Chisholm: self-service terminals may allow surviving betting shops to flourish

A glimmer of hope for the UK’s independent betting sector emerged from an otherwise downbeat Bookmakers Trade Fair held in Solihull last week, when Howard Chisholm offered the growth of self-service terminals as one opportunity for those operating in a rapidly declining market.

In a keynote speech that he admitted was largely "a depressing talk", Chisholm, who runs his family firm of 43 shops – soon to be 41 – in the north-east, pondered where the independent sector would be in two years’ time and said: “A heck of a lot of shops will close but the rest might just be stronger for that.”

Taking publicly quoted estimates, he said that of the current total of around 9,500 betting shops in the UK and Ireland, up to 3,500 could close by 2020, with the UK independent sector of around 725 outlets shrinking to about 500.