Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
FOBTs used to launder drug money.
Today's Guardian, a long article telling what we already knew?
I had suggested this previously but was told it couldn't happen as the betting machines don't take cash - this explains how it works. Well who'd have thought it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by michaelw on
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Very generous of the Government to let the betting industry get a slice of the money laundering business.
What's the chance of this government tightening the rules - or maybe just banning the FOBTs, which other countries have done?
Then again, I think betting companies may be generous donors....
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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There is a campaign to reduce the maximum stake on the FOBTs to, say, £2. That would nail most of the problems. It's £200 (?) at the mo.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Fine the stake is £200 but you can load them up with a lot more cash than that, even from a debit card.
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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on
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It needs to be widespread reform, on online anything goes also. We'll never be able to or ban gambling and nor should we, prohibition doesn't work on cultures where that behavior is already present as a cultural norm.
However one voluntarily central self exclusion database that links all ID information to your name, and all other aliases which permits gambling business under the full force of the law to cease trading with those on the register is the bIg solution.
It will relieve the gambling industry of its main punters and will result in them closing shops right, left and and centre and allow the market to naturally self regulate itself though consumer empowered supply and demand.
A limit on stakes would also be a handy move in the right direction, however even at £2 a punt people can lose their hourly wage in a minute and isn't really the final solution. However it is something the gambling industry will get behind if it means knocking back further into the long grass any notion of a central exclusion register, that's the policy they most fear.
The problem is the two orgs that should champion this can't. Gam Care are in the pocket of the industry and gamblers anonymous refuse to campaign for philisphical reasons. We need the Labour Party to adopt the self exclusion register as a key policy, or a leading charity to start running with the idea at the very least.
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The betting machines are loaded, so is the whole industry, and so is this nasty, corrupt government.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/10/planning-law-changes...
Earlier this year a director of Ladbrokes, the largest betting company in the UK, wrote to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to complain of the "unfortunate attitude" of some councils which regarded bookmakers as "unacceptable and inappropriate additions" to the high street.
In the letter, passed to the Guardian, Ladbrokes said that "some councils are now placing whatever obstacles they can in the way of our ability to obtain planning permission" for betting shops and attacked "alarming actions by unelected officials".
In response, the planning minister Nick Boles wrote back to Ladbrokes saying: "I do recognise that this can be a significant problem and we are taking action to tackle it." The letter cites new powers contained in a controversial "pro-growth" bill, which became law in summer.
Ladbrokes complain about "alarming actions by unelected officials", do they mean elected councillors? Thats rich seeing that their friends in the Conservative Party are wrecking all of our services and received only 36% of the vote (that is of people who actually voted), and have no mandate for their pro business privatisation policies. They are all feeding from the same trough!
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