Some Belfast City Centre amusements have continued to ignore their licence conditions by offering jackpots of up to £11,000 on their machines.
In August, Belfast Live highlighted how some amusement arcades in Belfast City Centre were breaching their council licences which limits their machines to only offering a jackpot of £25. Some of these amusements have machines with jackpots of up to £500 while others can have machines with jackpots of more than £11,000.
While there were some premises that only offered a £25 jackpot and clearly told customers that would be the case, Belfast Live visited several which did not.
Read more: Belfast amusements breaching their council licence with machines offering jackpots of £500 or more
Read more: North Belfast man on 30 year gambling addiction and helping others in recovery
Some of the amusements advertise jackpots of £1,000 outside the doors of their premises.
Reward and loyalty schemes are also available in some of the amusements which give customers "free money" to use which they can cashout after making a certain number of bets. Some of these are connected to online websites that allow customers to spend their winnings online at home after leaving the premises.
Customers who give their details to these schemes are also bombarded with text messages telling them of promotions from a range of different online gambling providers, some of who do not appear to be registered with the Gamstop self exclusion scheme.
One recovering gambling addict from Belfast, who wished to remain anonymous, said that he believes that more needs to be done to tackle amusements in the city that are breaching their licences and spoke of the impact that they had on him.
He said: "I have lost count of the amount of money that I have lost in these places and a few of them don't seem to have any regard for the damage they are doing and will just let you keep betting away.
"There were times that I was in floods of tears after losing thousands in a night and I have been offered to use their card machine so I can use a credit card to keep betting instead of my debit one. It is so easy just to walk in and start playing and you would be shocked how many people they have hooked because gambling addiction is so easy to keep hidden.
"I am now doing my best to recover and it frustrates me walking down the street and seeing these places operating when I know the damage that they are doing to people and then when you see that they shouldn't be offering these huge jackpots in the first place you feel like nobody cares about the impact that gambling can have on people.
"I reported one premises earlier this year in May and am yet to hear of any action being taken against it all, even though if you walked in the door once you would see what is going on, it is not exactly hidden away."
Belfast City Council has previously said that while it provides the amusement licences to amusement premises, the enforcement of these licences falls on the PSNI.
A spokesperson said: "Gaming machines can be found in a variety of settings, including amusement arcades, bookmaking offices, bingo clubs and registered clubs. The jackpot total for amusement arcades is £25 but totals may be higher in other locations. The council only issues permits for amusement arcades specifically, but in all locations enforcement is a matter for the PSNI. Their officers have powers to inspect amusement arcades and other premises, and they can prosecute any amusement permit holder who does not comply with the legislation, including for stakes or prize limits being above the allowed maximum."
The PSNI has been contacted for comment.
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
English (United States) ·