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Beat the Fix is a web-based case study of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals which are electronic gambling machines found in high street bookmakers. They have proved very controversial because many people have found them addictive and seen their lives ruined. They allow for high stakes up to a hundred pounds with a maximum payout of £500. There have been many voices raised against them, including from those affected by them, councillors, the media, MPs, social media, churches, psychologists and psychiatrists, addiction experts and others.

Currently, the UK awaits government response to a report submitted in January 2017 by an All Party Parliamentary Group which called for a drastic reduction in the maximum stake, some wanting the machines banning altogether. A report in the Daily Mail on 5 August 2017 claims that the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, overruled the group’s report because of the potential loss to the treasury of gambling duties.

Related to FOBTs have been growing concerns about the general amount of gambling opportunities being promoted in society via television commercials and social media advertising. There are particular concerns about the growing number of children who may be at risk. Electronic gambling whether in a betting shop or casino is available these days to everybody with a digital device such as a smartphone or tablet.

This site is intended to be broadly informational and educational. It is also intended as a resource for teachers and older students who are working in such areas as Personal, Social and Health Education, Citizenship, Law, Media Studies, Humanities, Politics, Sociology and Public Health.Psychology