FOBT stakes to be cut to £2 after all.

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Ardross

Senior Jockey
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So reports on Twitter suggest tonight. FOBTs are of course banned in Ireland I do not see much sign of the big bookies going bust over there .
 
Officially cut to £2 which, notwithstanding the loss of revenue to racing and negativity surrounding job losses, has to be an extremely good thing.

The sport and bookmakers survived withouth them for years and will continue to do so.

The timing could be crucial though with the recent lift of the gambling ban in the US so will companies like Hills & Paddy shift their focus into the US market?
 
I'd prefer a complete ban on them.

The stuff and nonsense about job losses is grossly exaggerated. If anyone does lose their job then that's obviously bad news for them but I wouldn't be surprised if nobody lost their job other than through a shop closure, which I am not convinced will happen.

I think I posted a couple of years ago, though, that I spoke to an area manager I happened to be sitting next to at a wedding and he said it was the puggies that were keeping the shops going. I'm not convinced. I'm more likely to believe that they keep profits up. If it takes puggies to keep shops going they should re-open the shops as machine arcades. See how long they last.
 
Three positives come out of this for bookmakers as far as I can see. 1: bookies can start to rebuild credibility with their traditional sports betting based customers 2: problem gamblers won't be lured into more problem gambling. 3. In relation to the stake, at least one positive is the firm's will almost certainly have significantly less to pay out in the short, medium and long term, with stakes of 2 pound certainly meaning they won't have to pay out a fraction of the amount that they currently do annually.
 
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I'm with Dessie they should never ever been allowed in the first place.

It was blatantly obvious there was a link to increased crime back in the 70's when they closed all the gaming machine shops in Scotland.

How on earth they got permission to install these in betting shops is beyond me.

All wrong anyway.you could put 100 quid in a machine to bet but they won't take 20 quid on a horse? BS artist the lot of them hence I go Betfair every time these days
 
Desert Orchid said:
The stuff and nonsense about job losses is grossly exaggerated. If anyone does lose their job then that's obviously bad news for them but I wouldn't be surprised if nobody lost their job other than through a shop closure, which I am not convinced will happen.

I think I posted a couple of years ago, though, that I spoke to an area manager I happened to be sitting next to at a wedding and he said it was the puggies that were keeping the shops going. I'm not convinced. I'm more likely to believe that they keep profits up. If it takes puggies to keep shops going they should re-open the shops as machine arcades. See how long they last.
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I know a manager here, and he says over 70% of their profit is from the FOTBs, but they also get sports revenue from FOTB players so he expects that to drop too.
I am sure there will be job losses, as shops will close, but they shouldn't have been allowed in the first place.

Makes me laugh though, £2 max stake on a FOTB, but you can go to online casinos and bet £5k+ on a single spin on a slot machine and lose it in seconds.
 
Marble said:
Three positives come out of this for bookmakers as far as I can see. 1: bookies can start to rebuild credibility with their traditional sports betting based customers 2: problem gamblers won't be lured into more problem gambling. 3. In relation to the stake, at least one positive is the firm's will almost certainly have significantly less to pay out in the short, medium and long term, with stakes of 2 pound certainly meaning they won't have to pay out a fraction of the amount that they currently do annually.
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I thought the problem was that most people kept playing until they lost all their money. Can understand that it will help where it comes to money laundering but as to paying out less in the long term.................... Don't understand that
 
Listening to Radio 5 now, they're asking for people who win regularly on the FOBT's to get in touch - should be interesting to learn the secrets of their success :blink:
 
Well in theory what I mean is...If the staking goes from 100 to 2 pound, that's proportionally 50 times less. So the amount they pay out should be roughly 50 times less. The amount they take in should (in theory) be 50 times less as well, but truthily there's other factors to take into consideration in relation to this point, such as the fact, that 2 pound is an extremely low amount and many people will play the 2 pound multiple times and spend longer on the machines, but still...anyways
... In theory their takings from the machines will be a signifcant percentage less. So they'll undoubtably have a lot less to pay out..(which is few and far between in any event).
 
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I follow that Marble, just don't see why the takings being significantly less percentage wise comes out as a positive for the bookies
 
Tanlic said:
How on earth they got permission to install these in betting shops is beyond me.

All wrong anyway.you could put 100 quid in a machine to bet but they won't take 20 quid on a horse? BS artist the lot of them hence I go Betfair every time these days
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IIRC, they were first allowed as a sop to bookmakers for not betting on the lottery numbers, and quickly became milking machines for the gullible.
Wtf if we lose a few betting shops (mostly those duplicated & triplicated on many high streets to reap the golden harvest, I'd warrant)? At least the bookies will need to generate revenue elsewhere, and may eventually get back to competing on prices and - laying bets on them.
Hallelujah, I say.
 
reet hard said:
IIRC, they were first allowed as a sop to bookmakers for not betting on the lottery numbers, and quickly became milking machines for the gullible.
Wtf if we lose a few betting shops (mostly those duplicated & triplicated on many high streets to reap the golden harvest, I'd warrant)? At least the bookies will need to generate revenue elsewhere, and may eventually get back to competing on prices and - laying bets on them.
Hallelujah, I say.
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I couldn't have put it better myself Reet.
 
Hancock summed it up perfectly:-

"It cannot be right for our magnificent sport to rely on these machines for its income."
 
reet hard said:
IIRC, they were first allowed as a sop to bookmakers for not betting on the lottery numbers, and quickly became milking machines for the gullible.
Wtf if we lose a few betting shops (mostly those duplicated & triplicated on many high streets to reap the golden harvest, I'd warrant)? At least the bookies will need to generate revenue elsewhere, and may eventually get back to competing on prices and - laying bets on them.
Hallelujah, I say.
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I wouldn't hold your breath for that to happen, to the best of my knowledge Bet365 & Skybet don't have FOBT's but neither of them lay a bet.

The hypocrisy from the BHA and Rust in particular on the issue has been sickening.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I'd prefer a complete ban on them.

The stuff and nonsense about job losses is grossly exaggerated. If anyone does lose their job then that's obviously bad news for them but I wouldn't be surprised if nobody lost their job other than through a shop closure, which I am not convinced will happen.

I think I posted a couple of years ago, though, that I spoke to an area manager I happened to be sitting next to at a wedding and he said it was the puggies that were keeping the shops going. I'm not convinced. I'm more likely to believe that they keep profits up. If it takes puggies to keep shops going they should re-open the shops as machine arcades. See how long they last.
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Not sure. I remember a documentary a while ago about shops being put in rougher areas purely based on the inclination of people in the area to use FOBTs. Not sure how viable these shops will be with reduced FOBT stakes..

Needless to say, agree with the consensus on this thread. Should never have been allowed in in the first place.

Given the body of evidence about the damage FOBTs have done, for the BHA to have come out in favour of the bookmakers on this issue is genuinely shameful.
 
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15-20,000 job losses - that's nigh 2 people for every betting shop in the UK. Where are these guys & what are they doing? :lol:
 
Reminds me of a story my tells of a funeral at her Co Wexford home town years ago.
One of the deceased's sons had a sex change operation and she was home for the funeral.
Family and mourners kept their distance from this person, not being quite sure how to approach, greet or sympathise with him/her.
Telling the story she felt for the individual on how tough their situation was and gave credit for him "having the balls" to go through with the process .
I sincerely hope nobody is offended by the story.
 
If the ghastly McVey resigns over Brexit Theresa can give Tracey Crouch a new job - would make a change to have a human being in charge of the DWP .
 
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