A CRACKDOWN on high-stakes betting terminals has been demanded after new research showed betting shops were targetting Scotland's poor.
Senior figures in both main political parties want to see powers promised in the Smith Commission over fruit machines and casino games used quickly to limit their number.
The calls came after a Scottish Parliament study showed the concentration of betting shops had shot up in deprived communities over the last decade.
Fixed-odds betting terminals, or FOBTs - dubbed the crack cocaine of gambling - have boomed in betting shops since Labour liberalised the industry, a decision it now regrets.
Each shop can have no more than four machines.
However, there are now so many such outlets in poor parts of Scottish cities that critics believe the country has effectively introduced the kind of supercasinos rejected by Westminster years ago.
The gambling industry strongly denies that it deliberately targets poor areas, insisting its shops reflect traditional demand.
However, Spice, the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, painted a different picture.
Spice found that problem gambling is seven times higher in deprived areas, seven times higher among harmful drinkers, six times higher among the mentally ill and Scots spend 10 per cent more than the English and Welsh on gambling.
It also found a growing concentration of betting shops in deprived areas over time as the profits of gambling businesses grew.
It concluded: "Scotland's most income-deprived communities account for more than one in five of Scotland's gambling jobs compared to around one in fifty in the least income-deprived communities.
"Nearly one in five of Scotland's most income-deprived communities have gambling businesses within them compared to around one in twenty-five of the least income-deprived communities."
John Mason, the Glasgow SNP MSP, has long campaigned against the spread of FOBTs.
He said: "The gambling and betting industry claims to be a part of the retail sector. In reality they are exploiting our poorest citizens.
"The Smith Commission proposes some control of bookmakers and gambling coming to Scotland. I would welcome that but would hope we do not have to wait until 2020 to make changes.
"This is actually a UK problem and I would like to see Westminster tightening up on gambling generally."
Labour-controlled Glasgow City Council has also warned of the spread of the bookmaker industry in the city - and links with payday loans.
City Treasurer Paul Rooney said: "This Spice research certainly appears to lend weight to the argument and what we have observed in communities across Glasgow: that areas with the greatest density of bookies and gambling machines were more likely to be poorer, with lower-than-average economic activity and more people in lower-paid jobs.
"We have been lobbying for changes to planning regulations to allow councils to rule on any new or relocated betting shops - and the Scottish Government has finally started to take that possibility seriously, but we need to do more in terms of the harm that problem gambling inflicts on individuals, families and communities.
"The Smith Commission gives us an opportunity to look at how we might do that and we shouldn't waste any time."
The Scottish Government stressed that gambling laws remained reserved to Westminster. A spokeswoman said: "We share concerns around the impact of problem gambling in Scotland.
"That's why we believe gambling legislation must be reviewed to make sure it is effective.
"The Smith Commission has recommended the devolution of powers to prevent the proliferation of Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals and we will wait to see the detailed proposals from them on this."
The Association of British Bookmakers denies "targetting" poor areas but admits it does a lot of business in them.
A spokesman said: "We certainly have shops in deprived areas, as do all types of retailers, but many of those bookmakers have been there for 10, 20 or even 30 years.
"They are shops that were opened to cater for demand for gambling in working class areas that goes back more than fifty years. As the report notes, 70% of people like to gamble, so there is great demand for our products."
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