Since 2008, UK gamblers have squandered £11.4 billion playing games such as poker and roulette on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). These sophisticated gaming machines, often referred to as the crack cocaine of gambling, are to be found in high street bookies and casinos across Britain, allowing people to bet up to £100 every 20 seconds.
Not only is this helping to create a huge swell in problem gambling, it is also affecting the economy, because this spend has little ripple effect, flowing directly into relatively few pockets without generating a significant number of jobs.
Hounslow in south-west London huddles directly beneath the planes taking off and landing at Heathrow airport. A comparatively poor area of the capita…
Read the full article at: http://theconversation.com/gamblings-crack-cocaine-is-devastating-lives-and-not-doing-much-for-the-economy-either-77663