Latest article on High Street bookies

[RickBFA]

www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/big-gamble-dangerous-british-betting-shops?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Not great reading for the High Street Bookies.

[arbboy]

No FOBT's = No shops.  It is that simple in 2016.  Great article. Thanks for posting.

[ripple11]

Yes great article...horrible to read.

No way these shops, (all now with the FOBT's) should be single manned at any time, never mind the evening.

[DMorgan]

What a job...

I don't really understand why the employees manning the shops on their own wouldn't be able to walk into an equally paid but less aggro job if they've been deemed competent enough to run a shop on their own, handle cash etc?

[arbboy]

Yes great article...horrible to read.

No way these shops, (all now with the FOBT's) should be single manned at any time, never mind the evening.

Are city centre amusement arcades single manned in the evening?   I doubt it at any time.  Betting shops are no more than amusement arcades nowadays before 1pm and after 6pm.

[RickBFA]

What a job...

I don't really understand why the employees manning the shops on their own wouldn't be able to walk into an equally paid but less aggro job if they've been deemed competent enough to run a shop on their own, handle cash etc?

I have a feeling some of these people don't realise what they are walking into.

If you have done the rounds of bookies getting bets on they are often manned by young people.

I doubt they understood the culture in the shops these days when they took the job.

I bet the turnover of staff is horrendous.

Shocking indictment of modern day High Street "bookmakers".

[arbboy]

Will be amazed if shops exist in ten years time.  I remember 15 years ago people falling off their chairs laughing in meetings at 365 about people being able to place bets on their phones in a few years.   People would mainly laugh now if you said shops wouldn't exist in 10 years in the same way. 

[arbboy]

http://community.betfair.com/horse_racing/go/thread/view/94102/30697107/the-guardian---the-dangerous-world-of-british-betting-shops#flvWelcomeHeader

Betfair forum's view on the article if anyone is interested.

[Jamier-Host]

Thanks for posting.

It seems to suggest that single manning is a new thing, but it was common to work alone in quieter shops during summer evening racing back around 1999-2003 when I worked for Coral. The last 2 or 3 hours you'd be left alone to look after the handful of punters betting on the racing or playing the fruities. I would say the average customer has shifted though and there is less of the friendly crowd of regulars these days based on my rare visits. The FOBTs (and online betting generally) really have changed the atmosphere for the worse and they're just not nice places to be.

Ok maybe they were never exactly "nice"....!

[hhyftrftdr]

Very interesting read, thanks for sharing.

[Doobs]

Will be amazed if shops exist in ten years time.  I remember 15 years ago people falling off their chairs laughing in meetings at 365 about people being able to place bets on their phones in a few years.   People would mainly laugh now if you said shops wouldn't exist in 10 years in the same way. 

I must have had phone accounts with bookmakers maybe 25 years ago.  I joined betfair/flutter in 2002.  Guess 365 is in Stoke though!

Gruesome reading.  I am pretty sure all the evidence was available from Australia when the FOBTs were introduced here. The stories about the corrosive effect of pokies were front page news there 20 years ago, so it wasn't like they would have to dig hard.

[4KSuited]

It's a terrible state of affairs. Of course there's no easy solution that doesn't involve draconian measures.

I frequent a Corals in a pretty genteel postcode, and yet there have been at least two armed robberies in the last few years. The staff cope with this daily threat with astounding stoicism - more than half of whom are female. There's a new girl in training just now, and I'm certain that she hasn't got a clue about how dangerous her situation is. Even I've felt uncomfortable & intimidated by some of these guys who rage at the machines when they're in the process of squandering £hundreds.

I agree with arb, most of these high street bookies will be gone in 10 years' time. Hopefully with FOBT's with a maximum spin of £20 and a track-record of zero robberies over the previous 24 months, given some new legislation.

[Horneris]

All about location innit, when I worked in a bookies in my early 20s in a lovely Yorkshire market town the shop was delightful. When you go to some of the ones in the poorer parts of Leeds you want to kill yourself the second you walk through the door.

[thesilkworm]

Thanks for sharing this - an interesting (if depressing) read. I worked in Ladbrokes shops around ~2005. For the most part it was enjoyable enough with most regulars there for the racing and football accumulators, but there were some early signs that the FOBTs were problematic (nothing close to the extent of the stories in the article). I wouldn't like to work in some of the shops I worked in now.

[Chompy]

I did a settling course in Leicester for Coral back in '89 or '90. After the six weeks we were all put into shops.

Mostly they went somewhere to learn but me and another guy, who was also around 20, were given a shop in Luton that had been shut for over a month after two armed raids.

Incred really.