Impact of online betting?

They are blaming the reduction of limits on those betting machines. Let’s all blame the government for not being able to rip people off as much anymore. The people with the most problematic gambling addictions have had some assistance from the government and now the betting companies have a problem because they can't profit as much from them.

They only kept them open for them machines.

Running shops costs money and most people bet online anyhow.

Good

I think this will be a snowball effect for high street bookies so that soon we are left with one or two per town

Before the reduction of limits on those betting machines there was still a limit of how many they could have in a shop. To get more machines the bookies would open up new shops nearby, some high streets near me had 3 of the same bookies in a short stretch. This was always going to happen once those limits came in.

Those machines are basically theft of money from people that don’t know better or can’t control an addiction. The firms are at pains to promote “when the fun stops” etc online and yet as Aggi suggests they kept making sure there was enough shops for machines where the fun never starts, never mind stops....

Give it 5 years or so when the Indian kebab shops start popping up in their places and suddenly it will be a lost tradition and seen as further dissemination of British culture with campaigns to 'save our local bookies'

I think there will, for a good time yet, be place for the odd local bookies for people who don’t use online services. I’m sure the odd one can survive without those machines...

be glad to see the back of them, most main streets thesedays are awful places, bookies, chicken shops, charity shops, pound shops .

Quickenthetempo wrote:They only kept them open for them machines.

Running shops costs money and most people bet online anyhow.

Correct

Lots of people on here happy about this, without a thought for those losing their jobs

Grumps wrote:Lots of people on here happy about this, without a thought for those losing their jobs

I'm happy about this and I've thought about the loss of jobs and the problems that can bring, and I'm still happy about this.

Claret wrote:I'm happy about this and I've thought about the loss of jobs and the problems that can bring, and I'm still happy about this.

Hopefully you'll never lose your job

Grumps wrote:Lots of people on here happy about this, without a thought for those losing their jobs

When those jobs are purposely poncing on vulnerable people to churn out as many addicts as possible and these scummy parasitic companies use this as a business plan, absolutely!!!

Grumps wrote:Lots of people on here happy about this, without a thought for those losing their jobs

Bookies are like pubs.

They like addicts because it keeps their business ticking over.
They aren't really bothered about the damage a gambling addiction can do, because they're only really interested in the money.
They've never really done enough to help curb addictions and pay lip service to the idea when pressured.

Bet none close down in Burnley

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:Bookies are like pubs.

They like addicts because it keeps their business ticking over.
They aren't really bothered about the damage a gambling addiction can do, because they're only really interested in the money.
They've never really done enough to help curb addictions and pay lip service to the idea when pressured.

That's not the people who work in the shops though, should we close every pub because it leads to alcohol addictions, or the supermarkets who sell booze, fags and scratch cards, all of a sudden the unemployment figures have doubled. There is much could be done in the education of people about addiction, but gloating at people losing their jobs isn't a good thing.

I remember, in the run up to the last election, when bookies where suggesting their staff would be made redundant if Labour won, because of Labour's policy on fixed-odds machines, and that this might make them consider their vote.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... s-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thankfully, the Tories made it policy anyway. You can't run a business that relies on the destitution of addicts to be profitable, however unfortunate it is for the staff who will inevitably lose their jobs.

Grumps wrote:That's not the people who work in the shops though, should we close every pub because it leads to alcohol addictions, or the supermarkets who sell booze, fags and scratch cards, all of a sudden the unemployment figures have doubled. There is much could be done in the education of people about addiction, but gloating at people losing their jobs isn't a good thing.

No the gloating isn't a good thing, but I've commented before about how Bookies are located in specific areas of populated areas.

You won't find one one a well to do area, but you'll find multiple ones in poorer areas because they're targeting certain areas of society, bit like a pub does.

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:No the gloating isn't a good thing, but I've commented before about how Bookies are located in specific areas of populated areas.

You won't find one one a well to do area, but you'll find multiple ones in poorer areas because they're targeting certain areas of society, bit like a pub does.

Strange thought process. Bookies have historically always been situated in town centres, not on posh leafy lanes. Iam sure even the poshest towns and cities have Bookies in exactly the same position the poor towns have them. Relatively local posh towns like Lytham, ilkley, Harrogate, and the well known Cheshire towns all have Bookies in the town centre.
Some of the best pubs in the country are in well to do areas

Grumps wrote:Strange thought process. Bookies have historically always been situated in town centres, not on posh leafy lanes. Iam sure even the poshest towns and cities have Bookies in exactly the same position the poor towns have them. Relatively local posh towns like Lytham, ilkley, Harrogate, and the well known Cheshire towns all have Bookies in the town centre.
Some of the best pubs in the country are in well to do areas

Not as many though. There are (or at least were) proportionally more bookies in more deprived areas.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/cu ... eprivation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The poor areas of burnley, Accrington and Blackburn have lost pubs over the years, the only ones thriving are the gastro pubs in nice areas, look at the threads on here when people ask for recommendations to eat and drink, none of them are in Burnley Wood, stoops or shadsworth, how many Bookies are situated in these poor areas?

Even with these proposed closures William Hill will still have around 1600 shops ready to take the punters cash.

Many of the 700 shops due to close were opened purely to take advantage of the growth of FOBT machines since each betting shop was limited to 4 gaming machines.

kentonclaret wrote:Even with these proposed closures William Hill will still have around 1600 shops ready to take the punters cash.

Many of the 700 shops due to close were opened purely to take advantage of the growth of FOBT machines since each betting shop was limited to 5 gaming machines.

And 4 of those are in Burnley, or is it 5 ?........2 in town, Duke Bar, Park Lane & is there still one close to Scott Park.

Grumps wrote:The poor areas of burnley, Accrington and Blackburn have lost pubs over the years, the only ones thriving are the gastro pubs in nice areas, look at the threads on here when people ask for recommendations to eat and drink, none of them are in Burnley Wood, stoops or shadsworth, how many Bookies are situated in these poor areas?

None ...is the Answer to Burnley wood and stoops. And councils will never permit bookies on a council estate to my knowledge. Not Daft the councils.....

Royboyclaret wrote:And 4 of those are in Burnley, or is it 5 ?........2 in town, Duke Bar, Park Lane & is there still one close to Scott Park.

You missed out briercliffe road.. Padiham road and rosegrove there....

Grumps wrote:The poor areas of burnley, Accrington and Blackburn have lost pubs over the years, the only ones thriving are the gastro pubs in nice areas, look at the threads on here when people ask for recommendations to eat and drink, none of them are in Burnley Wood, stoops or shadsworth, how many Bookies are situated in these poor areas?

So we've established the answer is none directly on those poorer areas, they're just skirted around the edges, close enough for the less well off to get too

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:So we've established the answer is none directly on those poorer areas, they're just skirted around the edges, close enough for the less well off to get too

Those areas you talk about will be the town centres, which if they skirt around the well off areas still have betting shops on the High Street
So the argument they target the poor areas falls down at the first hurdle
what will the next reason be, staff from the shops identifying the poor people in the high street and dragging them in

Grumps wrote:Those areas you talk about will be the town centres, which if they skirt around the well off areas still have betting shops on the High Street
So the argument they target the poor areas falls down at the first hurdle
what will the next reason be, staff from the shops identifying the poor people in the high street and dragging them in

Others have already pointed out that bookies aren't solely on the high street....
Someone else stuck up a link about bookies predominantly being in less well off areas.

I've got nothing else to add tbh, bookies specifically target less well off, are located as such and now the government have cracked down they're closing some branches down.
You can argue the toss with some of the others.

Have fun.

With the William Hill announcement today this means that a total of 2,100 shops may close with around 12,500 job losses when Ladbrokes, Corals and Betfred are included.

However, this is well short of the figure provided to the government by the bookmaking industry, in an attempt to try and persuade them to take a far more lenient approach on gaming machines, when they stated that 4,500 shops would close with up to 21,000 job losses.

What are the odds on that ?

Grumps wrote:The poor areas of burnley, Accrington and Blackburn have lost pubs over the years, the only ones thriving are the gastro pubs in nice areas, look at the threads on here when people ask for recommendations to eat and drink, none of them are in Burnley Wood, stoops or shadsworth, how many Bookies are situated in these poor areas?

Rifle Volunteer is recommended a lot on here ......

bfccrazy wrote:Rifle Volunteer is recommended a lot on here ......

I’m one of them.

Personally I still prefer the high street bookies over online any day for one reason as I do like to receive the cash in the hand when I win.

aggi wrote:Not as many though. There are (or at least were) proportionally more bookies in more deprived areas.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/cu ... eprivation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't poor areas also proportionally contain more people as well? In the same way large towns and cities have big Tesco's, whilst little villages have village stores?

Grumps wrote:The poor areas of burnley, Accrington and Blackburn have lost pubs over the years, the only ones thriving are the gastro pubs in nice areas, look at the threads on here when people ask for recommendations to eat and drink, none of them are in Burnley Wood, stoops or shadsworth, how many Bookies are situated in these poor areas?

I don`t know about shad, but there are no bookies up Stoops or burnley Wood

Before we get to sanctimonious let's remember that Burnley FC shirt sponsors are a betting company and the Club are therefore part of the process that is condemned on here (rightly ) that leads many people into addiction, debt, and family breakdown actively linked to the betting industry.

chipbutty wrote:I don`t know about shad, but there are no bookies up Stoops or burnley Wood

But yet people on here are stating as a fact Bookies target the poor areas, yet the real facts don't back their argument up, not locally anyway.
Betting is not a new thing, growing up in the 50s there were Bookies in town centres, every pub had a Bookies runner, did we suffer with the addiction then, or have we just all gone soft.

As far as addiction today is concerned there has been an explosion of advertising which I find excessive and annoying so can see how some people can fall into addiction.

Let's just close everything that panders to addicts and solve the "everyone else is to blame culture"
Pubs for slcoholics
McDonald's for fat people
Chemist's for prescription drug addicts
Bookies for gambling addicts

You get the drift. People need to be responsible for their own actions and stop blaming everyone who provides thar service.

dandeclaret wrote:Don't poor areas also proportionally contain more people as well? In the same way large towns and cities have big Tesco's, whilst little villages have village stores?

The work divides England into four "deprivation quartiles" each containing approximately a quarter of the adult population so it is comparing on the basis of equal population.

Grumps wrote:But yet people on here are stating as a fact Bookies target the poor areas, yet the real facts don't back their argument up, not locally anyway.
Betting is not a new thing, growing up in the 50s there were Bookies in town centres, every pub had a Bookies runner, did we suffer with the addiction then, or have we just all gone soft.

https://www.yell.com/s/bookmakers-burnley.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have a scroll through and you'll see they aren't all in town centres as you're suggesting.