Bookies survived and made healthy profits when they only had the odd £35/£70 jackpot slot in there premises.
And I recall there were a lot more of them around too.
They just simply became too greedy,just like some of the big high street names in the amusement industry.
Rates and taxes will still rain in regardless of the stake and thankfully big changes are taking place with the online gaming industry too.
I don't know about some parts of the country but around where I live and where I have family,I have seen a transformation on the high street with many bookmakers disappearing -and this has been happening over the last five years,so me thinks they knew this change was coming!
Jay
No they did not. First everybody went off shore so the government agreed to a fix levey for the bookies - thus creating the 0% tax for the punter
Then and now bet fair has killed the game. Why take 2/1 say on a horse whrn you could get 4/1 or 6/1 online. its only the bread and butter bets of fred and his 10p lucky 15 stuff that gets through. arbing is rife (placing a bet with a bookie and laying it off online for a quick buck win or lose) and their is not enough money in the `pool` to absorb the bookies taking a hit.
i know this because ive been an on-course bookie for some 13 years. Fobt machines with the fix percentage are a guaranteed money earner for the bookies - replacing the lost revenue, infact revenue is so high that its higher than horses and dogs combined. thus arguable, betting is now not the primary sources of income.
If the bill goes through (their is still a long time for bookies to challenge the decision) then many many shops will close and jobs will be lost.
Now lets get some things clear here, bookies make a f*cking killing here and i agree that the stakes are WAY too high, but £13.80 obviously needs to be the maximum on a number to achieve the £500 or the point of a category b2 machines is defunct. £20 per spin seems fair in my eyes and £10 spins in arcades. If the cap sticks then arcade owners need to look at the future, and 20% tax on arcades seems pretty set to increase upto 30%. Arcades will decine, numbers will decrease and the eventual migration to on-line will follow suit.
Nobody makes people spunk their money on roulette, and when they go the average joe who spent every penny will find something else to waste his money on.
remeber - this was NEVER about protecting the vaunerable, it was about bacta members kicking up a fuss and wanting a level playing field.