Liverpool Echo – Liverpool city centre is officially one of the UK’s gambling hotspots. Research by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling has found that Williamson Square and its immediate surroundings has one of the highest densities of betting shops in the country.
The 500 square metre area has the third highest concentration of any town centre with at least seven bookies, the campaign said. And city leaders say the area also boasts a number of payday loans companies and pawn shops.
While traditional over-the-counter betting on horses and dogs is still big business for bookies, fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTS) are becoming ever more popular. Campaigners and politicians fear the machines – the so-called ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ which allow people to stake up to £300 a minute – are having a devastating effect on already hard-up communities.
A Campaign for Fairer Gambling spokesman said: “We reported last month that across Liverpool £636 million was gambled on FOBTs in 2013. “The addictive nature of these machines is what is driving betting shops today.
“Bookmakers are no longer interested in what should be the core business – sports and race betting. Instead they have developed a commercial strategy centred entirely on these gaming machines and places like Liverpool are paying the price. High speed, high stake casino content on gaming machines should never have been allowed to proliferate in easily accessible and weakly regulated betting shops.”
A high-level delegation from William Hill recently visited Liverpool for a summit with city leaders including Central ward Councillor Nick Small. He has been an outspoken campaigner against FOBTs.
While William Hill says it believes there is room for changes to planning laws to allow councils to limit the number of bookies in a particular area, they do not accept the argument that FOBTs are a cause of gambling addiction.
