People in Haringey have lost more than £16m to betting machines in the space of a year.

According to research carried out by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling a whopping £16,262,226 was sunk into Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in Haringey during 2014.

Under the Gambling Act 2005, betting shops are allowed to have up to four FOBT’s on their premises, which feature digital, touch screen games of roulette, horse racing, bingo and a range of slot machine games.

There are 65 betting shops in Haringey with the vast majority of them concentrated in the poorer east of the borough; High Road, Tottenham, has 13 whilst Green Lanes has a further seven.

Across the capital Londoners inserted almost £2.5 billion into the machines last year losing a total of £458,548,974. In total £85,590,665 was pumped into the machines by Haringey punters in 2014.

The Asssociation of British Bookmakers said it did “accept” the figures and pointed to the 393 jobs that betting shops provide in Haringey.

A spokesman for the ABB said: “The average amount spent on a gaming machine in a Haringey betting shop is only £7.91 and the average customer only plays for less than ten minutes at a time. We want all our customers to enjoy their time with us and only bet what they can afford.

“Under the ABB Code for Responsible Gambling, gaming machine players must now decide whether to set a limit or not on the amount of time they play for or the amount they spend, and 125,000 players a week are now setting limits and sticking to them.

“We are always ready to work with MPs or Councils if there are any issues of concern and we have recently signed a Partnership agreement with the Local Government Association, which ensures councils are confident that their concerns are listened to and acted on and where betting shops are clear that Councils such as Haringey recognise our right to trade on the high streets.”

The Department for Media Culture and Sport has already proposed granting Scotland the power to vary the number of FOBT’s permitted in new bookmakers.

A spokesman for The Campaign for Fairer Gambling said: "The increasing clustering and proliferation of betting shops and FOBTs across London is a major issue that the next mayor of London will need to tackle.

“The issue is getting worse with an 80 per cent increase in the number of betting shops now located in town centres and major high streets across London boroughs.”

Labour MP for Tooting Sadiq Khan has prioritised the issue in his bid to become London Mayor.

He said: ““We need to make a difference to people’s lives in Haringey by giving councillors the powers to crackdown on this blight.

“The explosion in the use of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals over the last decade and the sheer amount of money being lost in them is a cause for deep concern.”