Scots Enjoy FOBT'sForget about Haggis, Scots gamblers seem to have adopted the highly controversial Fixed Odds Betting Terminals as a favorite pastime. We have reported in the past on what many term the “crack cocaine” of gambling. These Fixed-Odds-Betting-Terminals are raising concern all over the UK as players are capable of playing up to £100 every minute on games like roulette, poker and blackjack.

A recent report from the Scottish gambling market seems to add more ammunition to critics of these high-speed gambling terminals. According to the figures released Scots spend a staggering £4.4 billon on FOBT’s between October 2011 and September 2012. This works out to an average of £1057 for every adult in the country and a £176 million surge last year.

With these king of astronomical figures in the air it is no wonder that Ireland is looking to ban these machines but more and more desperate people are playing these machines in the hope of winning big. These figures were provided using betting industry data and were produced by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. Local politicians are scratching their heads as to limit the damage of these ever growing FOTB’s and have suggested everything from a total ban to a limit on the maximum stake.

Of course British bookmakers claim that should the government clamp down on these machines it could result in a loss of over 5500 jobs in 950 betting shops around Scotland. They also claim that the amount of betting machines has remained stable over the last three years.

Whichever way you look at it the issue of FOTB’s is set to keep both legislators and bookmakers on their toes as billions of pounds are at stake for all parties involved.