The gambling industry has been accused of focusing these roulette machines (known as fixed-odds betting terminals, or FOBTs) in the UK’s poorer areas, reaping enormous financial rewards in the process. We look at the evidence on those claims.
How much do companies earn from fixed-odds machines?
The Gambling Commission, using data provided by bookmakers, estimated there were 33,284 FOBTs in betting shops located across the UK in 2012. The declared gross profit from these machines was £1.42bn last year, meaning the average weekly profit per machine was £825, up from £760 in 2011.
How much does the government earn from fixed-odds machines?
Last month, HMRC also published statistics on how much the government earns from betting taxes. The figures are considerable – in 2012-13, the government received £1.7bn in betting and gaming duties, representing 0.4% of all HMRC revenue. For comparison, HMRC earnt £26.6bn from fuel duty and £41bn from corporation tax during the same period.
£831m comes from lottery duties and £75m from bingo – but the total government revenue from machine games is currently nil. A tax on these machines was not introduced until 1 February 2013, so no revenues have yet been recorded from this mode of gaming.
Where is gambling most popular?
An analysis for the Guardian last year found that northern, urban cities and London boroughs with high levels of unemployment bet four times more on gambling machines than richer rural areas in southern England where jobless numbers are low.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling has mapped the trends in the interactive below. Type in your postcode in the search box below and the results will show you the number of bookmakers, FOBTs and the gross yield of these machines within your constituency or local authority.
There were 9,128 operating betting shops in 2012 with an average of 3.65 fixed-odds machines each.
Interactive produced by Campaign for Fairer Gambling
Which methods of gambling are the most popular?
Four times a year, the Gambling Commission takes a survey of more than 4,000 adults whose demographics are representative of the UK as a whole. In the latest survey, bingo and lottery draws are the most popular form of gambling – but the trends look very different based on frequency.
Click on the headings in the chart below to compare how often people bet in different ways. Virtual gaming machines in a bookmakers are the third most popular form of gambling for those who do so more than twice a week.
Who gambles?
The Gambling Commission regularly conducts surveys to find out about British gambling habits. They ask respondents if they have participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous four weeks. The latest results show that 55% of the UK gambles, down from 57% in 2012.
But people aged 18 to 24 buck the downward trend; they are now almost 5% more likely to gamble than they were a year ago.
source : www.theguardian.com
