CLIENT: Ealing Council

PROJECT: Crime and Disorder in Licensed Betting Premises

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What were MAKE asked to do?

Politicians at Ealing Council in West London were receiving regular complaints from residents that the customers of local betting shops were causing criminal damage, anti-social behaviour and intimidation of the community. This was making the borough’s town centres unpleasant places to be. We were asked to gather any evidence that would test these claims.

How did MAKE do it?

  • We under took 18 days and nights of observation in the borough’s four main towns, studying over a dozen bookmakers, both independent and those belonging to the four large chains.

  • We observed the user behaviour of customers of these betting premises in comparison to those using the immediately neighbouring premises at each site. It was clear that whilst crime in the public realm from users of these betting shops was low, nuisance was significantly higher.

  • We then worked with the Metropolitan Police analyst using their reported and prosecuted crime data to analyse criminal incidents withinbetting premises. We used a modified version of a methodology pioneered in Australia (to map alcohol related disorder against licensed premises). This hot spot mapping took concentric circles around betting premises and then a ‘random control’ land use that were not considered a potential problem (in our case beauty salons).

  • As well as reported crime in betting premises being much higher than the controls, there was a clear and statistically significant increase in crime in the vicinity of betting shops, with the greatest correlations at the closest distances from the premises. Only alcohol licensed premises were higher and even this only at weekends.

What happened next?

The borough used MAKE’s evidence to support a major tightening of its gambling policy, making it much more difficult for new betting shop to open. The evidence was also used in concert with other enforcement to drive up standards in existing gambling premises. 

What unique value did MAKE bring to this project?

Because of our work on licensing in Australia, we were able to transpose a model from another country in an effective way. Our research is always pragmatic but where possible we seek to underpin it with academic evidence and methodologies that, in the hands of an actual academic institution, take much longer and cost considerably more.