With just a month left for bookies to squeeze every last penny out of their FOBT players, the clock really is ticking, and with redundancies being announced at many betting shops once the reduction in stake levels on those gaming machines take effect, many betting shop operators are forecasting doom and gloom in the months ahead.
It is an highly likely that once those stake level reductions take effect, the only type of customer the fixed odds betting terminals are going to attract are those that fancy playing slot machines, for it is difficult to see how players are going to enjoy playing roulette for a maximum stake per spin of just £2.
A massive push is currently underway to get FOBT players to play at online casino sites owned by betting shop operators, and you will see on the screen of those gaming machines adverts for their online casino sites and information on how to play the games on offer via a mobile app, too.
The problem with online casino sites and mobile casino apps is that whilst they do allow roulette players, for example, to log on and play at any time of the day or night, and in the case of mobile casino apps, from anywhere a player happens to be, players do not appear to get the same compulsion to play at those sites and on those apps as they do to play the FOBT’s inside their local betting shop.
Whether FOBT players are going to start gambling more online than they previously did remains to be seen, but it does have to be said that with much higher staking options than were ever available on fixed odds betting terminals, those players with gambling related problems really should avoid doing so.
