It also found that more than 600,000 children were either stopped in – or trying to enter – betting shops last year, six times as many as in 2009.
The House of Commons will vote today on whether to reduce the stakes and prizes from the fixed-odds machines. ‘They’re a menace to every high street,’ said Tom Watson, a leading Labour MP.
‘The Government has it in their power to act. We hope to persuade them this is now an urgent matter.
‘David Cameron has voiced his concern about the damaging affects of these high stake machines.
‘MPs have the opportunity to send a clear signal that they expect ministers to take a precautionary approach by lowering the stake values from £100 to £2 on this category of machines.’
The Gambling Commission figures show bookmakers typically take a profit of around 3.4 per cent from the fixed-odds machines, which allow punters to play games such as roulette.
