Punters across south-east London and north Kent lost more than £350m gambling on fixed odd betting terminals from 2008 to 2016.
Figures released by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, based on the Gambling Commission’s Industry Statistics from November 2016, showed that in 2016 alone punters lost more than £53m to these machines.
These figures take into account regional variations based on data from the Responsible Gambling Trust (now GambleAware) and betting shop mapping by Geofutures from June 2016.
A spokesman for Fairer Gambling said: “They are only estimates, but they are about as accurate as it gets.”
Across Lewisham, Greenwich, Bromley, Bexley and Dartford, there are 213 betting shops and 769 FOBTs with £362,441,691 lost to these machines in nine years. Lewisham has the most with 63 betting shops and 227 FOBTs.
Punters can currently stake up to £100 every 20 seconds on the machines, and campaigners are arguing to significantly reduce that to help combat the effects of gambling addictions.
A long-awaited review into FOBTs, which took a record £1.8billion nationwide last year, was delayed until the autumn.
A spokesman for Fairer Gambling said: “These figures reveal the shocking scale of the havoc FOBTs are causing on Britain's high streets. The bizarre experiment to allow high stakes casino gambling in betting shops has failed. Enough is enough. The government must commit to reducing the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2 a spin when they respond to the review in October.”
The breakdown of figures by each borough is below.
Lewisham
- Number of betting shops: 63
- Number of FOBTs: 227
- Cash inserted in 2016: £62,567,885
- Amount gambled in 2016: £336,386,474
- Amount lost in 2016: £15,641,971
- Cumulative amount lost 2008-2016: £105,972,009
Greenwich
- Number of betting shops: 54
- Number of FOBTs: 195
- Cash inserted in 2016: £54,622,757
- Amount gambled in 2016: £293,670,732
- Amount lost in 2016: £13,655,689
- Cumulative amount lost 2008-2016: £92,515,246
Bexley
- Number of betting shops: 37
- Number of FOBTs: 134
- Cash inserted in 2016: £38,732,500
- Amount gambled in 2016: £208,239,246
- Amount lost in 2016: £9,683,125
- Cumulative amount lost 2008-2016: £65,601,721
Dartford
- Number of betting shops: 11
- Number of FOBTs: 40
- Cash inserted in 2016: £9,405,394
- Amount gambled in 2016: £50,566,634
- Amount lost in 2016: £2,351,349
- Cumulative amount lost 2008-2016: £15,930,037
Bromley
- Number of betting shops: 48
- Number of FOBTs: 173
- Cash inserted in 2016: £48,663,911
- Amount gambled in 2016: £261,633,925
- Amount lost in 2016: £12,165,978
- Cumulative amount lost 2008-2016: £82,422,678
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel