Council licensing chiefs have vowed to crack down on the number of betting shops in Birmingham.
The city council has proposed revisions to its gambling policy which will include a requirement for 'local risk assessments' in relation to applications for new bookmakers.
The Licensing and Public Protection committee was told yesterday (Wednesday, November 19) the move would give officers more powers to block them in areas already heavily populated with them.
Cllr Mike Leddy (Lab, Brandwood and King's Heath) called for a cap on the number of bookmakers in certain areas to be imposed by a similar mechanism to the council's Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ) policy, which restricts how many alcohol establishments can open up in one place.
He said: "I'm absolutely astonished to hear that there is no legal requirement around having a parade of shops and each one being a betting shop.
"If we can have a CIZ for drinking premises why can't we have something similar for gambling premises? If it's not law can we as a committee write to Secretary of State?
"There needs to be steps to limit the maximum number of licensed premises for gambling in a particular area."
He added: "People who go into the bookies are those that can least afford to and the most deprived wanting to get a quick buck in the pocket."
It was explained that the council is governed by different pieces of legislation in relation to drinking premises and gambling venues.
The new policy is set take effect from February.
Shawn Woodcock, licensing operations manager, said: "Every application made to the local authority comes to my team for comment.
"There has been occasions where there may be too many (betting shops) in one area but without a local risk assessment we've not been able to object.
"We can now and we will."
Committee members expressed wider concerns about gambling.
Cllr Neil Eustace (Lib Dems, Yardley East) raised issue with gambling machines in public houses.
He said: "People can't go to the gents in a public houses without walking past one of these gambling machines.
"There is an automatic entitlement to two but I have been in some large public houses and they have up to six.
"I think we ought to be very cautious about waiving these through, if we are not careful these large public houses are becoming low level casinos."
Questions were also raised around what measures gambling shops implemented to protect people losing too much money.
Head of licensing Chris Neville said that most bookmakers were very "sophisticated" with computers telling them how much had been bet on each fixed odds betting terminal inside the venue.
But he warned there was only so much they could do adding: "There is a limit to how much businesses can exercise over an individual.
"They can only deal with issues in front of them, when a person is in front of them.
"If they move to a different shop in a different part of the city, if they are so determined to gamble I don't think anyone can stop them other than themselves."
