This month saw the Gambling Commission publish its social research paper: Gambling Behaviour in Great Britain 2015. The report provides a comprehensive update on gambling trends across the UK, examining the rates of participation, at-risk gambling and problem gambling, and explores the associated characteristics and behaviours.

The new figures show that the number of people in the UK who have a serious gambling problem has surpassed 430,000, up from 280,000 in 2012. This 50 per cent increase in three years has raised the already mounting pressure on the UK government to place curbs on the betting industry.

As well as the number of problem gamblers rising, so has the number of at-risk gamblers. The data shows that more than two million of the popoulation fall into this 'at-risk' bracket, further pressuring the government to also help to tackle gambling addiction.

This story was covered by many of the national news outlets, including The Times, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Sun.

Shadow DCMS Tom Watson has written to DCMS Secretary of State, Karen Bradley, promising that Labour will vote to support her recommendation for a £2 maximum stake. This will allay any fears that the move could be derailed by manoeuvres of Tory back-benchers.

This support came in the light of fears that the Treasury was planning to block the upcoming vote on FOBT stake reductions. Many media outlets reported the reason the Treasury may block the decision to reduce the maximum stake to £2 is because of the hole this move would blow in the £400 million they generate in tax revenue each year.

Mr Watson addressed this in his letter to Ms Bradley, stating that the £400m they generate for the Treasury was far outstripped by the £1.2 billion cost of problem gambling because of ill health, crime and homelessness, as estimated by the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Read more about this topic in The Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror.

Lots of local media outlets have spent the month reporting on the amount of money lost to FOBTs in 2016 in their area after we released new figures based on the Gambling Commission's Industry Statistics from November 2016.

Scunthorpe punters lost over £20m in the last eight years, whereas gamblers in the North East lost almost £43 million in just one year thanks to over 1,300 FOBTs in the area.

Kingston punters lost £43 million between 2008 and 2016, whilst those in Croydon lost £124 million over the same time period.

Figures showed that the losses in Scotland from 2008 to 2016 come in at £1.1 billion, prompting criticism of the Government for not acting sooner.

You can see the statistics for your area by putting your postcode into our website.

As always, we've been hard at work penning exclusive articles for Politics Home Central Lobby, highlighting the key issues currently being faced in the battle against FOBTs.

We got into detail on understanding gambling concepts as we disucssed the ins and outs of the return-to-player model and how it is not as responsible as gambling establishments would have you believe. We also discussed whether there is a Treasury mission to weaken the Prime Minister in the light of reports that October's review into FOBT stakes may be delayed.

We discussed the impact that FOBTs have on crime rates, and how FOBT related crime will prevent a Judicial Review of a £2 maximum stake. As well as this we have done several round ups of the extensive news coverage of the Stop the FOBTs campaign this month.

You can find a full round-up of all the stories we have penned for Politics Home Central Lobby by clicking here.

UK poker star and TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell has spoken out against FOBTs with opinion pieces in the Guardian this month. Her first piece slammed the government's failure to crack down on FOBT machines as being the result of 'stupidity or corruption'. She followed this with a second piece reiterating her views after receiving an overwhelming number of messages from people who strongly shared her views.

Paddy Power chief executive, Creon Corcoran, this month broke ranks with other bookmakers, admitting that his company is 'almost ambivalent' about slashing the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2. 

In a similar vein, Iain Duncan Smith heaped pressure on ministers to take swift actions against gambling machines which he branded a 'tax on the poor'.

A trip to the bookies for an Airdrie man with a 'significant gambling problem' ended with him receiving a heavy fine for a violent outburst towards a shocked female member of staff. Meanwhile, a gambling addict in Liverpool caused over £36,000 worth of damage across seven bookmakers in the city after losing money.

In the light of the latest statistics, Campaign Spokesman Matt Zarb-Cousin has been incredibly busy speaking to the media about the figures and the devastating impact FOBTs can have, reflecting on his own personal experience in The Independent.

Lastly, The Times discussed how children are being bombarded with a record number of gambling adverts as betting websites embark on an unprecendented spending spree to attract new customers. Figures have shown that online casinos have doubled their marketing budgets in the last five years, whilst the industry as a whole has spent £1.4 billion on advertising since 2012.

For more news from the Campaign and the battle against FOBTs, please visit our News and Events page and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

If you missed our July newsletter, be sure to catch up here.