The UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has found that a MPs report related to the fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) which was published in January 2017 has violated some parliamentary standards. According to the Commissioner, the report, which was issued at the time of the Government’s review of the highly-controversial FOBTs, failed to provide the necessary transparency required by the Parliament.
Currently, the Government of the UK is working on a review of the country’s entire gambling industry, but the competent authorities are expected to pay a great deal of attention at the local fixed-odds betting machines. The latter have recently provoked fierce discussions due to the fact they are considered highly-addictive. That was the reason why a large number of gaming experts and even politicians have called for the maximum stake allowed on FOBTs to be reduced from £100 to £2.
Now, the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has revealed that a number of breaches have been found in a report calling for the reduction of the above-mentioned maximum betting stakes allowed. The cited violations included lack of transparency and a number of other matters.
Kathryn Hudson, the standards commissioner, said there were four major breaches made by Carolyn Harris-led all-party parliamentary group on the issues related to fixed-odds betting terminals. Apart from the lack of transparency cited above, the parliamentary group on FOBTs also did not record attendance at it meetings, failed to take proper minutes and even did not print a disclaimer in order to make it clear that its own report is not in any way an official publication made by the House of Commons.
The lack of sufficient transparency has also been registered as one of the main problems of the FOBTs report, especially as it provided almost no information about the free help received from Interel, a public affairs company.
The findings of the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards have been gladly welcomed as their personal victory by bookmakers that generate most of their revenue from fixed-odds betting terminals and have previously claimed that such a maximum stake reduction would lead to devastating effects for the industry.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), Malcolm George, shared how satisfied he was with the findings of the parliamentary watchdog. He said that the group of MPs who had been scolded by the UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards were finally revealed as “serial offenders” due to their misleading report about FOBTs. Mr. George also added he was very glad with the fact that their report had been exposed as a “one-sided piece of work” which had even violated not one or two parliamentary rules.
The review of gaming machines carried out by the UK Government has provoked a massive turmoil in the local gambling industry. Most casinos and amusement arcades have taken the side of the MPs’ group which describes the fixed-odds betting terminals as one of the largest problems of of the UK gambling industry due to the excessively high stakes allowed and the fact the FOBTs are considered highly-addictive. On the other hand, the Association of British Bookmakers claim that there is no evidence that FOBTs are such an enormous threat for the industry and players and highlight on the negative impact of the eventual stakes’ reduction on the business.
- Author
Daniel Williams
