UK Gambling Commission Recommends £30 Maximum For FOBTs

UK Bookmakers may have had some good news today regarding Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) as the Gambling Commission recommended in a statement to the UK Government that FOBTs should be reduced to a maximum stake of no more than £30 or less.

That recommendation from the UK Watchdog on gambling is higher than campaigners against FOBTs who have called for a £2 stake as maximum.

However with bookmakers such as Ladbrokes Coral and William Hill relying on the machines to prop up a declining retail business the news that the Gambling Commission have recommended the maximum at £30 means the government will take something a little lower and call for a £20 maximum bet which is what analysts had predicted.

The Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur said: “We’ve put consumers at the heart of our advice — advice which is based on the best available evidence and is focused on reducing the risk of gambling-related harm. In our judgment, a stake cut for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals alone doesn’t go far enough to protect vulnerable people. That is why we have recommended a stake cut plus a comprehensive package of other measures to protect consumers. We have proposed actions that will tackle both the risk of harm and provide solutions that are sustainable in the longer term.”

Ladbrokes Coral Chief Executive said that if FOBTs were cut to just £2 maximum thousands of jobs would be lost along with betting shop closures.