The State of The UK's High Street Bookmakers FOBT Slots.

Stuart Chapman

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Joined
Feb 4, 2025
Location
Poole
Some might think I'm exaggerating here but I can assure you that it's a fair reflection of all which I've experienced on bookies FOBT over the last 8 or so years:

Yesterday I put well over £400 in a bookies (WH) FOBT Slot (brand new game) and recieved Precisely ZERO Gameplay or Value For Money for the cash inserted At All, this is about the 1,000th time that this exact same experience has happened to me for similar or larger amounts of money lost over the best part of the last decade or so and it is Patently Obvious to me now that I am not recieving any fairness or fair chance of winning anything at all . . . So, the question undoubtedly is 'What On Earth Is Wrong With Bookmakers FOBT Slot Offerings!!?'.

Despicable would literally be an understatement to describe how appalling the nature of the constant losing spins 'gameplay' I have received for my money on these 'slot machines' has actually been in reality.

At this point in 2025 it actually feels more so than ever like these high street shops are basically just stealing my money now without even so much as a cursory nod towards fairness at all and judging from all I've seen during my own 'gameplay' and that of other players losing their money right next to me, I'm certain that I'm not alone in how angry I feel.

The bottom line is that the FOBT Slots gambling currently 'On Offer' to UK Gamblers is Appallingly Unfair and I have proven this beyond all doubt through my very own shockingly bad experiences and the huge financial losses that these sessions have inflicted upon me cumulatively.

Who should I make representation to about these losses and the unfairness reflected in the dreadful rtp% performance throughout my own woeful experiences playing(?) the FOBT units in these high street chains / shops because The UKGC has openly informed me in writing that they no longer enforce or check rtp% performance of any gambling products (neither the hardware nor software) anywhere within the UK because it would be 'Impractical To Do So!', and also where do I complain about the lack of real world lawful performance of FOBT units at these high street establishments, If indeed that is (as I strongly suspect) what is actually occurring on a daily basis within these establishments in reality?
 
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They are not known as the 'Crack Cocaine of the High Street' for no reason. I remember when they first came out and appearing in bookies up and down the country. I was working for Ladbrokes International in Gibraltar - Basically Sportsbook the then newly launched online casino and poker sites and telephone betting, until that went back to the UK in 2001 ).

The figures that FOBT's generated in some shops became the majority of said shops turnover. Hence the 4 FOBT per shop rule was got around by opening up another branch a few hundred yards down the same street.

Obviously the bet limits now put in place have helped somewhat, but they are still IMO a bad thing. Definitely steer well clear.
 
They are not known as the 'Crack Cocaine of the High Street' for no reason. I remember when they first came out and appearing in bookies up and down the country. I was working for Ladbrokes International in Gibraltar - Basically Sportsbook the then newly launched online casino and poker sites and telephone betting, until that went back to the UK in 2001 ).

The figures that FOBT's generated in some shops became the majority of said shops turnover. Hence the 4 FOBT per shop rule was got around by opening up another branch a few hundred yards down the same street.

Obviously the bet limits now put in place have helped somewhat, but they are still IMO a bad thing. Definitely steer well clear.
Well it would help if there were not a prolifiartion of arcades wtih countless £500 slots all over the place with no real restriction on access.
 
Sadly I think I have to concede that I have been rather foolish in the extreme to persist in locking horns with these Bookmakers chains and their slot machines.

In retrospect it is now abundantly clear that I was never going to actually conquer their coding or find any edge through repeated gameplay / observation no matter how much time or money I could supply or invest into the process.

All that my own personal experimentation has proven is that those machines are set up to take profits regularly and efficiently against the backdrop of time, they are solely and purposefully designed to make certain of the bottom line profit and they do that as fast as the player allows.

Every. Single. Day.
 
Sadly I think I have to concede that I have been rather foolish in the extreme to persist in locking horns with these Bookmakers chains and their slot machines.

In retrospect it is now abundantly clear that I was never going to actually conquer their coding or find any edge through repeated gameplay / observation no matter how much time or money I could supply or invest into the process.

All that my own personal experimentation has proven is that those machines are set up to take profits regularly and efficiently against the backdrop of time, they are solely and purposefully designed to make certain of the bottom line profit and they do that as fast as the player allows.

Every. Single. Day.
I haven’t been in a betting shop for a long time but I very much doubt the rtp is above 80% and if it is, there’s no guarantee that’s what they’re actually paying. This Industry is a law unto itself and is regulated by nobody. Gambling in the UK absolutely stinks and always has.
 
Back in my early matched betting days before I graduated to high risk casino offers, I used to do the in-person bookmaker offers as I lived in Dundee city centre so was very close to all the big names.

Being in those shops was some of the most depressing stuff ever. I'd get FOBT offers regularly and it was painful to see the same people in there next to me spinning away on roulette on separate visits.

Staff were generally okay but Betfred had a real jobsworth who didn't like me 🤣

I even once got an offer in the cashino, as it was linked to the online casino version. That was an even more depressing place. As others have mentioned the amount of those in the town has tripled by now I think
 
Got to feel sorry for the guy playing the machine on the far right, he keeps going back and spinning while dude is mid rampage until he finally kills his machine
Rampage man probably saved him quite a few quid. :eek2:
 

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