The Argus – Sussex gamblers are estimated to have wagered nearly £1 billion on virtual gaming machines dubbed the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ last year.
The controversial high-stake betting shop machines, on which punters can spend £100 every 20 seconds on games like virtual roulette, have been described as dangerously addictive and accounted for around half of all highstreet bookmakers’ profits last year.
Nearly £280 million was gambled on the machines in Brighton and Hove alone in 2013, according to figures from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. Of that, nearly £10 million was lost by punters and across the county a further £22 million was blown.
Labour leader Ed Milliband has called for local councils to be given new powers to ban the machines, otherwise known as Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).
And the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, spearheaded by Adrian Parkinson, a former industry employee, who helped develop the machines, is rallying Parliament to reduce the maximum stakes on FOBTs to just £2 a spin.
There are an estimated 170 FOBTs in Brighton and Hove spread across 46 licensed betting shops – including in Hove’s George Street, where there are 10 bookmaker shops.
