A quest for fairer gambling LOINERS EYE INTERVIEWS MATT –ZARB COUSIN, CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOR THE FAIRER GAMBLING ORGANISATION.

Matt –Zarb Cousin, pushing for change

Aims of the fairer gambling campaign  Matt and the fairer gambling organisation want FOBT gaming machines either banned completely or placed under tighter controls.  Some of the changes Matt hopes for include  Maximum of £2 per spin  A limit of one machine per shop  Tighter controls over the amount of betting shops been granted licences

Four FOBTs per shop

£100 pound per spin

Success for fairer gambling campaign

Fairer gambling campaign making progress  Matt welcomed the recent decision of the government to reject calls from the select committee to ease restrictions on FOBT gaming machines.  Matt spoke further of his and the fairer gambling campaigns satisfaction with the Governments decision to include FOBTs in the Triennial review of stakes and prizes  Matt calls for a freeze on the licencing of bookmakers within the Uk

Matt calls for a freeze on licencing of new bookmakers

City of Leeds

Has 36 bookmakers in the city alone

Stop the FOBTs Geofuture map

Matt encourages people to lobby their vote  Stop the FOBTs Geofuture map allows residents within an area to see how much money has been gambled on FOBT machines within their constituency.  The site allows constituents to vote against the machines by lobbying their local MP through the an online petition.

Astronomical amounts of money gambled within Leeds and the Morley area

£167 million an eye watering figure  The Geofuture map for 2012 shows that over £137 million was gambled on FOBT machines in Leeds city centre alone.  30 million pounds gambled on FOBTs in Morley

Ed Balls tells Loiners eye “something needs to be done”.  Ed Balls Morley MP, claims Labour has called for an urgent review of fixed odds betting terminals  Demanded that betting shops be put in their own planning use class to give local authorities more power on the number of betting shops on our high streets.

Edd and Labour have work to do

As FOBTs are providing large tax revenue for current Government