Since around 2001 there has been a new avenue for gamblers across the United Kingdom to get their fill of risk and excitement, but unfortunately for some these fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) have also been responsible for some of the greatest single session losses within the industry. These betting shops with fixed odds betting terminals at the ready for the most “hardcore” of gamblers within the country of Great Britain have seen exciting returns with more than 96% of all losses greater than 1000 pounds being linked to the machines.
A FOBT is actually a pretty simple machine found in betting shops throughout the region, and they allow a variety of wagers on games such as roulette, bingo, horse and greyhound racing as well as slot machine variants. The most popular game played is by far roulette with a max return of 500 pounds which could be won through a £14 bet on a single number. It is all fun and games, except that these machines can often be magnets for violence which keeps the police in the areas busy responding to calls by the operators.
In any case, the major session losses have been tracked for some time now, and the number of sessions with losses greater than £1000 has peaked at around 230,000 per year as of lately. The ability to play higher stakes on a fixed odds betting terminal is a major factor because they allow maximum wagers of £100 while almost all of the other machines allow a minuscule in comparison gamble of only £2. This marks them as a significant impetus in the social and financial destruction that gambling addiction can cause in individual lives as well as throughout the region. There are so many who, for example, try to use gambling as a quick way out of financial straits, and it only ensconces them deeper into a despair which can often cause them to pursue criminal activity such as robbery and theft as the only foreseeable way to meet responsibilities.
It is this gambling addiction problem and the FOBT influence which has many organizations looking to make the world a better place by implementing measures to help those who cannot help themselves. BACTA (the British Amusement Catering Trade Association) has a strong leader in John White, and he is one such personality who is looking to bring to like the darker side of these terminals and betting shops. He and BACTA president Jason Frost are both campaigning against allowing such machines to be in everyday high-traffic areas where they can easily be the impetus for major losses those most prone to addiction throughout the country.
According to him, punters need to have limits enforced that will not allow them to so quickly encounter the major losses that so many of these FOBTs are allowing throughout the region. This is the “crack cocaine” of gambling machines and as such these shops with up to four placed in their floor space are feeding a serious illness.
