As I sat down to read a press release issued that day (10th September) from Stanley Leisure plc after their AGM, I came across an enlightening little gem nestling unobtrusively amongst the pleasantries.

Lord Steinberg, Chairman of the Betting and Gaming company, started with the upbeat statement: "Overall the new financial year has started well, with the Group's operations meeting expectations."

After disappointing results the previous year one thinks, well done! The press release goes on to speak of the Betting Division, and this is where the innocuous phrase that caught my eye can be found, and I quote, "The Betting Division has made a satisfactory start to the year. AS ANTICIPATED (my emphasis) profits from Fixed Odds Betting Terminals continue to grow and have largely offset reduced margins in the traditional retail betting business,..."

And there it is, or maybe I should say there they are - those FOBTs so much under the spotlight at present. Straight from the horse's mouth, one could say.

The press release continues with a comment on the less than favourable horse racing results compared to last year, and does not mention the Betting Exchanges which have been in direct competition, but the government gift to the bookmakers is already bringing in the money.

As anticipated, indeed, the betting public is getting a raw deal with these no-minimum percentage payback machines. It could be argued that the electronic roulettes are so popular that thousands of people are especially making their way to bookmakers around the country in order to play, and that the profit made on the machines is from grind action, but somehow I don't think so.

I'm glad that Stanley Leisure has "taken an active role in contributing to the deregulation debate and discussions with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport" and I hope that they continue to do well for their shareholders. Just not that they may do it at the expense of their punters and push up the incidence of problem gambling.

Their board "continues to believe that deregulation will be positive for the industry and the Group in particular". With a bit of luck the government will rethink their stated policy on FOBTs, and deregulation will be positive for the public.


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