FOBTs back in the UK casino news

In the general casino news this week there are again reports about fixed odds betting terminals in UK betting shops and the fact that in an attempt to avoid further legislation against these so called “crack cocaine” machines the major players have formed their own responsible gaming body called Senet . It seems strange that bookmakers have few limits on what can be placed on a horse winning and at online casinos there are only limits which have been imposed by the player themselves so why these machines seem to present such a problem is a mystery. Bookmakers are proposing allowing these casino game players to place limits of time or losses and if they don’t then a warning will appear after 30 minutes of play or £250 of losses but this will not prevent them playing further. Apparently the Responsible gaming Trust has done some research and found that the average player loses £6 per session after playing for 11 minutes which does not seem that much as the average online casino player probably plays for much longer than that but there is no data available about average winnings or losses. The only probability is that these FOBTs have a much lower payout than casino games at online casinos which is highly likely based on experience with casino game machines in other clubs and pubs. The advice for Irish casino players would be not to use these machines but as they are illegal in Ireland and therefore not available in the bookmakers there is no problem. Both Paddy Power and Ladbrokes who are of course very active in the UK market are founder members of Senet along with Gala Coral and William Hill and are therefore taking the issue of responsible gambling very seriously which can only be a good thing.