{"id":16061,"date":"2014-01-01T05:30:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T05:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=16061"},"modified":"2014-10-31T07:33:27","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T14:33:27","slug":"labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour MP Ed Miliband Vows to Introduce FOBT Legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UK
UK Labour MP Ed Miliband is on his soapbox about the country’s proliferation of FOBTs. (Image: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It looks as though UK Labour MP Ed Miliband<\/a> may be grasping for public appreciation, as he has now vowed to gear up his attack on the controversial high-stakes gambling machines which have become prevalent in betting shops across British high streets.<\/p>\n

FOBTs’ Spread Cited as Ominous<\/h2>\n

Promising to introduce new laws to control the spread of the machines – known as fixed-odds betting terminals<\/a>, or FOBTs – which accounted for approximately \u00a31.6 billion ($2,634,876,977)\u00a0of the gambling industry\u2019s \u00a33 billion ($4,940,394,332) in-store revenues this year, the opposition leader has claimed FOBTs target the poorer communities of the country by offering big cash prizes which look particularly enticing to people who may be earning the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply concerned about the spread of these machines,\u201d said Miliband when speaking to the British press about FOBTs, which have now reached 33,000 in number throughout the UK. \u201cThey are becoming an epidemic in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are four times more likely to be in poorer areas than richer ones,\u201d added the Labour leader. \u201cI don\u2019t object to a betting shop or two on the high street, but you don\u2019t want it taken over by them.\u00a0There\u2019s evidence they are magnets for anti-social behaviour. There\u2019s evidence people are getting harmed and becoming addicted to gambling through these machines,\u201d Miliband added.<\/p>\n

New Laws to Be Introduced<\/h2>\n

To help combat the \u201cepidemic\u201d of the fixed-odds betting machines, Miliband has explained that the next Labour government would change planning and licensing laws to give power to local authorities to better control the number of betting shops in their area, as well as letting them dictate the number of FOBTs in each venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to give communities the right to pull the plug on fixed-odds machines,\u201d said Miliband, who admitted to usually putting down a few pounds on the annual Grand National horse race each year. \u201cCouncils will be able to declare \u2018fixed-odds betting-free zones.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not this would mean local authorities would be able to bulldoze existing shops to reduce the numbers, or whether the authorities would simply be able to limit new outlets, hasn\u2019t been specified exactly, but reports do suggest that local authorities would be able to revoke licenses.<\/p>\n

Bookies would also be required to introduce longer breaks between each play, and include pop-up warnings to help reduce the rate of spending on the machines.<\/p>\n

An estimated \u00a346 billion ($75,752,713,093)\u00a0was spent on gambling machines in the UK last year, all helped by the fact that punters can lose up to \u00a3100 ($165) every 20 seconds on the machines, which have been branded the \u201ccrack cocaine\u201d of gambling.<\/p>\n

Despite some obvious upsides to Miliband\u2019s proposals, it should be noted that the number of FOBTs in Britain increased dramatically under the last Labour government when they relaxed gambling laws in 2005.<\/p>\n

Miliband has also stopped short of meeting recent demands to decrease the limit on fixed-odds betting terminals from \u00a3100 stakes down to \u00a32, simply saying that the issue will continue to be assessed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks as though UK Labour MP Ed Miliband may be grasping for public appreciation, as he has now vowed to gear up his attack on the controversial high-stakes gambling machines which have become prevalent in betting shops across British high streets. FOBTs’ Spread Cited as Ominous Promising to introduce new laws to control the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":16073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLabour MP Ed Miliband Vows to Introduce FOBT Legislation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Labour MP Ed Miliband is in the pulpit and preaching about the need to curb British gambling habits by introducing new FOBT legislation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Labour MP Ed Miliband Vows to Introduce FOBT Legislation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Labour MP Ed Miliband is in the pulpit and preaching about the need to curb British gambling habits by introducing new FOBT legislation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-01T05:30:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-31T14:33:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/miliband_2270670b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"387\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/\",\"name\":\"Labour MP Ed Miliband Vows to Introduce FOBT Legislation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/miliband_2270670b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-01T05:30:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-31T14:33:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Labour MP Ed Miliband is in the pulpit and preaching about the need to curb British gambling habits by introducing new FOBT legislation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/labour-mp-ed-miliband-vows-to-introduce-fobt-legislation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/miliband_2270670b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/miliband_2270670b.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":387,\"caption\":\"UK Labour MP Ed Miliband is on his soapbox about the country's proliferation of FOBTs. 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