Council’s all-clear for second 24/7 gambling addiction centre

A Croydon councillor has called on the Labour government to “do the right thing” and act urgently against addictive adult gambling centres, after the council’s licensing sub-committee granted an application for a slot machine shop on Westow Hill in the Crystal Palace Triangle to stay open 24 hours a day.

The application was opposed by Labour’s Streatham (and Croydon North when he can be bothered) MP Steve Reed and by Liam Conlon, whose Bromley constituency is just 500 yards away.

The Admiral centre is currently open from 9am to 11pm. “There have been concerns raised about what this change will cause in terms of anti-social behaviour and the character and identity of the Triangle,” Reed said when the application was submitted.

These adult gambling centres, or AGCs, exist to keep people spending money for as long as possible. It’s a highly automated high street casino, and the house always wins.

Admiral is one of the two biggest operators of the gambling venues in the country, with 300 branches. Admiral is operated by Luxury Leisure, part of the multi-national gaming group Novomatic, established by Austrian billionaire Johann Graf.

Companies House records show that Novomatic made pre-tax profits of £20.7million for the latest accounting period (to December 2024), down from the £29.6million in the year to December 2023. So the company obviously reckons it needs the help of local councils to allow its centres to stay open longer to take even more cash off their unsuspecting punters.

Admiral’s Crystal Palace outlet consists of a room overseen by a single member of staff. “The lights are dim and the space is filled with rows of high-speed machines that lure customers in with bright screens, fast-paced music and cartoon-like imagery,” according to a report in the Torygraph.

The machines offer a £500 jackpot for a £2 stake. According to the Gambling Commission, there are more than 14,000 of these machines around the country, and each machine takes an average of £32,000 a year from customers – that works out at close to half a billion pounds per year in revenue for the operators.

Admiral have other gambling centres on Croydon’s high streets, in Thornton Heath (open 9am to 2am) and on North End (part of the Westfield-operated Centrale). The North End gambling cave is already operating 24/7.

Admiral’s pitch is hardly subtle: “Combine the most thrilling titles around, right on your doorstep with the chance to win big and everyone becomes a winner!” Except that’s very rarely true.

Admiral’s corporate spiel even recognises the highly addictive nature of their slots. “Get hooked on ‘Fishin’ Frenzy’,” they say. Yes. That’s right: “hooked“.

“Here at Admiral Slots, whatever game is your kryptonite, we’re positive you will find it inside.”

Oh, and you get free cups of tea if you stay long enough. Which is nice of them.

“The odds of experiencing gambling harms are up to three-and-a-half times higher among those who gamble on slot machines than those who gamble by other means,” according to Heather Wardle, a professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow.

She told the Telegraph: “They are very fast-paced and offer rapid reward systems – as you finish one game, a new one starts instantaneously, and they have features like ‘near misses’ that are addictive by design.”

And Croydon Council has just granted permission to have a second one of these centres, which prey on people’s vulnerabilities, to stay open 24 hours a day.

Claire Bonham, the LibDem councillor for Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, led the local opposition to the licence extension.

Councillor Bonham said: “I am deeply disappointed with this decision. We need an urgent change in national policy, to protect vulnerable people in our community from gambling harm.

“There is simply no need for this venue to be open for 24 hours a day on Westow Hill.

“Addiction is a social disease with huge consequences for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Opening for 24 hours a day just makes it more likely that people already in financial distress will get themselves into even more debt.

“We await the government to do the right thing and give councils the power to protect their communities from harm.”

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