Liverpool City Council has demanded a ban on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). Players can gamble up to £300 per minute on these machines. FOBTs have been likened to crack cocaine.
A local councillor has commented that:
I’ve heard stories of
ordinary people, doing ordinary jobs, who are going into the bookies on
pay day and losing a whole month’s salary or wages in one session.
These
machines are causing real problems in Liverpool. People are losing
their jobs, their relationships are breaking down, they are losing their
homes, turning to loan sharks or payday loan firms and even committing
crimes because of gambling.
What I find ironic is that this is a Labour councillor speaking. The last Labour government relaxed the gambling laws, despite being warned that doing so could cause misery. This should surprise no one. If you are Prime Minister, then you have an obvious incentive to pander to the whims of big business.
Some readers might be thinking that the party of government has an obvious incentive to look to the wellbeing of ordinary people. The trouble with that point of view is that far too many ordinary people in this country cast their votes in elections for political parties which do not care about them.
This is not merely a failure of Labour government. The present government has shown no inclination to take this matter seriously.
If your life has not yet been blighted by obsessive gambling, then maybe your turn will come in due course. Then again, you might like to join a political party which actually cares about the people of Britain.
Previous posts about gambling include:
I hate gambling
Gamblers take a risk
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