Rising Number of UK AGCs Causes Concern
Concerns have been raised over the dangers related to the growing number of Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) in the UK.
Key Facts:
- Britain now has around 1,500 businesses classed as AGCs
- Many high streets now feature multiple similar AGC properties from different companies, along with betting shops
- Councils are struggling to stem the tide due to regulations
- Government plans to revamp AGC rules were recently paused, much to the industry’s frustration
Many UK towns and city centres have a high number of AGCs on top of various betting shops.
AGCs feature slot machines and bingo games that can be played on tablets, with the government having recently said its plans to revamp regulations are on pause.
Labour had been expected to relax the rules on how many high-stakes machines an AGC could have, but those plans have now been delayed.
Bacta, which is the UK’s trade association for AGCs and similar betting-related businesses, aired its frustrations over the move with its president, John Bollom, saying it had been “a key modernising proposal in the gambling white paper”.
Are AGCs Dangerous?
While a change to the law a few years ago means that fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) allowing customers to play games like roulette cannot take stakes more than £2 per spin, many believe AGCs still allow players to lose too much money in a session and can lead to addiction.
Dr Matt Gaskell, who is a consultant psychologist and the clinical leader at the NHS Northern Gambling Service, is among the public figures to be particularly worried about the rise of AGCs in the UK.
He said in an interview with UK newspaper The Guardian: “They are designed and built for prolonged play and harm is the inevitable consequence. Increasing their availability on the high street is of massive concern.”
Many AGCs in the UK are backed by some of the biggest companies in the betting world.
Merkur Slots, which has applied to open a fourth property in the small city centre of Peterborough, is a part of Germany’s Gauselmann gaming group.
Admiral Slots, which is part of Austrian company Novomatic, is the main rival to Merkur Slots and it also has countless properties in the UK.
Merkur has opened around 100 venues in the past five years with data from the UK’s regulator, the Gambling Commission, showing the number of AGCs went up by 7% between 2022 and 2024, with close to 1,500 properties now operational in this country.
Merkur Denies Making False Claims
AGC companies like Merkur have been accused of aggressive expansion tactics, with councils left powerless to stop their applications to open new centres.
In their attempts to convert a Chinese takeaway in Peterborough into a new Merkur venue, a representative of the company argued the property would not feature FOBTs, stating betting shop machines allow players to gamble £50 per spin.
But this is not the case after the previous regulation change, with Merkur claiming in response those comments had been taken out of context.
A spokesperson said: “[Merkur] categorically denies making any dishonest or deliberately misleading representations to any local authority planning or licensing committee.”
