<b>Exclusive
By Colin Allcabs
Consumer Correspondent

Suffolk scientists have confirmed that claw and grab machines, popular in seafront arcades across Britain, are in fact designed to simply steal your money.</b>

While generations of wide-eyed children have squealed with delight repeatedly trying to 'grab' a cuddly toy, cash has been flowing out of their parents' pockets at an alarming rate.

Professor Penny Kenny, who led the pioneering research at the Institute of Consumer Behaviour near Brandon, found that far from providing an enjoyable game of skill, the claw machine manufacturers and arcade owners had teamed up to fleece the public.

<center><div class="getty embed image" style="background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:507px;"><div style="overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.666667% 0 0 0;width:100%;"><iframe src="//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/519652743?et=CYHt9VDFSxpkfugYId3D6w&viewMoreLink=on&sig=JxxPyAfOPEwhGuasW8HGHiXwK5CkzTJv8tdXv2MsULI=" width="507" height="338" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></div><p style="margin:0;"></p><div style="padding:0;margin:0 0 0 10px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/519652743" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">View image</a> | <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com" target="_blank" style="color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;">gettyimages.com</a></div></div></center><center><i>Missed again: Another disappointed punter wins nothing</center></i><br><br>

"The public, normally children, get a few seconds of fun as they move the claw around and then hit the button to send it down to try and grab a prize," explained Professor Kenny. "But those few seconds of fun are followed by minutes of disappointment when they inevitably miss.

"Then there is a period of crying and whining at the parents, who have no choice but to cough up yet more of their cash so the child can have another go for £1.

"It's a vicious spiral - the arcade owners and claw machine makers have found themselves a license to print money."

The professor's team of researchers spent time at arcades in Lowestoft and Felixstowe studying the behaviour of 1,000 families. They found that on average each family spent £47 pounds, totalling £47,000 - and only two teddy bears were won.

Gary Jones, a father of three said on a visit to Felixstowe seafront: "It's a rip-off. Daylight robbery. They're just laughing at us as they take all our money.

"We'll have just the one more go, though. We'll probably win this time."

Suffolk arcade owner Basil Thyme defended the machines. He said: "They are a source of amusement. Particularly for us."

* * * *

Like The Suffolk Gazette on Facebook now! <iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden; height: 21px;" src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsuffolkgazette&amp;width&amp;layout=button_count&amp;action=like&amp;show_faces=false&amp;share=true&amp;height=21" width="300" height="150" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

<a href="http://www.suffolkgazette.com/buy-us-a-beer/">Please support our running costs by clicking here and buying us a beer!</a>