Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, FOBT General Information
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In 2001 Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) were introduced to the U.K. Betting industry, and with no legislation from the government in the first couple of years, the gambling industry went wild with them.
Their popularity was massive, and many bookmakers installed as many as possible in to each shop. In major cities such as London and Birmingham, some Ladbrokes had 12 terminals to drain as much money as possible from their customers. |
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At the time of their launch, there was no limit on the amount a player could bet or the amount of spins per minute, so Ladbrokes had a maximum bet limit of £100 on a single number and £500 on a single spin. Coral had £25 maximum per number and again £500 a spin.
Some people may also remember that Ladbrokes had a turbo option where the player would just see a single number without a spin even occurring.
Share prices in these companies rocketed and eventually the government stepped in to control the rise of the betting machines.
With the new laws in place, betting shops were limited to a maximum of 4 machines per store. This could be a combination of fruit machine and roulette terminal, but as the roulette terminals profit far outstripped anything a fruit machine could hope to make, the majority of the stores went for the maximum amount of terminals.
The speed of the spins was also limited to 2 per minute, which is why you may notice the games pause between spins or a little countdown occurs until you may spin again.
The maximum amount per spin is still a very high £100, with the maximum win set at £500 per spin.
Some people may also remember that Ladbrokes had a turbo option where the player would just see a single number without a spin even occurring.
Share prices in these companies rocketed and eventually the government stepped in to control the rise of the betting machines.
With the new laws in place, betting shops were limited to a maximum of 4 machines per store. This could be a combination of fruit machine and roulette terminal, but as the roulette terminals profit far outstripped anything a fruit machine could hope to make, the majority of the stores went for the maximum amount of terminals.
The speed of the spins was also limited to 2 per minute, which is why you may notice the games pause between spins or a little countdown occurs until you may spin again.
The maximum amount per spin is still a very high £100, with the maximum win set at £500 per spin.
The roulette terminals are legally only allowed to be random, but there are many interpretations of random, and the odds you see may not be the odds that you are getting. The term fixed odds is used to explain that the odds are fixed per spin and will not change, unlike a horses odds change per race. For example 36 to 1 for landing on a single number will always be those paying odds (not necessarily the true odds).
Many betting shops profits are largely from the fixed odds betting terminals, and a massive rise in the amount of games available has helped to keep a constant supply of punters. Games such as £500 Rainbow Riches, Astras' Reel King, and Deal or No Deal are now very popular and in some cases have overtaken roulette in popularity.
Many betting stores offer tournaments to keep the punters interested, and each game has information regarding the payouts of individual machines which you should always read at least once.
Many betting shops profits are largely from the fixed odds betting terminals, and a massive rise in the amount of games available has helped to keep a constant supply of punters. Games such as £500 Rainbow Riches, Astras' Reel King, and Deal or No Deal are now very popular and in some cases have overtaken roulette in popularity.
Many betting stores offer tournaments to keep the punters interested, and each game has information regarding the payouts of individual machines which you should always read at least once.
The randomness of each game is determined by a random number generated from an external computer. These computers send out thousands of numbers every second to each terminal that particular company may own. SiS for example will generate numbers for almost every Coral and Ladbrokes in the country. How these random number generators (RNG) work is a closely guarded secret, however you can glean limited information from the help screens.
