Crack cocaine machines blamed for rise in bookmakers crime

Responsible for an increase in crime?

Fixed odds betting terminals have been blamed for an 8.2% rise in crime at bookies in the past year.

Betting shops have rung the police 728 more times than they did in 2013, with the weekly callout averaging at 179 compared to 165 previously.

Incidents have included punters vandalising machines, as well as abusing staff.

This rise coincides with the increasing use of fixed odds betting terminals, which have been dubbed the “crack cocaine of gambling”. The machines can lose punters up to £100 per spin.

The figures were released under Freedom of Information laws but the true number of incidents is thought to be much more.

Adrian Parkinson of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling,  said: “This is a consequence of allowing casino gambling on the high street.

“The government wants staff to intervene, which will put them at greater risk. The solution is to reduce the stake to £2 a spin.”

A spokesman for the Association of British Bookmakers said: “All the evidence we have from police shows bookmakers have the lowest levels of crime of any retailers.”

Two Little Fleas previously reported that, the bookmaker, Ladbrokes, took £1 billion from the machines in their stores in a single month.

MP for the British Labour Party, Clive Efford, said that “It’s time for the Government to recognise the day of the fixed odds betting terminal are numbered.”

Figures from a leaked Ladbrokes memo show that the company make huge profits from the machines. The average spend on the machines is £93.

Dirk Hansen, of the charity GamCare has said that “the consequences of playing these machines is quite devastating.”

One bookmaker in Birmingham dislikes the machines so much that he has called for them to be banned. Mr Simons, 53, said: “They can kill. They’re as bad as the worst kind of drug.

“That’s why they’re called the crack ­cocaine of gambling. People who use them just can’t stop.”