It seems that local communities in the UK are marshalling their forces against the proliferation of betting shops. On Saturday it was reported that a protest march was being held in London’s Tottenham district in support of a Haringey Council study by its Overview & Scrutiny Committee, to examine the effect of the influx of gambling outlets. On 19 July 2010 the full Council considered the question whether the liberalisation of gambling laws, through the Gambling Act (2005), has allowed for the clustering of betting shops, which may be having an adverse impact on the communities in which they are operating.

In July Haringey Council refused an application to open a betting shop from Irish bookmaker Paddy Power but the company launched an appeal. The result of that appeal is due 15 December and hundreds of local signatures have been collected in a campaign opposing more betting shops. On 10 November an extended scrutiny panel meeting gathered evidence from a wide range of local services, gambling organisations and local residents in order to draw conclusions and make recommendations on the proliferation issue. Representatives from the Gambling Commission, the Association of British Bookmakers, the Metropolitan Police and problem gambling charity GamCare were amongst those attending the meeting.

In Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset, a local Member of Parliament has brought the issue of the proliferation of betting shops to the attention of the government. MP Tessa Munt spoke during a debate in the House of Commons regarding the future of bookmakers and planning. She called for local authorities to be given more powers to determine where such businesses be located and urged the government to consider new legislation to allow local authorities to insist the location of bookmakers be above ground level and away from prominent high street positions, to guard against underage gambling.

At present the government takes the view that is not necessary to consider whether a national view would be proportionate when there is no evidence to suggest that the proliferation of betting shops is a widespread problem that requires national legislation. Tessa Munt disagrees, commenting that she has to deal with casework involving increasingly younger people who have to look for help because of gambling debt.

Whilst there may be little hard evidence that more betting shops in one area may increase problem gambling, public conception decrees otherwise and local councils are beginning to question the lack of scope they have for influencing the number and locations of betting shops in their districts. It could be argued that more competition amongst bookmakers should provide customers with a better deal, but for the non-gambling public the appearance of their local high street is not enhanced by too many bookmakers.

With businesses closing along many high streets in Britain and with bookmakers being part of one of the few growth industries in the present economic climate, it seems likely that both residents and councils will continue to demand more control in planning decisions. Concerned citizens perhaps should place more emphasis on the reasons behind the proliferation of bookmakers along Britain’s high streets. The nefarious FOBTs legally available in increasing numbers certainly push up the profits of bookmakers and the more outlets they have the bigger those profits grow. (E-11.29.10)

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