Gamblers Wagering Less After FOBT’s Change

By John Isaac,
Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac is an editor with many years of experience in the gambling industry. He writes expert articles on card games like blackjack and poker. In addition, he is also well aware of the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets. You can rely on verified information and insightful details.

• Twitter
• Email

More About John Isaac

Last updated: December 23, 2020

Preliminary figures from the UK Gambling Commission showed that players wagered £700 million between April 2019 and March 2020; however, the BGC (Betting and Gambling council) thinks the business effect will be far greater than what has been reported.

Fixed odds bettors (FOBTs) on terminals are betting £700m less as radical changes were made in April 2019 to address social concerns arising from the level of the problematic betting related to these products.

More than 20,000 jobs were under threat at the time. Article by Rob Davis recalled the past when gambling companies argued that in addition to 21,000 jobs may have to shut down 4,500 shops.

Davis cited data published in the UKGC (UK Gambling Commission), according to which the number of licensed betting organizations in the country was reduced from 685 to 10 098, or decreased by 6.4%, of which 639 were gambling establishments.

He also claimed that the downfall was not only due to changes in FOBT, but also due to a combination of factors, including the strategy of gambling companies to “woo customers online”, which appears to be an attempt to cut costs, Davis said.

Prospects Are Not Very Good, Says the Betting and Gambling Council

Data lag. In this way, the BGC (Betting and Gambling Council), a famous industry body, explains the figures released by the UK regulator. In fact, the Betting and Gambling Council expects actual downtime to approach 1,400 stores and 8,000 job losses.

In a short Twitter exchange, Davis and the gambling council attempted to explain the data. Davis asked if the UK Gambling Commission figures were incorrect after the BGC obtained the data cited in the article, for example:

BGC said these numbers are preliminary and therefore do not match actual numbers, which are closer to 8,700 lost jobs and 1,455 gambling stores closed in April 2019 and March 2020.

In his article, Davis referred to Matt Zarb, a cousin of Clean Up Gambling, who urged ministers to be doubtful about the industry’s claims in the face of an upcoming revision of the gambling law.

Save Players £700 Million from Life-Changing Losses

Davis read the numbers and stated that the amount spent on the fixed odds terminals had dropped from £1.16 billion to £12 million, explaining that the value used on B3 games had raised from £1.1 billion to £1.5 billion.

As explained, total FOBT spending has been cut by £700 million to £2.1 billion. However, if the BGC figures are correct and the UKGC figures are preliminary and do not fully account for the impact of the FOBT downgrading on the betting industry.

The gambling industry has gone through tremendous changes this year. The reason behind this is the lockdown that many countries around the world are going through due to the current pandemic, but particularly the industry in the UK has faced many strict changes. The reason is simple: to protect vulnerable people from gambling addiction.