Maximum stake for fixed-odds betting terminals cut to £2.

High street bookmakers derive more than half
of their revenue from fixed-odds betting terminals.
Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

The maximum permitted stake on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) will be cut from £100 to £2, the government has announced after ministers ignored pleas from bookmakers and branded the machines a “social blight”.

 The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport opted for £2 after more than a year of furious argument between anti-FOBT groups and high street bookmakers, who derive more than half of their revenue from the machines. 

The change, which requires parliamentary approval, will reduce the government’s tax take from the machines, but this will be paid for by an increase in duty applied to online gambling, to be detailed in the next budget.


By Rob Davies.
Full story at Yahoo News.