Brits hooked on bookies' spin/win machines

E-poker is a truly international racket

By Alice Ross, Reprinted with permission from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

It’s 10am and already there’s a knot of men at the back of the betting shop. The strip-lit space is filled with the chatter of racing commentary, but the clients aren’t paying attention. Instead, they’re intently focused on a bank of tall touchscreen machines near the counter.

A man in his sixties in a tatty hat is playing poker games on two machines at once; to either side of him younger men play digital roulette. It’s been half an hour since anybody placed a sports bet, but each of the shop’s four gaming terminals is busy.

Mikheilisn’t having a good morning. He feeds in £20 and arranges hischips on the screen. He hits the Bet button, and watches an animationof a ball circling a roulette wheel, jittering into a slot with aclacking sound. No luck. He plays again. Within a couple of minuteshe’s inserting another £20. The total in his electronic bankswells rapidly – at one point he’s up £170. He could cash it in.But he doesn’t, and it quickly vanishes.(click here for a story about a local court case)

By the time he leaves he’s lost £260, and it’s barely 11am. As a painter and decorator Mikheil earns £400 a week. But this week there’s no work, and he’s whiling away the mornings playing high-speed roulette.

‘It’s one of those things you do, and you know it’s not good, but you do it anyway,’ he says. ‘Even when you win and take your money, it’s not enough – you’ll just lose it again next time.’

Thetotal in his electronic bank swells rapidly – at one point he’sup £170. He could cash it in. But he doesn’t, and it quicklyvanishes. By the time he leaves he’s lost £260, and it’s barely11am.(click here for a previous report)

Outside the shop, someone has broken the glass in the bus stop. This is Green Lanes in Haringey, one of London’s poorest boroughs. Thestreet, a cluttered and unlovely artery road, is filled with batteredgrocers and pawnbrokers; Mikheil is far from the only one driftingabout looking for ways to fill the time. Almost the only bigoperators are the bookmakers – and they are here in force.(click here for a global report)

Within a half-mile stretch there are eight betting shops, including a cluster of four surrounding the post office. You can place a bet inmore places than you can buy a newspaper; bookmakers outnumber banksby four to one.(click here for a local perspective)

All through the afternoon, the crowds in the bookmakers thicken; by 7pm they’re more popular than ever. They will stay open until 10pm.

And although the shops’ windows are plastered with football odds and their interior hums with racing commentary, for much of the day the gaming machines are the main attraction. Men – it is almost always men – charge in to play for 20 minutes, or linger for hours in a trance-like state.

(Clickhere to read the entire piece)