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12 comments from readers

nathan
09 April 2008 at 12:54

so real james what are you trying to say.

JohnBrown
05 May 2008 at 11:29

Yes I agree with you. though I think these machines allow a £100 spin every 30 seconds. Yes this is much quicker than you can lose money in a casino where it takes about 4 or 5 minutes a spin. These machines are the Crack Cocaine" of gambling and the govenment doesn't seem to care. My life has been ruined, I hope I can get back to normality, but with these machines on most main streets I don't know what will happen to me, my wife and child. I am ill and the government is encouraging the bookies to take advantage of my illness. I know I won't win in the long run, but every mont I waste most of my income on these.

John

nigelcross
14 June 2008 at 08:12

People lose on these machines because they are greedy. I constantly win becacse I know when to walk away. If I go into the betting shop I always take my max stake with me. That has to be a strict rule. Now say my limit is 100 and i find myself 150 in profit then I cash in and walk away. The mugs way is to think you can keep winning. Be cool and think about it. Nigel

dev
11 July 2008 at 08:23

on the day of 6/7/08 i put my all 6 month salary in roulate machine .because i thought i could make a little bit more money andget back to visit my country but i loss all of them.now i don,t have any money in my account.so all the time i just bang my head thinking what to do now ,where to go ? ya , i know i am not going to get back my money , i just want to share my feeling to those roulate losers .

bean76
26 August 2008 at 11:45

Yep, Ive seen it all in these betting shops. People who can't really afford to gamble all their hard days earnings in the hope of winning a few quid.

These machines are pure evil and are fixed as anything. The computer has already determined if its going to pay out before you put your bet on. Is that a scam, or is that a scam.

The betting companies have had teams of psyhcologists helping devise these games in the hope you get hooked and have that "just one more go" feel to them (obviuosly by scamming the machine result), And obviously thats where you lose everything.

Some of the games mention a 90% payout, what tosh, I think that means 90% payout to them and 10% to the punters. These machines are a disgrace to British society. (In Spain and real casinos they have roulette machines with real roulette wheels, whats up bookies to scared!!!!).

Most people now go to betting shops (i mean arcades) just to play on the machines and no they wouldnt normally be going if it werent for these machines so that argument is also tosh...These ministers havent got a clue whats really going on. DISGUSTING!!!! (as I write this another betting shop has prob just sprung up on my high street, funny that)

Sandra
14 February 2009 at 16:22

I have just come across this website after scouring the net for some help/advice on how to stop this encouragement to bet on FOBTs. Eighteen months ago my husband had a nervous breakdown, including an almost successful suicide bid after becoming addicted to FOBTs. After treatment at local psychiatric hospital and lots of help he has now been in work for almost twelve months. Last Tuesday 3 Feb he went into Betfred and put £2000 in the FOBT. He did this with cash by going round corner to bank to get money in 200s so that I would not see the debit card used in the bookies!. I went to Betfred and spoke to the manager who was completely unsypathetic and actually smiled and sniggered at me. I asked for a Head Office address and was given a number to careline and an email address and told that was all he could give me. I phoned careline who didn't care at all and just said he could self exclude himself, and sent email but received no reply. Got self exclusion forms, they have to be filled in in the shop with a photograph at every bookies. There are about twenty where I live! I am at my wits end as I don't know how to stop this and don't know of any action groups to notify. I know that despite what gamcare, government and anyone else says this is a major problem. Bookies are encouraging gambling on FOBTs with free tournaments, the prize being vouchers to play and a gambling addition. In Coral introduction for new employees it actually states 'give customers pound coins in their change so they will put them in FOBTs' inducement to bet or what! Yesterday my husband did another £700. I would be interested in any kind of action group. Each shop is allowed four machines and I have seen the police have to remove at least one customer who would not leave when the staff were locking up because he was still desperately trying to win his money back. I could tell other horror stories about FOBTs but have run out of space.

haddonhill
22 February 2009 at 00:31

The turnover and profit made on these machines shows you how popular they are but more importantly how addictive they are. To a non gambler it is difficult to explain how hard it is to not play these machines or to walk away from playing them with money in your pocket. In my experience the situation is a no win. when you lose you generally lose everything. you enter tunnel vision where nothing else matters. if you have money in your pocket you just cant wait to get rid of it. It burns a hole. Paying the rent, getting to work, putting food on the table are all an afterthought all that matters at the time is having enough money for the next spin. If theres anything worse than losing its winning. When you finally decide to reluctantly come off the machine(generally when you have had 10 missed calls from the wife to tell you the dinner was ready 2 hours ago) and you have made a profit all you can think about is getting back on the machine to continue making your fortune or in my experience lose the lot!!! If you are unfortunate like i am, you have access to the internet and the many online casinos. clicking buttons for cash investments makes it seem like free money until you see your bank statement and all those bank charges due to insufficent funds. Today was a typical day for me i went to corals with £90 to place a £4 on the horses £6 on the roulette and the rest on shopping. youve probably guessed that the £6 turned into £86 but it didnot stop there as my £4 turned into a profit of £98, but guess what i reinvested the whole amount on those machines losing my normally placid temperament on the way. Absolutely ridiculous and i said the same thing upon leaving the shop ive said on numerous occasions, NEVER AGAIN. So i thought id try something new and write it down and in my many moments of weakness to come refer back to it for strength. This addiction is vile and im sure many people out there are suffering the same. Each and every one of you have my sympathy.

laurence50
19 May 2009 at 20:40

I have read all the comments above. We are one of the same, drawn to those cancerous machines. They are evil.They are vile. They are utterly compulsive and if the powers of be, cannot see what they are doing to us, then let suicide increase rest on their shoulders.Do they really give a damn? No. Do the managers of these establishments care at all about a gamblers' state of mind, when you are in free fall? No. Does the Culture Secretary give a damn? No. Who can WE turn to for support? I have phoned the so called "gambling commission" for help, but alas to no avail. Everyone shirks responsibility and turns a blind eye. Why? Because all they can see is the pounds shillings and pence sign for the fat cats to get fatter and the poor gamblers suffer mentally and physically. How do these machines work? Pray tell me. They are never random. I left 5 numbers open and on 5 spins, the ball fell into each of those 5 blank numbers. The problem is the serious compulsiveness of this habit. We need help. We need protection. They should be banned from every bookmakers establishment, now. This is so serious. Please listen and please help!! Laurence

Sandra
03 June 2009 at 17:37

Is there no-one on New Statesman that could take up the case of these FOBTs. I could give some good information on how they ruin people's lives. There is absolutely nowhere to turn to for help. Laurence has my sympathy and I am now in the middle of a divorce as that is the only way I can save my property against my husband's gambling debts, all down to the FOBTs.

NEIL
30 June 2009 at 12:20

I have written to my MP about this (see below), as I am amazed that it is not accepted as a major society problem - but guess what, no reply.

I have also been perstering Ladbrokes to explain their margin on these machines but they keep pushing saying '5.%' without further explanation - saying '5%' without explaining the period over which it is mentioned is nonsensical - eg, as I said to them, is it 'Annual? Daily? Hourly!? Spin? ie say a player has £1000 he puts in a machine, and plays all day. If he leaves with £950, you have made a profit margin of 5% on the day. But if it is calculated by spin, your '5%' margin would potentially mean he leaves with next to nothing after 20 minutes'. A margin means nothing without clarifying the time period over which it is based.

I am intent on collecting as much data as I can and then I will start lobbying at the bookies, to try and get the public to understand what the numbers mean - this is gambling against somebody who can decide the result!!!

Letter to MP:

I am writing to you to express my outrage at the increased availability of fixed odds betting terminals in high street bookmakers, which is causing an epidemic of betting addiction. It is possible to put £100 on a spin lasting less than thirty seconds, and it is causing a huge amount of misery while the bookmakers continue to line their pockets.

Look at the statistics for Ladbrokes and Hills from their last Annual Report: Between Ladbrokes and William Hills (Coral do not separately disclose these numbers), they earned over £0.6 billion as ‘Gross win from these machines’ in 2008 – an increase of 15% for Ladbrokes (despite a decrease of 103 machines over the year) and an increase of 10% for William Hills. There is limited visibility of their payout, and the increased betting shop hours have increased the danger they pose significantly. I would be grateful if you could start to look into what is a growing problem in the UK.

sasapapac
17 July 2009 at 15:29

Hi there im also in deep crap over these machines, The roulette machine is in no way random , i went into my local bookmakers wth £20 to put on a few horses and dogs just for a bit of fun as i had dentist appointment in half hour, before i knew it i had went to the post office next door and took all my money out of the cash machine they have and lost the lot, I had a run of 7 red numbers so decided to back the black NUMBERS , eventualy after £720 i had lost the lot ,as i had been backing the blacks 19 reds had come out and only 2 Blacks! i missed my dentist appointment and now i owe the dentist money for missed appointment , But guess what? i dont have any money to pay them. These machines must be taken away from the public as they are ruining lives, my darkest days of my life are coming out that bookmakers door with nothing but guilt inside me

papaya1919
27 August 2009 at 20:17

Couldn't disagree with any of the comments - just how many lives have to be destroyed before the government does anything - 1, 2 , 200 ? Do the tories have a cunning plan ?

What annoys me most is that the bookies won't come clean and admit what the actual win percentage really is - and I don't mean the theoretical one which I regularly see quoted which is clearly wrong - why are they not forced to do at least this as with fruit machines ?