Media headwinds over AGC spread and concentration are a natural consequence of AGCs being the victim of their own success in the fight against the B2 terminal, economics wonk and political commentator Dr Chris Snowdon has argued

Head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs Dr Chris Snowdon has argued that Bacta made a deal with the devil when it joined gambling naysayers in the fight against fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs), as Adult Gaming Centres become the new target in the crosshairs of the radical anti-gambling lobby. 

Writing in The Critic magazine this week, Snowdon, who has written extensively on government overreach and is the author of “Killjoys: A Critique of Paternalism,” drew direct symmetry between recent media efforts to “curb the spread” of AGCs on the high-street with the (successful) campaign to de-facto ban FOBTs in 2019. 

Since then, the AGC sector has enjoyed a consequent spike in revenues, from £447m to £664m, a trend which Bacta itself has copped to being a result of “market realignment after B2 [FOBT] machine stake changes.” 

But with AGCs being the only sector of the UK’s landed gambling industry to be faring better now than before the pandemic, Snowdon said that they had merely become the new natural boogeyman for nanny-state nutters to take aim at.

“After lobbying against FOBTs, it would take a heart of stone to not have at least a wry smile at the backlash that Bacta is now facing,” he wrote, adding that the trade body had made a “bootlegger and Baptist coalition” with puritanical activists.

“Let’s face it, the anti-gambling lobby does want to ban all gambling,” he surmised. “Bacta is learning the hard way that if you give these people an inch they will take a mile.”