The Campaign for Fairer Gambling has again voiced its criticism of a report by the Association of British Bookmakers that claimed deprived areas in the UK have the lowest number of betting shops. The group accused the ABB of attempted to “mislead” the public by publishing a report carried out by the Local Data Company in which it suggested that betting shops do not target deprived areas.

Last month, the Campaign carried out its own research in which it claimed that even when controlling for population density, there are more than twice the number of betting shops in the poorest areas compared to the most affluent. The group also pointed out that neither the ABB or Local Data Company had published its methodology or the report in full and said any research commissioned by the bookmakers is likely to be “seriously flawed”.

Earlier this week, iGaming Business reported that the Campaign also hit out at the ABB’s claims about how a planned tax increase and lowering of the maximum betting stake on fixed odd betting terminals (FOBTs) could negatively impact the UK gambling industry.

Last month, the government announced the tax rate of FOBTs would increase to 25% while many have also called for the maximum stake on these machines to be reduced from £100 to £2. The government is also keen to make voluntary warnings introduced under a code of conduct by the ABB to become tougher and mandatory.

The ABB claimed up to 7,800 betting shops would close and around 39,000 jobs would be lost across the industry if such measures were be to introduced.

In response, the Campaign published a report by Nera Econominc Consulting in which it said the impact has been “significantly overstated” and the effect could be as low as 700 shop closures and instead lead to a net increase of 2,400 jobs in the wider economy.

Read more about the issues affection the Association of British Bookmakers at iGaming Business.