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FOBT NEWS ARCHIVE
SCOTS punters are hooked on electronic roulette machines branded "the crack cocaine of gambling."
The high-speed casino and bingo machines - which offer national prizes of �50,000 - are sending families spinning into debt while bookies are raking in millions of pounds.
Addiction experts revealed yesterday they have been swamped by calls from desperate punters, some of whom have lost thousands of pounds in a few hours.
The government is so worried they are backing court action to outlaw the betting terminals in High Street bookmakers after they were brought in two years ago.
Unlike fruit machines, which offer a maximum prize of �25 for a 30p play, the new touch screen machines allow punters to bet as much as they like.
GamCare, a gambling addiction charity, yesterday demanded curbs on the machines.
Teresa Tunstall, development officer, said: The speed produces an immediate high and people get an incredible flow of adrenalin.
"We've had folk calling us who have lost thousands of pounds in a couple of hours.
"Others have lost around �15,000 over a couple of months.
"People phone saying `My house is about to be repossessed and I don't know how to tell my partner'."
William Hill recorded a 20 per cent leap in profits for the first four months of this year. They have high- speed gaming machines - known as fixed-odd betting terminals (FOBTs) - in 1000 of their 1900-strong chain of shops.
They make 4p on every �1 put into the roulette machines, the most popular game.
Coral also have FOBTs in each of their 60 Scottish betting shops.
In virtual roulette, players decide which one of the 37 numbered slots they think the ball will land in. The winning number is chosen by a national computer.
Channel 4 racing pundit John McCririck said the machines have turned around the fortunes of bookies - but warns punters are backing a loser.
He said: "It's been huge and they've helped save betting shops. The margins are terrible and bookmakers have a huge in- built advantage.
"I lament it but let the public decide, the market is the best judge."
The government appointed regulator of gaming machines, the Gaming Board, is preparing to prosecute bookmakers in a test case over the legality of FOBTs.
Spokesman Tom Kavanagh said: "These machines are for gaming, not betting, therefore bookmakers can't have them in their shops.
"We're seeking a declaration from a judge that what they've got there is gaming - not betting - under current law."
Critics of the machines have claimed they are "the crack cocaine of gambling". Peter Collins, director of the centre for the study of gambling at Salford University, said: "Betting shops are operating an illegal form of gambling - it's prohibited to offer roulette outside a casino."
But Tom Kelly, of the Association of British Bookmakers, claims the fixed- odds betting machines are legal.
He said: "Our customers like them and we're talking to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport about sensible regulation in the future.
It's a fixed-odds bet in which you are taking odds against a particular outcome."
"The picture of a roulette wheel on the machine is purely graphical packaging."
Horse racing still makes 55 per cent of a bookie's profits but the figure is declining while gaming machine revenue is increasing.
Story courtesy of Lachlan Mackinnon
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