All bets are off as Paddy Power seeks to expand through UK

LONDON LETTER:Local neighbourhoods in London are being urged to save their streets from a proliferation of new betting shops

PADDY POWER, the €1 billion Irish betting company, is not very popular on the High Road in Tottenham. Neither, to be fair, are its competitors, Corals, Ladbrokes, Betfred, Metrobet or William Hills.

The Irish company had wanted to open a new shop, one of a 100, as it continues its rapid growth in the UK. The High Road shop in north London had been occupied for years by Everybody’s Music, one of the oldest Afro-Caribbean music stores in the capital.

Locals, including Douglas Williams, who have seen 13 betting shops open on or around the High Street, protested, urging fellow residents to “save” their street. “You know you have a vampire sucking the life out of your community and you can’t do anything about it,” he says.

In July, Haringey Council turned down Paddy Power’s application to open in Everybody’s Music. The company appealed, although this was turned down last week by the government’s planning inspectorate. It ruled that he betting shop “would have an adverse effect on the vitality, viability and predominantly retail function of the [High Street] centre due to the loss of a retail spot in a prominent location”.

Since changes to the law in 2005, it is easier for bookmakers to open new premises, as they are no longer barred from opening branches directly beside their competitors, or, indeed, one of their own shops.

The number of betting shops in Haringey has stayed the same, while in Tottenham it has dropped, says the Association of British Bookmakers. It contends that members are reacting only to supply-and-demand. However, they have become more concentrated in areas.

Almost all, bar 10, of Haringey’s betting shops are located in Wood Green town centre, Tottenham, and Green Lanes – the poorest parts of the council area, while just 10 are found in the more affluent west side, covering Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Highgate.

Thirteen are to be found between Turnpike Lane tube station and Wood Green tube station. Locals such as Douglas Williams argue that they have seriously damaged the “feel” of the area, driven up rents and encouraged criminal, or nuisance, behaviour.

Betting shops are a vital source of income for bookmakers, despite all the advertising and hype surrounding internet betting. Just 6 per cent of people placed bets online in 2008/9, according to the Gambling Commission. That number has risen since, but the shops still matter.

Local Labour councillor Nilgun Canver draws strength from Paddy Powers’ High Road defeat, saying it will encourage those who want to keep local communities alive, rather than depend on distant chain-shops.

“Betting shops seem to target areas of deprivation, where residents can least afford to squander money and, with the offer of a quick fix, provide an allure for those who can least afford to bet,” he says.

Local Labour MP David Lammy has urged the government to change the law again so that betting shops are treated in the same way as casinos and amusement arcades, rather than as financial services.

Tottenham has 39 bookmakers, but no bookshop, Lammy says. He told the House of Commons: “We are seeing institutions that form the fabric of our local communities being taken over by big business.”

Backing a private member’s Bill from Conservative MP Nigel Adams, which would give local authorities greater powers, Lammy said the failure of existing planning laws had allowed betting shops “to cluster and dominate an entire commercial area”.

However, communities and local government minister Bob Neill had little comfort to offer, saying that amending the laws would be “a disproportionate response” when there was no evidence that betting shop numbers were a problem.

The main business for betting shops is no longer horse-racing. Even soccer betting is now more popular. Instead, the real money comes from fixed-odds betting terminals – a high-speed high- cost version of gaming machines.

Punters can bet up to £100 on a single bet and bet three to five times every minute. Lammy says these terminals are betting’s equivalent of crack cocaine. The maker of casino games, Derek Webb of Prime Table Games, is equally condemnatory. So far, they are banned in Ireland.

Under the law, bookmakers are prevented from having more than four terminals in a branch, which, say opponents, explains why one can find branches of Ladbrokes, Corals – although not so far Paddy Powers – operating within yards of each other.

For Paddy Powers, defeat on the High Road marks a bump on its growth in the UK. “We are involved in a hugely aggressive expansion plan there,” said spokesman Paddy Power. “By the end of next year, we will have another 50 shops. We plan to grow, punters seem to like it.”

The British betting market has long been dominated by Ladbrokes, which has 2,080 branches, William Hill, 2,228, Corals, 1,630, and Betfred has 808, out of nearly 9,000 in England, Scotland and Wales.

“A lot of people will say that there are too many shops, but the market will decide,” Power adds. “Companies like us bring an extra element to the high street. Punters do vote with their feet. If they don’t, our shops won’t survive.”