Adam Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Bookies are aplenty in shithole areas as they know poor people will fire their giros into the FOBT to try get some better return. If I'm in the bookies and have a spare couple of quid I wouldn't have gambled on horses/football, I'll fire it into roulette in the off chance one of my numbers come up. No way could I spend over a tenner in them. Frightening how much you can lose on them. By the way, if someone was to sit in the bookies for hours firing bets on every race and it's apparent is a losing bet every time, does the bookie have the power to refuse bets if they think you've wasted an absolute fortune? One of my friends has been asked if he was sure he wanted to continue taking money out of his bank after losing the second lot of £200 in the casino before. He said yes, and they let him take out another £200. This news is music to my ears, I've been saying that FOBTs should be banned, or at the very least much more limited, for years. I shudder to think how much I've lost on these machines over the years. Thankfully I saw sense a while back and have given them a wide berth ever since. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaldo Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 In Govanhill there are two William Hill bookies on the same side of the road on the same street (Victoria Road). Always thought that was ludicrous. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkerbelle Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I've got a brother in law who keeps putting money into these machines and puggys. I have bailed him out a couple of times for the sake of his kids to feed them all. Him and his wife then shit on me from a great height over the money that I gave them,(thousands not pennies). They now get f**k all from me, the lot of them can starve as far as I am concerned, my wife knows that a divorce will be called if she gives them a single penny behind my back. I heard that he blew another £900 last week so they will probably be facing eviction again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
54_and_counting Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 My understanding is that the individual stores now make upwards of 80% of their money off FOBTs. apparently some bookies pay their weekly outgoings from the FOBT's alone, and thats all outgoings, wages, rates, utilities etc, so any other gambling losses from the punter are pure profit if thats true then it shows just how fucking bad these terminals are, good riddance to them if they are getting banned 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambie's Pigeon Feed Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I don't believe in banning things either but its only logical to bin these things. The old crack cocaine of gambling rings true, and this is accessible everywhere. People advocating the legalisation of drugs would not be in favour of crystal meth being advertised on tv and being sold to people on every high street. I used to gamble a lot in casinos, I used to go to them every weekend at 2am after a club and I eventually banned myself from all the ones in town to stop myself doing it. But I was able to do this at the time, I don't anymore no I have a mortgage to pay. I can't imagine how catastrophically damaging it must be to have my old 1am on a Saturday gambling pangs every time I venture outside and potentially losing everything you have at any time during the day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Great news indeed. Blew my entire xmas bonus 3 years ago on those machines, resulting in near divorce, and a few GA meetings. Not been near a bookies since. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamaldo Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Gambling is one of those things I've never been tempted to really get into. The closest I ever got to a dodgy phase was buying a scratchcard nearly every lunchtime for a few weeks about two and a half years ago. I think I've only played the lottery about 5-10 times in my whole life as well. The overriding result of this type of addiction is never going to be positive. How many people do you hear saying how gambling changed their life for the better? None, because as soon as they had a big win chances are they bet the lot again and most likely lost it, or they spend it all on absolute shite that was of no use. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mid-table Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 No doubt the bookies will try to get the government involved. Guaranteed income for the treasury will not be easy to ban countrywide if other councils take the same steps. Puggies could be next if the bookies nightmare goes nationwide. I'm amazed that a 10p in the £1 gambling tax didn't come back in before folk with an extra bedroom got penalised. It's a funny old world. f**k up folk with little chance of changing their circumstances before putting a tax on folk who fling money around for pleasure, or the businesses that they throw their money at. The bookies already have the government involved. In a big way. The amount of lobbying going on behind the scenes is not to be underestimated. In 2000 betting tax changed from 9% on turnover to 15% on profits, and ever since then government (mainly labour) have worked to deregulate gambling (the Gambling Act 2005 being the watershed moment) as much as possible in order to maintain the revenue. Im sure mid-table can come along with the proof, but for the last few years William Hill have been making more money from FBOT machines than from traditional betting. They can turn a spin of roulette around 4 times a minute and accept bets up to £100 a spin i believe. Hence why it is so easy to lose money without even thinking about those chasing loses.It was the 2007 William Hill accounts. They never stated it directly, but the figure could be calculated from taking various numbers from different sections of the report (they gave the average number of machines in their estate per week in one part of the report, and the average weekly machine profit in another section of the report.) Their total profit for the year was £227M, and the calculated FOBT profit was £201M. I read that Glasgow city centre has the highest concentration of these machines in the UK, and also has the highest rate of money spent on gambling.I'm not sure about that, I would be pretty sure it would be east London, although where you draw the boundaries can be a bit grey. In any area of mass construction, as well as socially deprived areas, you are more likely to get workers who fit the demographic of FOBT players. I believe that Edinburgh bookies along the tram construction route have done fairly well in the last few years. The machines are designed to get people hooked though with the visuals and creating the false impression of near misses.Whilst that is true of certain fruit machines 10-20 years ago, it is not true of FOBTs. They are B3 machines, they are not allowed to use deliberate near-miss tactics. Of course, there will be genuine near misses created by chance, but to be honest they don't need to use that sort of tactic due to the turnover and grip of the machines. As for the topic itself, this is brilliant news, long overdue. There is a motion in parliament at the moment to restrict the maximum stake to £2 instead of £100. I am in favour of this, it would allow people to play the machines for entertainment, without needing to ban them completely and create the absolute social mess that exists now. William Hill have been running a despicable campaign, with a very light touch on reality, about how thousands of jobs will be lost if the maximum stake is changed to £2, and have been dishing out cards for customers to fill out which go to the local MP urging them to change nothing. This is the same Hills who pay national minimum wage, expect staff to be available at all hours in all sorts of locations, whilst making obscene amounts of money. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SodjesSixteenIncher Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) Use these wee beauties on about a bi-annual basis as a free change machine. Usually spend about 5 minutes filing the coins in, then spin a quid on black or red and print. I can just accept the decision based on the debilitating social and economic impact they have on disadvantaged communities but I'm pretty gutted about the prospect of asking for coin bags in the bank. Edited November 7, 2013 by SodjesSixteenIncher 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 My ex was a gambling addict and the machines were his downfall as well, lost his job after stealing from the firm he worked for, not to mention stealing from me and trying to pawn my jewellery. Anyway the point I was going to make was that the machines are everywhere so even with as much resolve as you can have, seeing the bookie on most of the streets you walk along means you can't escape it. They should be banned. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Half Rice Half Chips Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I never heard of these fobts before this thread but from what I've read so far they seem evil and should be made illegal nationwide. f**k this "harmless fun", "just a little flutter" shite you hear from bookies, they're some of the biggest peddlers of misery walking this earth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginge123 Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 There are 5 bookies in a half mile stretch in Whitburn. There used to be more but I think a couple have shut down or moved in the last year or so. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cambozpar Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SodjesSixteenIncher Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys. There's a distintion between vices that can be enjoyed by most people in moderation and things which can't. It's why a drug like alcohol is permitted but crack cocaine is not. With this the government 'could' actually have some control in enforcing moderation. People stuffing notes into a roulette machine in the areas where these machines are mostly concentrated are simply not 'having a flutter' and if the government can do something to cut that down, fair play. It's impossible to legislate butter or whatever in the same way. Edited November 7, 2013 by SodjesSixteenIncher 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_S_A_R Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys. There is already legislation restricting booze and fags despite them being widely available. If you ban these machines people can still go to casinos or use virtual ones if they want to gamble. The difference with these machines is that it makes it too easy to go out for the papers and lose hundreds of pounds quickly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mid-table Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .Don't know where you got that assumption from, but it doesn't ring true for me anyway. What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about.Alcohol has a tax rate of around 30.9%, tobacco has a tax rate of around 80.1%. Incomparable with gambling. And also not a reason for not doing anything about compulsive gambling. The British Gambling Prevalence Survey a couple of years ago showed over 11% of FOBT users displaying compulsive gambling when using, compared with under 4% for the next highest gambling activity available on the high street. Nothing would ever get done if the prevailing attitude was 'well, there are bigger things to deal with than that. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys.I have seen that argument many times before, doesn't mean it's still not completely ignorant. Edited November 7, 2013 by mid-table 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambomo Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys. I've never cried about living in a nanny state. I'm sure that if alcohol and cigarettes didn't bring in so much cash via taxes they probably would have banned it long ago. The same reason that they won't/will resist banning these altogether. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effeffsee_the2nd Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 If its not FOBTs wasting youre money its the gaming apps on youre phobe, no bookies near you? well dont worry get youre phone out and piss away thousandsfrom anywhere, yipee 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effeffsee_the2nd Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Yes they may be bad but i bet half the people on this thread are the first ones to greet about living in a "nanny state" .What next ? Lets ban alcohol and cigarettes , how much money is wasted and how many lifes are ruined by those two ? Or the proposed "fat tax" everyones moaning about. To bet legally you have to be an adult ,if your willing to gamble crazy amounts of money on the spin of a wheel, computerized or not and you so happen to lose then thats just tough tittys. steady mate, thatl lead you down a bad road 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mid-table Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I've been reading up on this, and from what I can see, Liverpool City Council don't have the power to ban FOBTs. What they have done is pass a vote to ask the government to ban them, or devolve the power to local authorities to make the decision. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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