British gamblers losing more than £1 billion a year - Telegraph.co.uk

They show that just two bookmaking chains, William Hill and Ladbrokes, saw a combined total of £12.5 billion being wagered on FOBTs last year.

Since the law was changed to allow high street bookmakers to install up to four FOBTs per shop, 300 more have opened.

The programme will claim that these are concentrated in low-income areas, with 12 shops per 100,000 residents compared to five per 100,000 in more affluent neighbourhoods.

They include Deptford High Street in south London where there are 10 shops within three-quarters of a mile.

On the same programme, Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, admitted that the last government had ruined people's lives by allowing the spread of FOBT machines.

She said: "If we had known then what we know now we wouldn't have allowed this, because it's not just ruining the high street it's ruining people's lives."

Last month, MPs on the House of Commons Culture Committee called for bookies to be allowed to install still more FOBTs, saying that gambling restrictions were harming local and regional economies.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, which oversees the Gambling Act, said: "The Government has no plans to amend the gambling act unless there is clear evidence of a need to do so".