The situation with betting shops around the UK becomes hotter and hotter. Last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed that it took part in a joint operation with the Scottish Police at some betting shops in Falkirk.
There were two purposes of the action in which the main regulatory authority of the UK took part in – to help the local Police train its officers on properly inspecting premises that hold gambling licences and to make betting shop staff better aware of the risks of gambling-related crimes.
The Programme Director of the Britain’s regulatory body Helen Venn commented on the initiative, describing the action as just one of the number of similar operations the UK Gambling Commission had conducted over the past twelve months on the territory of Scotland. According to Ms. Venn, the operation had been used in order for the regulatory authority to target a range of eventual gambling offences.
Ms. Venn also revealed that the UK Gambling Commission had undertaken almost 200 proactive compliance inspections of premises that hols gambling licences in Scotland. The operations had often included the participation of licensing standards officers and police officers, as well as representatives of other agencies.
The UKGC’s Programme Director also explained that the Britain’s gambling regulatory body remained focused on cooperation and collaboration with its partners in order to make sure fairness and transparency in gambling operations in the country. The Commission was also aimed at qualitative prevention to protect children and more vulnerable individuals from the negative effects that gambling activities could inflict.
Recently, the betting shops, and especially the so-called fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in the country have been put under a lot of criticism. However, over the past year, the number of high street bookmakers on the territory of Scotland has declined not only because of tight scrutiny and regulatory measures, but also due to the fact that bigger chains proved to be stronger than small independent firms. In addition, a large number of punters preferred online betting than using the services of a retail betting shop.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of British Bookmakers Malcolm George then revealed that the economic conditions over the past several years had been found particularly stiff by independent bookies that suffered from the unfavourable environment.
A few months ago, the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) published a report announcing that the number of off-course betting shops in the north was reduced from 1,070 three years ago to 996. The online gambling market of Scotland was estimated to £1.7 billion on an annual basis in the UK. As the ABB revealed, the market is currently dominated by a number of major betting brands.
According to a report by the UK Gambling Commission, approximately 65% of adults on the territory of Scotland and England have been involved in gambling activities over the past year. The percentage is reduced to about 43% when the people who gambled on the National Lottery only are excluded.
The problems for independent bookmakers started a few years ago, and deepened with the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. In 2014, the Campaign reported that at that time there was one bookmaker for around every 2,458 adults in Glasgow, with the betting shops there totalling 205. Edinburgh held 95 licensed betting shops at the time.
As Casino Guardian has reported over the past few months, the FOBTs have become one of the most discussed topics within the UK gambling industry. Last year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a general call for evidence targeting the fixed-odds betting machines in local betting outlets. The review covered England, Wales and Scotland and was aimed at helping the DCMS to review FOBTs in terms of stakes and prizes granted to players.
In November 2016, the Government of the UK was pushed to consider the change of delegating some of its powers to local governments, and more specifically to the government of Wales in order to entitle it with the power to restrict the number of FOBTs in the region. This is a prerogative of the centralised Government, but the latter has earlier decided to delegate some of its powers related to gambling issues to the government of Scotland.
- Author
Daniel Williams
