Agenda item

The Director of Environmental and Enforcement Services to submit a report on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in Betting Premises.

The Deputy City Mayor has been invited to attend the meeting for this item.

The Director of Local Services and Enforcement submitted a report on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in Betting Premises.

Members noted that fixed odd betting terminals provided a range of slot machine type games and casino games such as roulette and black jack.  Under the Gambling Act 2005 betting premises were allowed up to four gaming machines of Category B,C or D.  Fixed odds betting terminals fell into Category B2 for casino games with a maximum stake of £100 per spin and a maximum prize of £500 per spin.  Category B3 for slot machines had a maximum stake of £2 per spin and a maximum prize of £500.

Concerns had been expressed about fixed odds betting terminals relating to:-

·         the large sums of cash that could be lost in a short period of time;

·         people on low income and poor mental health being more likely to spend more time and loose more money on them;

·         the general proliferation of betting premises on the ‘high street’; and

·         some premises being sub-divided into a cluster with multiple licences allowing more machines to be made available.

On receipt of an application local authorities could either grant or not grant the licence and there was no provision to put conditions upon the licence.  There were currently 243 betting terminals in 65 betting premises in the City.  Licensing Officers currently carried out two compliance checks each year on each premise.  The London Borough of Newham had begun a campaign using the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 to call upon the government to reduce the maximum bet per spin on fixed odds betting terminals in high street betting shops from £100 to £2.  The authority believed that these terminals were popular because they gave a fixed margin and this has led to the increase in the number of betting premises across the country.  It is believed that reducing the stake to £2 would help to protect the player by reducing losses and also bring these machines into line with other machines in bingo premises and adult gaming centres.

The Deputy City Mayor attended the meeting and outlined his and the Executive’s concerns about fixed odds betting terminals.  He stated that:-

·         The Executive had supported Newham’s Sustainable Communities Act proposal to reduce the maximum bet per spin from £100 to £2.

·         Fixed Odd betting terminals were changing the nature of betting and betting premises on the high streets.

·         There was no explanation as to why the price per spin was so explicably higher than other recreational gaming and gambling machines.

·         The machines were designed to be addictive.  Roulette games on these machines, for example, had shorter time spin times than in real life which increased the tendency to play more games in a shorter period than compared to a casino environment.

·         There was evidence to suggest that these machines increased gaming addiction, with 40% of gamblers citing fixed odd betting terminals as the source of their addiction.

·         66% of those with a gambling addiction were aged under 35 years old and 33% were aged under 25 years old.

·         These machines could give rise to frustration by the player which could manifest itself in demonstrations and outbursts of anger against both the machine and staff.

·         There was evidence in London and Manchester of patterns of Anti-Social Behaviour and crime adjacent to betting premises.

The Deputy City Mayor acknowledged the limitations that were available to local authorities to address the proliferation of licensed betting premises, but he felt that there should be a specific planning classification for them, rather than the wider generic classification of A2 (Financial and professional services - such as banks and building societies, professional services (other than health and medical services) and including estate and employment agencies and betting offices).

Councils should also have more flexibility to control the number of gaming machines within a specific area to avoid a saturation of gaming machines in areas where there are high concentrations of licensed betting premises. 

Following questions from Members, the following comments were noted:-

·         These gaming machines did not accept credit cards, the vast majority were cash/tokens only.  Some machines would accept debit cards but there were none of these known to be in Leicester.

·         The machines offered all the types of casino games that could be played in a licensed casino.

·         It was estimated that 4% of those playing fixed odds betting terminals lost £1.5 billion per year compared to 57% of those playing the national lottery losing £1.2 billion per year.

·         Inspections are carried out to ensure that the conditions of the licence are being observed.  These checks are primarily a physical inspection of the premises to see that the appropriate notices are displayed, there is only the machines on the premises that are licensed and that the machine are of the correct category and that no one under the age of 18 years old is playing them.  There is a high level of compliance with these checks.

·         Test purchases have been carried out in the past in conjunction with Gambling Commission.

·         Fixed Odds Betting Terminals are only found in licensed betting premises, casinos and track betting places.

RESOLVED:-

                        1)         That the report be noted.

2)         That the executive’s decision to support the London Borough of Newham’s campaign to reduce the maximum bet per spin on fixed odds betting terminals in high street betting shops from £100 to £2 be supported.

3)         That test purchasing to also include checks on the age of persons in licensed betting premises be undertaken in the future and a report on the results of these be brought back to the Committee within the next 12 months.

4)         That the Committee express its disappointment that local authorities don’t have more flexibility in the ways that they can promote responsible gambling in order to protect vulnerable groups in society and those on low incomes.

5)         That the Deputy City Mayor be thanked for attending the meeting to discuss this item.

The Deputy City Mayor left the meeting at 6.07 pm.