News & views

Dear representatives of the DCMS,

RE: Debunking the myth of “illegal B2 gaming machines”: an open letter to the Government

A recent press release issued by the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) [1], claimed that “any reduction in B2 stakes would only reduce supply, not suppress demand and there is a real risk of a significant growth in illegal, unregulated and socially irresponsible gambling, with all the negative social impacts this will entail.”

Read the full letter here: Open letter – Illegal gaming machines

Matt Zarb-Cousin, a recovering gambling addict, talks about how he managed to rack up debts of £16,000, while councillor Ian Corbett, from Newham Council, talks about how gambling is like a “form of crack cocaine”.

But one operator in the betting industry, Paddy Power, says it is making a positive impact on the high street by providing jobs and footfall for other shops.

Watch the video on the BBC News website online.

Fixed odds betting terminals, a kind of big-money fruit machine, are driving the profits in betting shops. Some councils are now fighting back.

Alongside the open fronted butcher’s shops and brightly coloured silk houses, the bookmakers lining High Street North don’t draw the eye by comparison.

Inside, the laminate floors and faint whiff of disinfectant underwhelm the senses, and no-one appears to be having much fun. The Las Vegas strip this is not.

Read the full article on the BBC News online.

Councils across the country were proven powerless to act against the march of betting shops on high streets, as Paddy Power prevailed against Newham Council in a landmark test case, which saw the local authority object to a new shop on the basis of its primary gambling activity.

Read the full article on The Herald Online.

Paddy Power has won its appeal over an east London council’s refusal to allow it to open a betting shop in the area.

The company is in dispute with Newham Council, which had rejected its licence application for a new shop in East Ham.

There are about 80 betting shops in Newham, the third highest number in any London borough.

Newham argued the branch of Paddy Power planned in East Ham would attract crime and anti-social behaviour and so would be in breach of the 2005 Gambling Act.

Read the full article on The BBC News online.

A bookmaker has won an appeal against a London council’s refusal to allow it to open a betting shop because of crime concerns.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK, Newham Council in east London rejected Paddy Power’s licence application for a new shop on the grounds it would attract crime and anti-social behaviour.

Read the full article in The London Evening Standard online. 

Hackney’s Mayor, Jules Pipe has responded to news that Newham Council has lost it’s battle to stop the betting shop chain Paddy Power opening yet another branch in its borough.  Hackney, like Newham, has a very high number of betting shops, and over the past six years, Mayor Pipe has repeatedly made the case to Government Ministers that councils do not have the powers they need to stop the proliferation of betting shops on high streets, despite high levels of community concern.

Read the full article on Hackney Council News online.

The High Street faces a new tidal wave of casino-style betting machines in bookmakers after a court kicked out a vital test case yesterday.

The warning came after Newham Council – which already has 81 betting shops including 18 on a single street – tried to prevent gambling chain Paddy Power from opening yet another one.

Read the full article on the Daily Mail online. 

The Irish bookie went to court after Newham Council blocked it from opening a new branch in Upton Park, Hackney, on the grounds that the majority of the shop’s income would be generated from gaming machines known as fixed-odds terminals.

Anti-gambling campaigners claim fixed-odds terminals are highly addictive and have labelled them the crack cocaine of gambling.

Read the full article in The Daily Telegraph online. 

A council has lost its battle to stop the opening of a new betting shop in its borough.

The multinational bookmaker Paddy Power won its appeal at Thames magistrates court against a refusal by Newham council, in east London, to allow it to open a betting shop in the area, one of the country’s most deprived. Newham has more than 80 betting shops already – the third highest of any London borough.

Councillors rejected an operator’s licence in February, arguing that the shop would attract crime and antisocial behaviour, and that profits would come from high-speed, high-stakes gambling machines rather than from over the counter bets.

Read the full article on The Guardian online.