Gambling

Local Content

The total number of Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in Wirral is 239
42% of these FOBTs were located in the Birkenhead Constituency (100) with 70 located in Wallasey, 35 located in Wirral West and 34 located in Wirral South
In 2016/17, FOBTs in Wirral were estimated to make a net profit of £12.9 million in 2016/17 compared to £11 million in 2012/13
Between 2012/13 and 2016/17 it was estimated that FOBTs made a total profit of £58.5 million
Birkenhead made almost 3 times as much profit from FOBTs in 5 years (£24 million) compared to Wirral South (£8 million)
It is estimated that £78 a year per person (aged 18+) was lost due to gambling on FOBTs in Birkenhead compared to £31 a year per person in Wirral South
If current trends continue it is estimated that £15.4 million a year could be lost on FOBTs by 2021/22

Gambling is a growing Public Health concern with some of the impacts of problem gambling being found below

Estimates from the Citizens Advice Bureau suggest that for every harmful gambler, between 6 and 10 additional people are directly affected. This means 2.5 million to 4.3 million may be affected by problem gambling in Great Britain
A recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research states that harmful gamblers are over 4 times more likely to go to prison than the average member of the population, costing between £40 million to £190 million per year to rehabilitate
A recent survey by the Gambling Commission found that 12% of those aged between 11 and 15 years old had spent their own money on gambling in the previous week
The Gambling Commission also found that there were 33,420 FOBTs in the UK each returning an average profit of £53,887 per machine a year
This means the amount of profit made by FOBTs in the UK was estimated to be £1.8 billion for 2016/17
The total profit made by all forms of gambling in the UK was £13.8 billion - made up primarily from online gambling