Fears grow over rise of ‘under the radar’ all-night slot machine halls in UK

Former slot machine addict Tracey, 62, from Watford, who asked to give only her first name, received a three-year prison sentence in 2020 for stealing £70,000 from her employer to feed her gambling addiction.

“I would take a cab from my house to the Merkur [venue] in Watford at 5am,” she said. “I could easily spend £2,000-£3,000 in a single visit.” Tracey, who now counsels other addicts, claimed: “There’s no duty of care. You become a favourite customer because you’re out of control.”

The slot machines with the biggest payouts are known as B3 machines. These have a maximum stake of £2, but a spin speed for each game of two-and-a-half seconds. It means it is possible to stake hundreds of pounds in hours.

One former customer, who asked to remain anonymous, said he turned to slot-machine centres after participating in self-exclusion schemes at betting shops and casinos. “I went into several Admiral and Merkur venues last year,” he said. “It’s ridiculous to say the £2 limit is any kind of barrier. I lost over £1,000 very quickly.”

We hear about this sort of thing – unlucky gamblers constantly losing – a lot.

But why don’t we hear about the gamblers addicted to winning? There is either a deliberate attempt to falsely represent the practice, or what is falsely presented as gambling is in fact no such thing.

If it is the case that a great many people lose for the occasional one who wins, I point out that those playing are either ignorant or selfishly hoping that they will be the one to profit from the loss of many others.

Gambling is to be encouraged; it is part of the adventurous spirit from which most good things come. But a machine that robotically takes in a pound for every 90p paid out is not gambling on anything except whether the odd player can indulge in some of the money extracted from all the rest. It is the same psychology as the concentration camp ‘sonderkommando’, though I suspect few realise it.