The state of UK High Street Gaming

[catapultaudio]

I haven't seen a huge amount of discussion here at AG regarding the recent changes to the UK "High Street" gaming rules regarding FOBTs, I suspect that's because us Brits are a minority here (though forgive me if I've just searched incorrectly) but I think it's a topic worth bringing up anyway - the implications could surely spread to other countries and there's no question the same crazy "you must be saved from yourself" activists are now turning their attentions to online. 

First of all, most of you are surely aware that the maximum stake for these high Street machines was recently reduced from £100 to £2 a spin. Now obviously that's somewhat reasonable for slots in an unregulated environment... Even at £2 a spin its very easy to lose a lot of money very quickly.

The knock on effect of this has been huge numbers of store closures and hence job losses, and whilst its hard to feel sorry for the bookmakers here of course, isn't it surely inevitable that many of these players will now have switched to playing online?? 

 

Important questions no doubt, but here's where it gets really interesting... Watching one of my usual you tubers recently I noticed an alarming "feature" had been added to (I believe) Corals in store roulette game.... 

Now, instead of placing your bets straight on the wheel, you place up to 100 virtual chips around the layout and then place a bet of up to £2 at selectable odds(up to 10/1 I believe) . If your bet wins your roulette round is played, with the value of your virtual chips determined by the odds of the initial bet - otherwise your two pounds are gone inside a second. I watched him lose around £20 in the blink of an eye just trying to get a spin out of the thing. You have to ask if this is adhering to the rules in good faith surely? 

I'm sure that your chips are then valued above 10x your stake as well, therefore I'm not even certain if it's a "fair" bet to begin with. Factor in a couple of 50/50 double up games after the round and your going to be throwing your money away very, very often trying to reach the old £500 max win.

 

Nb, heavily edited for length so I hope my points are still clear

[cocopop3011]

Really? Which ones have closed, strange I haven't heard anything. I also had no idea the betting limit had been reduced, but certainly haven't heard of any high street bookies closing down. Or do you mean arcades?

[pinnit2015]

4 hours ago, cocopop3011 said:

Really? Which ones have closed, strange I haven't heard anything. I also had no idea the betting limit had been reduced, but certainly haven't heard of any high street bookies closing down. Or do you mean arcades?

Quite a few - exception being Paddy Power as they didn't really buy into the FOBT model, which had been subsidising some of the reductions of normal betting in the shops.

Approximately 1/4 or a tad more of all the shops have/are planning to shut down. 

Last time i checked most places revenues were approx. 40% of the shops revenue.

William Hill plan on ditching 700 of theirs coming up. Coral etc have had a few but some of that may be a result of the merger with ladbrokes. 

Horrible machines - why would you want to spin 100 quid to win a max of 500, or whatever it is - get onto DOA2 online and win 9k with 9p

[RaX]

The way i see it if i cannot win big on the high street which is the case now , i rather go online and gamble but hopeing for a organsation that makes sure these online casinos are legit, ive played far too may NEW ONES which look suspect to me as i dont even win a spin at times

[cocopop3011]

On 10/5/2019 at 4:19 AM, pinnit2015 said:

Quite a few - exception being Paddy Power as they didn't really buy into the FOBT model, which had been subsidising some of the reductions of normal betting in the shops.

Approximately 1/4 or a tad more of all the shops have/are planning to shut down. 

Last time i checked most places revenues were approx. 40% of the shops revenue.

William Hill plan on ditching 700 of theirs coming up. Coral etc have had a few but some of that may be a result of the merger with Ladbrokes. 

Horrible machines - why would you want to Spin 100 quid to win a max of 500, or whatever it is - get onto DOA2 online and win 9k with 9p

My dad hasn't mentioned anything and he's a regular visitor to them. But he's almost 70 now and even he has turned to placing bets online so it doesn't surprise me. 

[pinnit2015]

1 hour ago, cocopop3011 said:

My dad hasn't mentioned anything and he's a regular visitor to them. But he's almost 70 now and even he has turned to placing bets online so it doesn't surprise me. 

*Locks door*

If you can't gamble from the warmth and comfort of your own toilet seat, what's the point?' So the saying goes. 

*Flushes*

[Flatzem]

how did they ever decide on a max win of 500 quid, that's ludicrous.

[pinnit2015]

The biggest crime IMO of FOBT is the sheer lack of value for money they offered - once they were in the GC's sight it was only a matter of time before attention was turned online - now the same people, who rejoiced at the capping of stakes, are now complaining about the nanny states in the possible limiting of future stakes online (bonus buys are already being pulled)- don't know if they're hypocritical at worst, naive at best. No doubt there are nuances but still. 

Having said that, if you could win on them, they were great for money laundering - shovel the money in, take a hit with RTP being 90-94%, and exchange for a cash voucher. 

[cocopop3011]

9 hours ago, Flatzem said:

how did they ever decide on a max win of 500 quid, that's ludicrous.

I haven't played many of the machines in a betting shop. I did try something like Rainbow  Riches before and it was a mininum £2.50 per spin! Ridiculous.

[Fiekie247]

8 hours ago, cocopop3011 said:

I haven't played many of the machines in a betting shop. I did try something like Rainbow  Riches before and it was a mininum £2.50 per Spin! Ridiculous.

We all know you can afford that - You need slots that's minimum 10 quid a spin

[pinnit2015]

6 hours ago, Fiekie247 said:

We all know you can afford that - You need slots that's minimum 10 quid a Spin

For the difference, 7.50, I do a sexy bonus inducing dance around the machines, sort of like a rain one, but it brings the scatters in. 

[cocopop3011]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:28 PM, pinnit2015 said:

For the difference, 7.50, I do a sexy bonus inducing dance around the machines, sort of like a rain one, but it brings the scatters in. 

>>> Sending my entire bank balance to Mr,P 

[pinnit2015]

1 hour ago, cocopop3011 said:

>>> Sending my entire bank balance to Mr,P 

Need to bring apple music to stream the music though - thinking Dire Straits would be quite apt; Money For Nothing

[catapultaudio]

Oh wow I'm sorry I missed this discussion now. Nobody replied for days so I just figured nobody was interested!

 

Yep, here in Leeds huge swathes of bookies have recently disappeared. Even in the city centre it has all been consolidated instead of there being like 8-10 branches of hills dotted around its now more like 2 or 3 in the whole of the city centre. Just one Coral, one Ladbrokes and one Paddys  now too. That part does at least make sense, but I feel bad for all the people that lost their jobs - the industry shouldn't have been allowed to get out of hand like that if they were going to yank it in such draconian style.

The maximum win has been £500 for a while, which yes, is ludicrous - sometimes you end up in a feature with 20 spins left which just get binned and the bonus completes at £500 instead... then you've got the mind-numbing delay in between spins, which they try and mitigate by making the money count up and down ultraaaaa sllloowwwllyy..... 

For all intents and purposes the FOBT scene is as good as dead now. I'm  just terrified of any of these controls making it online!