Sunday Mirror claims government is to reduce stake on FOBTs to £2 a spin
Campaign for Fairer Gambling
The Campaign for Fairer Gambling writes about recent comments from bookmakers on FOBT stake levels, in advance of the Government decision expected shortly.
In the same week the CEO of Ladbrokes sold £380,000 worth of shares in his company, the Sunday Mirror reported that Ministers were planning to reduce the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) to £2 a spin. A reduction to £2 a spin would eliminate the addictive, high speed roulette and casino content from the bookies’ machines, as a Whitehall source disclosed: “That’s the point of a £2 stake. But it’s not the message we want to put out publicly.”
Despite reports to the contrary, a source close to the Treasury told the Mirror they were not opposing a £2 stake, paving the way for gambling Minister Tracey Crouch – who has led the review – and Secretary of State Matthew Hancock, to come to the evidence-based decision of backing £2.
Fairer Gambling’s Matt Zarb-Cousin drew the parallel between drug addiction and problem gambling in an op-ed for the Sunday Mirror, describing FOBTs as a “Class A” gambling product, while Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on FOBTs Carolyn Harris highlighted the political consensus around £2 being the most appropriate level. She also wrote for LabourList.
Tony Franklin revealed in an op-ed for the Sunday Mirror how he had lost £1 million on FOBTs, which has destroyed his life, while lining the pockets of the very rich – the bookies, and the likes of Steve Frater and Walter Grubmuller, who invented FOBTs before selling up to Scientific Games for £100 million. Their story was also profiled in the Sunday Mirror.
Wendy Bendel, who lost her partner to suicide caused by a gambling addiction that he attributed to FOBTs, was interviewed by the Aberdeen Evening Express. In response to Wendy’s story, the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) said: “We fully understand there is public concern and there will be a stake cut to reduce the levels of losses on machines in betting shops.” At last, an admission from the bookies’ trade body that a reduction in the maximum stake will lead to a reduction in losses, and therefore harm.
With online gambling firm GVC’s takeover of Ladbrokes Coral getting approved by the Competition and Markets Authority, Paddy Power supporting a reduction in the maximum stake to “£10 or less”, and Betfred not a member of the ABB, the only large operator really fighting for high stakes FOBTs is William Hill.
As well as backing a substantial stake reduction on FOBTs, Paddy Power has established a digital self-exclusion scheme, doing away with the paper-based system that has been used in betting shops since 2003. The system will still rely on staff recognising the faces of those who have banned themselves due to addiction, but it enables data to be shared among all of their shops instantly. Given Paddy Power has fewer shops and a more streamlined high street presence than William Hill, it doesn’t cast the latter in a particularly good light.
While the Gambling Commission’s recommendation for a maximum stake of “£30 or less” grabbed the headlines, their advice strongly discouraged staffing shops with a lone worker, as Greg Wood reported in the Guardian. He notes that: “There must be serious doubt about the extent to which a single member of staff on their own in a betting shop, even at less busy times of the day or night, can simultaneously look after the counter, remain alert to the possibility of under-age play and money laundering and still be expected to identify potentially harmful play and make appropriate interventions. The warning for retail firms that use single-staffing in shops until long into the evening is clear.”
He also drew attention to the Gambling Commission considering a ban on credit card betting, and argued that despite the regulator’s advice, the discretion on the FOBT stake is still with the government. He argues that if the government don’t go for £2, given the pressurised staking pattern on a high speed product like FOBTs, “an amendment to the Gambling Act to restrict roulette to casinos would find supporters on all sides of the House.”
Given the unanimity across the political spectrum, including in the House of Lords – who were united in their condemnation of FOBTs and their dismay that the Gambling Commission hadn’t gone far enough – the Campaign remains optimistic that the government will opt for £2.
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