Glossary
F
Family Entertainment Centre
Family entertainment centres, often known as Amusement Arcades, offer machines for play. Some family entertainment centres only make Category D machines available. Others also make Category C machines available. Children are allowed to play on Category D machines such as Crane Grab machines but not on Category C machines. There are two categories of family entertainment centres, those who offer Category C and Category D gaming machines who require a general operating licence from the gambling commission and those who offer only Category D machines and require a local authority permit. Look at the section on Gambing Machines under How Gambling Works for more information.
Field
All of the participants in a race.
Fixed odds
A form of betting where the return is fixed at the odds at which the bet is accepted.
Fixed Odds Betting Terminal (FOBTs)
Software-driven gaming machines operated exclusively by bookmakers in betting shops. FOBT users can bet on a variety of “events”, such as representations of horseracing, greyhound racing, football penalty shoot-outs and roulette. The outcome of such games is operated by a random number generator.
Flat racing
Horse racing which is run over a set distance with no hurdles or fences.
Football pools
A game based on predicting the outcome of football matches. Players are given a list of football matches and attempt to pick a line of eight of them whose results would be worth the most points by the scoring scheme, traditionally by crossing specific boxes on a printed coupon.
A proportion of the players’ combined entry fees (minus the operator’s expenses and profit margin) is distributed among the competitors whose entries are worth the highest scores.
Form
The past performance of a racehorse or its jockey.
Fruit machines
Another name for a gaming, jackpot, amusement-with-prize or all-cash machine. It is used because the combinations determining whether the player wins or loses are displayed on revolving reels in the form of symbols often depicting fruit.
Full house
A poker hand containing three of a kind and a pair.