How Labour will act on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

Over the last two years the government has persistently refused to acknowledge that local councils in many areas are losing the battle against betting shops clustering in their high streets leading to a proliferation of high stakes Fixed Odds Betting Machines.

The industry has also been reluctant to accept that there is a problem. Ask them about the clustering of betting shops and they answer a different question saying, ‘There are no more betting shops than there were in 2005’. That is almost true; the numbers of betting shops are up slightly, but it is not the answer to the question about why we are seeing betting shops, often from the same companies, opening in the same high street and too frequently, adjacent to areas with high levels of deprivation.

Betting shops from the same company are not opening cheek-by-jowl because the queues within their shops to place bets over the counter are too long. If that were the case then they would open new cash terminals not whole new shops.

Research from experts in the field of gambling state that evidence shows there is “a significant correlation between high machine density and socio-economic deprivation”. In short, betting shops have been opening close to areas where average incomes are lowest leading to a disproportionate amount of their profits coming from low income households.

Betting shops in some areas have been associated with antisocial behaviour, crime, making high streets unattractive places to visit and generally dragging down the overall image of town centres. This can lead to other businesses choosing other areas to locate themselves which in turn leads to further decline in the economic viability of the area.

This is not the case everywhere and it is true the vast majority of betting shops are not associated with antisocial or criminal behaviour, but where they are it has a major impact. Some local authorities, even Labour ones, have stated that they are eager for empty shops to be filled and if betting shops are the only businesses prepared to invest then they are welcome. This is why Ed Miliband has set out a comprehensive set of proposals to empower local authorities to take decisions in response to the prevailing local situation.

He wants to end the current unsatisfactory process where local people plead with their councillors not to have another betting shop, but discover when they turn up at licensing meetings that the sharp suited lawyer representing the betting industry can force the committee to vote against the wishes of the community. This has to end and councillors should be accountable to their local electors for the decisions they take. Provided they can demonstrate that they have acted reasonably in response to local concerns and in accordance with planning procedures they should be free to make their choices and answer for them through the ballot box.

The industry will say that this is against EU competition rules; we say this is local democracy. Placing betting shops in a separate betting class will require local authorities to revise their local strategic plans which sets out the aims and objectives for economic activity in their areas. This already happens in relation to existing use classes and it will be the same for betting shops.

This will only deal with future applications to open betting shops, but also areas which want to deal with the clusters they already have. We will amend the licensing powers to allow councils to restrict the number of machines to fewer than four where it is thought to be necessary. The industry will not like this, but they have bullied local government for too long and this will force them to enter into discussions with councils about the impact their businesses are having in particular communities. It will encourage them to show greater care and demonstrate higher degrees of social responsibility.

Even in those areas where the machines are not perceived to be a problem people deserve minimum levels of protection. That is why in addition to changes to planning and licensing we will also require the machines themselves to be modified. We will extend the period between plays from the minimum of 20 seconds as it currently stands to at least 40 seconds. Players will also be warned of how long they have been playing at regular intervals. To encourage interaction with staff customers will be required to go to the counter to put more money into the machines.

The industry make a lot of the training they give their staff to make them alert to the problems some people may get themselves into when playing these machines. This is completely undermined by the practice of single manning. Staff often feel too intimidated to intervene when customers are in distressed states and fail to speak up when needed. We want the industry to end the practise of single manning in their shops, particularly where there are FOBTs, and if they fail to act on this we will make it a requirement of the licensing.

These measures will give local councillors the powers to respond to local concerns about the impact of these machines where necessary. They also introduce safety measures to protect vulnerable adults which this Conservative-led coalition has completely refused to do.

Clive Efford is a Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Minister