GAMBLING MACHINES IN BETTING SHOPS

That this House is concerned at the spread of fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in betting shops and that £40 billion a year is now gambled and re-gambled on them; notes that most money is paid into machines in poorer areas of the country, accounting for 50 per cent of the profits of betting shops; is disappointed that the present Government scrapped the British Gambling Prevalence Survey set up as part of the Gambling Act 2005; and calls on the Government to restore a national gambling survey, funded by the gambling industry, to monitor and combat addiction, to strengthen local authority control over planning consent for betting shops by introducing a separate use class for them, to reduce the limits on the number of FOBTs and to reduce the maximum permitted individual stake that can be gambled on them.