Sunday, May 25, 2025
A real gambling problem
The paper says that the number of slot machine shops has risen by 7% since 2022, as companies -friendly planning and licensing laws to flood Britain’s high streets with new “adult gaming centres” (AGCs), most of which are open 24 hours a day:
Venues are disproportionately concentrated in Britain’s most-deprived areas, according to analysis by the Guardian, prompting concern from a leading addiction expert and calls from politicians – including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester – for councils to be given powers to stop new sites opening.
Of 1,452 AGCs analysed, a third were in the poorest 10% of British neighbourhoods, while more than half served customers in the most-deprived 20%.
Figures show that the pattern of targeting the least well-off areas continued during a recent surge of new shop openings, as market leaders Admiral and Merkur expanded their high street footprint.
Seaside towns, many of which are economically deprived and also known for their amusement arcades, feature heavily among the areas with the highest concentration of AGCs, topped by Great Yarmouth.
But other coastal areas that do not feature resorts are also heavily represented.
Between them, Middlesbrough and Hull – the fourth and fifth most-deprived local councils – had 28 AGCs, according to the analysis, serving 424,592 people.
In contrast, 14 local authorities, in which 1.7 million people live, don’t have a single AGC. All but one of them are in the top 50% wealthiest council areas and eight are in the top 20%.
MPs and addiction experts raised concerns that the spread of shops offering 24-hour access to slot machines – consistently ranked among the most-addictive gambling products in health surveys – risked exploiting vulnerable people.
Prof Henrietta Bowden-Jones, the national clinical adviser on gambling harms at NHS England, said: “Slot machine venues, particularly those open 24/7, deploy addictive products to keep vulnerable people playing for hours on end, against their own interests.
“The Guardian’s findings indicate that the result of this is simply to channel funds from the pockets of the poorest into the pockets of the richest. This comes as the NHS is supporting record numbers who have had their lives destroyed by gambling, with 15 clinics now up and running across England.”
AGCs, which feature machines offering spins of up to £2 and jackpots of up to £500, took more than £530m from gamblers in the last year for which figures are available.
Burnham said: “It’s time we were honest about what [AGCs] really are,.” He warned that AGCs were “targeting some of the most vulnerable in our communities”.
“It’s unacceptable that councils have so little power to regulate them despite repeated concerns from charities and local residents.
“We must reclassify these venues in law, give local authorities stronger licensing powers, and hold operators accountable.”
Andy Burnham is absolutely right, there must be proper regulation to stop this exploitation, let's hope that the pressure he and others are applying will force the government to act soon.
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I wouldn't hold your breath. This government, just like its predecessor is a friend of the rich. It won't do anything that might upset its wealthy donors.
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