Warning over ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling

Warning over ‘crack cocaine’ of gambling

According to the 45-year-old, who has told of how he went from placing schoolboy 10p bets to losing up to £3,000 in one day, the biggest threat to problem gamblers apart from online betting is fixed-odd betting terminals which allow users to gamble up to £100 every 20 seconds.

Currently in Jersey, bookmakers can have up to four such terminals in each shop.

Brian, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, said that the gambling commission had not been proactive in deterring problem gambling, despite an overhaul of the Island’s gambling laws in July 2011 after States Members voted to tighten regulation of the industry.

Those changes updated legislation from 1964 and gave the Jersey Gambling Commission greater regulatory power over betting companies.

On a separate occasion, however, the States agreed to increase the number of FOBTs each shop could have from two to four – a move criticised by Brian.

‘Initially bookmakers were licensed to have two [FOBT] in each premises, now they can have four,’ he said. ‘They give bookies a licence to print money.

‘You don’t even need cash to use one, you can give the bookmakers your credit card and they just put money on the machine. It is the crack cocaine of gambling.’

David Evans, deputy chief executive officer of the Jersey Gambling Commission, said that the majority of people gamble responsibly and urged any problem gamblers to seek help.

He said: ‘The commission’s website has a dedicated section to social responsibility and signposts various resources that people can use.’

And he said that contrary to what had been said recently in the UK about FOBTs, there was no evidence that they were any more dangerous than other types of gambling.

He added: ‘If a person has a problem with drink, it is to be hoped that they would abstain from all alcohol, as it is the alcohol itself that drives the addiction.’

Following a consultation examining the industry, prompted by anti-FOBT campaigners, UK culture secretary Matt Hancock is expected to reduce the maximum stake from £100 down to between £50 and £2 a spin.

The Jersey Gambling Commission has no plans to do the same but they said they would be following developments in the UK with interest.

However, Brian said that was not good enough.

‘Jersey needs to accept, just like the UK is now, that the gambling industry is not being managed properly, if at all, and is ruining Islanders’ lives,’ he said.

Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham, under whose remit gambling legislation falls, was unable to comment.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –