It’s a fashionable and long-held belief that some UK betting shops prey on the poor. High street betting shops spring up in deprived areas, says received wisdom, in order to exploit those already suffering from economic hardship. Leading bookmaking companies – such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power – have always strongly denied this, and a new report seems to bear them out, suggesting that the “poverty exploitation” theory is a myth.

The independent report, which was conducted by data analyst the Local Data Company at the behest of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), concludes the UK’s poorest areas actually have a much lower concentration of betting shops than more affluent areas. The study found that areas identified as having high levels of deprivation host 17 percent of the country’s high street bookmakers, while 35 percent of shops are found those areas identified as the wealthiest. Meanwhile, 62 percent of all UK betting shops are found in areas with lower-than-average poverty levels.

The report also found that newer UK betting shops, rather than appearing in poor areas, have actually been concentrated in the least-deprived areas, because, simply put, prosperous parts of the country are more profitable because customers have more money. There is no economic incentive, therefore, to target the vulnerable. “There is nothing in the data to suggest that bookmakers deliberately target poor and vulnerable people,” said Local Data Company director Matthew Hopkinson. “Our analysis shows new shop openings are primarily in towns with low and average deprivation scores – not in the poorest areas.”

ABB chief executive Dirk Vennix said he hoped the findings would “dispel some damaging myths propagated by those trying to demonize and toxify our industry.” This story on UK betting shops and the misplaced assumption that they target the less fortunate originally appeared on Casino.org