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UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his administration is about to embark on a crackdown of the so-called “crack cocaine” of gambling, high speed, high stakes gambling machines that have, until now, proven especially profitable for bookmakers.
Just how profitable?
Ladbrokes, the UK’s 2nd largest bookmaker, made an unprecedented £1Billion in a single month from the machines.
Customers played the machines nearly 5million times in just four weeks, according to an internal document leaked from the bookmaker. That same document suggested that punters can lose £100 per spin on the games.
News of an all out war on the gambling machines by the Cameron administration caused share prices in a Ladbrokes and the UK’s largest bookmaker, William Hill, to nose dive a few weeks ago.
Cameron said at the time he "absolutely shares the concerns" raised over the “epidemic” of fixed-odds terminals.
"There are problems with the betting and gambling industry and we need to look at them," he said. "If we work together we can probably sort it out.”
This week Cameron is due to announce a wide range of regulatory measures, one of which seeks to reduce the limit in which a single gambler can bet over a short time span.
The Guardian Newspaper is also reporting that Cameron is also poised to address the concentration of bookmakers in the poorest areas of the country.
- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
