Members of Parliament (MPs) can be useful when complaining and campaigning. Most people have never spoken to their local MP let alone met them: We would like you to and we will help you to. MPs rely on your vote to get and keep their well paid job, therefore if their local electorate regularly mentions a topic it is in their interests to pay attention to the topic and hopefully do something.
Why should your local MP be interested in gambling injustices? How about:
1. Each fixed odds betting terminal (FOBTs) in a betting shop makes a profit of circa £50,000.00 per annum. So, if you have six bookmakers in your town centre, that is likely to equal 24 FOBTs and £1.2 million in losses. This money could be spent locally, enhancing your local economy, but most of this profit presently leaves your town.
2. UK betting shop crime according to recent freedom of information data has risen to one per day.
3. In addition to betting shop crime there are hundreds of other cases linked to crime that frequently leads to sentencing, including prison sentences. How much of your tax is being spent on gambling linked to the criminal justice system? You may not gamble, but you are losing money, because of the gambling industry.
4. The suicide rate for problem gamblers is higher than for those addicted to illegal drugs.
5. The morals of the above are all very dubious, but when you combine it with a modern bookmaking culture that bans all ‘winners’, however small, you can see why we feel that everything is not ‘fair and open’ in the world of licensed gambling.
The government and regulators have the power to change things. We just need to convince them it’s the right thing to do. Help us by contacting your MP today.
Find your MP and how to contact them
Sending an email or letter to your MP: Help
Meeting your MP at a local clinic: Help
