Glasgow’s Gamblers Bet Over £500,000 Per Day on FOBTs

A city council study into the impact of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals on Glasgow has found that gamblers are betting over £500,000 on the machines every day.

The city is home to around 800 machines in more than 200 bookies and gamblers are betting over £200 million on them every year. After the study was released campaigning Labour MP Tom Greatrex said that the study shows that the machines are “dominating high streets across Scotland.”

The study is thought to be the first in Britain to try and measure the impact on a city of the machines. While the study doesn’t call for a ban on the machines, it does warn that current regulation isn’t working and a new approach is needed.

Glasgow’s leaders are now hoping that the Scottish Government will give them the same powers that councils in England are soon to have, the ability to use planning powers to prevent the clustering of betting shops in high streets. Furthermore, many are calling for the maximum bet on the machines to be decreased from £100 to £2.