According to a report that has been recently published, the punters in the region of Black Country and Staffordshire spent about £250,000,000 on fixed odds machines over the last year. The amount of money lost on the same betting machines in the region amount to about £45 million.
The increased number of punters using such machines and the great amount of money spent on such machines have provoked some discussions on the matter. At the beginning of September this year, the British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a review of the machines, insisting on tighter control and regulation.
The above-mentioned report included data compiled over the past twelve months in the bookmakers’ industry and officially released by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG). According to the data presented in the report, the amount of fixed odds betting terminals located in the region of Black Country and Staffordshire has increased by 3.7% over the last 12 months.
Only in Staffordshire, the amount of money gambled on such machines was estimated to a total of £81,841,698, while the money lost surpassed £16 million. The residents of Sandwell have gambled £44,880,932 on bookmakers’ fixed odds machines, with losses amounting to around £9 million. The citizens of Wolverhampton, on the other hand, have placed bets of £37 million, while they lost £7.4 million.
The 34 fixed betting odds terminals on the territory of Dudley gathered total bets amounting to £31,680,658, with losses of £6.3 million. In Walsall, the stake figure was reported to amount to £30,800,639, with losses of £6.1 million.
The gamblers in the area were reported to have spent the massive amount of money on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) over a period of twelve months. The fixed odds betting machines can normally be found in any betting shop on the territory of the UK and allow players to place their bets on the eventual outcome of a variety of games and events that feature fixed odds.
These terminals were first introduced in the country in 2001. Currently, they give punters the chance to put a stake of up to £100 every 20 seconds. They feature a large amount of popular casino games, including blackjack, roulette and fruit machines.
Recently, the increasing number of punters choosing to wager on the fixed odds betting terminals have raised some concerns. The staggering amount of money spent on such machines have pushed some local authorities and Members of Parliament from the area to insist on stricter regulation and tighter control on the terminals’ use.
- Author
Daniel Williams
