A coalition of 93 councils from across the country are today demanding the Government ends casino-style gambling on high streets.
Led by Newham Council, the partnership is lodging a Sustainable Communities Act proposal with the Department for Communities and Local Government that calls for a reduction on the maximum stake of fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2.
Campaigners today warned it would be ‘irresponsible’ for ministers to ignore pressure from such a high number of local authorities, which have united in the largest ever cross-party council bid.
Some 31 local authorities in London are supporting the calls, alongside local authorities including Swansea, Derby City Council, Birmingham and Manchester.
Newham has seen the number of betting shop premises licenses increase by almost 30% since 2007 to 86. An Ipsos Mori poll earlier this month found 70% of respondents thought the maximum number of FOBTs is too much, while a YouGov survey in April found 61% support for a reduction of maximum stakes to £2.
Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales: ‘We are fighting hard to ensure that our high streets are not dominated by betting shops who are solely concerned with making a quick buck on a computer roulette-wheel. We have tried to curb the rise in the number of betting shops, but our battle with the betting shops has been thwarted by the lack of tough regulations and the toothless court system.
‘We are standing up for our residents as we pledged to, in a bid to rid our high streets of these clusters of betting shops. We believe that this simple step, which can be taken by government as part of their review of stakes, could be the solution to the problem of clustering,’ he added.
Commenting on the bid, a spokesperson from The Campaign for Fairer Gambling said: ‘It would be irresponsible of the Government to ignore so many local authorities, all of which are calling for a stake reduction on FOBTs. Councils are on the front line in having to deal with the consequences of high stake, high speed casino gambling on the high street.
‘If the Government really supports localism, it will respond to Newham Council's submission by reducing the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2 a spin.’
