Gambling

Wales is not known as being the Las Vegas of the Western World, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people out there that like a little flutter, from time to time. Whether it be the lottery, to the horses or anything else, people like to bet.   Why bring this up here?  In the UK there is a lot of legislation that is used to regulate the industry. So what can the FoI dig up on the matter of gambling?

So a little look through the pile shows a that most people are looking for the locations of all betting shops in the area of their concern. I am not going to list them all here, but will give you the link for the search.  Did you know that you could get this information?  Neither did I.  Interesting stuff isn't it, kids!  So a little investigation into the pile showed a few things to think about.  Did you know that there are now “Licenced” Slot machines (In the UK, we also call them Fruit Machines…).  Until I looked at this request, neither did I!  Which got me thinking.  The Organisation which looks into betting in the UK is the Gaming Commission.  So, what does the Gaming commission say about Slot Machines?  At time of writing, they have yet to get back to me (however I suspect the people responsible is the local council…  Welsh Councils, here we come!).

SO let's get back to the National Lottery.  It used to be run by the Lottery Commision, but is now run by the Gaming Commission.  So a little look through the pile showed this one. The locations of ALL national lottery vendors?  I can understand why it was refused, because it is commercially sensitive (In other words would give other an unfair advantage), so what about this one by me?  Should prove a bit of an interesting read.  Don't you want to know how many places there are to buy a lottery ticket?

So let's have a little look at greyhound racing.  Did you know that the law regarding the maintainence of a Greyhound is down to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs?  Neither did I until a few days ago (I really am not joking on this one).  So what are the laws regarding the maintainence for a Greyhound?  Well, I am still waiting for the answer on this one.  Again, it would be an interesting one (That being said someone asked the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about dog racing… Glad I read that book first!)

This is a much bigger topic than I am saying here (Keeping to my 500 words).  The thing is that this was the tip of the iceberg and is something that we can look at more, later.  You see the gaming commission has lots of lovely fact and figures on how many people use it and how to set up casinos.  Don't you want to know more about this one…  I know that I do...