In the city centre betting shops the dog racing is on the TV but few are paying attention.

The day’s horse racing is yet to begin and the odds on the board are not yet busy.

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The business being done on the shops is mostly in the fixed odds betting terminals, the machines branded, fairly or unfairly, the “crack cocaine of gambling”.

Around Central Station in the city centre you needn’t walk much more than 50 yards before you are outside another betting shop.

A lap of Gordon Street, Hope Street, Argyle Street under the bridge and Union Street provides nine betting shops. Each shop has the maximum allowed four FOBTs and they are busy.

On one corner of Gordon Street you can see four Ladbrokes alone by turning on the spot 360 degrees.

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Studies show Glasgow gambles £1bn on FOBTs, mostly roulette games.

Around £35m is lost but the figure rockets when re-staked winnings are taken into account.

On the high streets the internet has reduced the presence of almost every other type of business.

Banks have shut and shops have fallen victim to internet shopping but betting shops appear to be thriving despite the rise of online betting accounts and gambling apps.

On seven city centre streets there are 18 shops and 72 FOBTs.

Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss said millions of pounds were lost on these machines in her area.

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She said: ““The problems associated with Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) are wide-ranging and well documented, and are particularly acute in Glasgow.

“According to research by the group ‘STOP THE FOBTs’, my constituency of Glasgow Central has approximately 241 Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, and over £10,300,000 was lost in 2016 as a result of gambling on these machines.

“These numbers are staggering, and the misery that these machines inflict must be stopped.”

Around Central Station Ladbrokes have five shops. Further along Argyle Street there is one small, narrow shop and just fifty steps around the corner into Queen Street sits another. each with four FOBTs.

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A Ladbrokes spokesman, said : “The shops around Central Station are not, as some state, merely to offer FOBTs but to capture customers from one of the busiest footfall spots in the UK.

“Critics will often point to to City Centre locations and say there are too many bookies, but the reality is that millions of people use Glasgow city centre, many of them use the Station and all have different journeys and habits for their daily routine. “

The bookies say more shops equals more jobs and fewer empty shops and they are only meeting demand.

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A spokesman for the Association of British Bookmakers said:”Betting shops open in busy commercial areas that have high footfall and strong demand and, like any sector, where is demand, there is competition.

“We see evidence of this, for example, in Sauchiehall Street where there are countless takeaways and bars located next to each other. That is a natural consequence of consumer demand.”