Expectedly, the latest crackdown imposed by the UK Government on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) has raised some questions related not only to the machines but also to the consequences of the Government’s measures which are to be faced by the entire industry.
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling, a campaign which has called the competent authorities to take all necessary measures and stop FOBTs to prevent gambling-related harm from happening to local customers, has backed the decision of the Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) to slash the maximum stake allowed at the machines. The Campaign, however, also called the Chancellor’s office and the UK Treasury not to delay the measures from being imposed, as the process has already taken too much time, and the new stakes need to be imposed as soon as possible.
Due to the fact that new regulations require the approval of the European Union (EU), and then have to be presented to the Parliament before being enacted, October 2018 or April 2019 seem to be the best possible options. However, the UK Treasury insists that gambling revenues should not be impacted by the reduction, so an increase of the remote gambling point-of-consumption tax has been proposed. The procedure of the consideration and making a decision, along with the time needed for the new tax to come into force, if approved, makes October 2018 a less likely option, so April 2019 now seems as the most possible deadline for the new FOBTs regulations to be brought into effect.
Last month, the governmental DCMS has finally announced its decision on the maximum stakes to be featured on the controversial terminals, reducing their utmost level from £100 to £2. Of course, not everyone in the industry supported the decision, with the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) criticising the new stakes, saying that such a reduction would be devastating to the local betting shops operators.
ABB Says FOBTs Maximum Stake Reduction Would Harm Bookmakers
A person close to the ABB has revealed that betting outlets across the country have continued to close and approximately 1,000 jobs were also slashed by high-street bookmakers in the past year only. The data about the number of job losses is actually from the latest report issued by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) which includes the year to end in March 2018. According to the information provided by the Commission, a total of 279 betting shops were closed during the above-mentioned period. Half of these outlets were owned by the major gambling companies which operate on the territory of the country.
As far as the DCMS gambling industry review is concerned, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling has provided a couple of new documents to the governmental Department. The first one was a report made by a person close to the key Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) research unveiled in 2014. The second one was a research by Dr. Howard Reed of Landman Economics, with the report aimed at emphasizing on the flaws in the advice made by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB) to the DCMS.
In February 2018, the UK Gambling Commission provided an official advice note to the DCMS. At this time, the major gambling regulatory body of the UK made a recommendation that the maximum FOBTs stake should be cut to £30 or less. Still, the UKGC left it to the Government, saying that the maximum stake of £2 that had been considered by the Government, would be in line with its recommendation.
- Author
Daniel Williams
