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UK slot machine firms are under fire again, this time for purportedly targeting their operations in some of the country’s most economically deprived areas.Top Crypto Casino in Saudi Arabia – BitStarz Ranked #1

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper revealed that slot machine profits are being syphoned to billionaire-owned firms and offshore funds. The paper’s findings have sparked outrage from all corners, including high-profile politicians such as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

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The report showed that over a third of the UK’s 1,452 adult gaming centers (AGCs) were disproportionately located in the poorest 10% of neighborhoods. Furthermore, over half of the UK’s AGCs were situated in the bottom 20% of the poorest communities, with coastal towns, already struggling economically, particularly affected.

Major slot machine operators such as Admiral, owned by Austrian billionaire Johann Graf’s Novomatic, and Merkur, affiliated with Germany’s Gauselmann family, have rapidly expanded into these vulnerable areas. Both companies operate hundreds of gambling venues across the country, many of which are open 24 hours a day.

These locations offer B3 slot machines, which feature £2 max spins and jackpots up to £500. Earlier this year, the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced its decision to review the “80/20 rule” relating to machines has been delayed indefinitely and will not happen in 2025. 

According to recent government-published figures, these gaming hubs earned over £530 million in the last year alone. Academics and public health experts have highlighted how companies are profiting from vulnerable UK citizens before redistributing their earnings offshore, diminishing the economic benefits derived from the AGC sector.

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City Gaming, another prominent operator who runs the Game Nation chain, is funded as part of a Cayman Islands loan proviso linked to a Morgan Stanley-managed private equity fund. The report revealed that the firm paid over £12.6 million in interest alone to the offshore lender without paying any UK corporation tax.

Meanwhile, in some wealthier areas of the country, AGCs are non-existent. Fourteen local councils do not have any AGCs in their boroughs – eight of which qualify in the country’s top 20% of most affluent areas.

As a result, public figures, including Andy Burnham, have called for stronger local licensing powers to reduce AGC numbers on UK high streets. He has also called for the need to reclassify the legal statuses of AGC, particularly as they appear to target “the most vulnerable in our communities.”

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In addition to the perceived targeting of at-risk communities, concerns over the proliferation of problematic gambling are also rising. The most vocal of which has been Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, NHS England’s National Adviser on Gambling-Related Harm.

Bowden-Jones warned that 24/7 slot machine access is designed to keep people playing “against their own interests” before adding that the NHS is seeing record demand at its 15 designated gambling clinics. 

Labour MP Beccy Cooper echoed these concerns, accusing AGC operators of “lining their pockets at the expense of our poorest communities.”

Countering the issues raised in the report, Bacta, the trade body representing AGC operators, reiterated that the industry employs over 9,000 workers and contributes over £200 million a year in UK taxes.

With more than 100 new AGC venues opening since 2020—many of which are in the UK’s poorest communities—critics argue the government needs to tighten its grip on the sector and start clawing back taxable proceeds currently being diverted offshore.