Whether the maximum wagering limit for FOBTs in the UK should be lowered has been a hotly debated issue in the past few years. FOBTs can be found in almost all UK high street betting shops and they feature standard fixed-odds casino style games, such as Roulette. However, FOBTs have been under fire and it has been claimed they target people who have a problem, especially punters living in deprived areas.
The maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals was £100, something which makes it possible for anybody to lose a large amount of money in a short period of time. While a consensus was reached that the amount is too high, there was no decision on how much should punters be allowed to wager.
Some felt that the amount should be cut in half, to £50, others thought that £10 would be a fair limit, whereas many, including the Labour Party, felt that the limit should be as low as £2. It appears that this is the decision of the Government and we can expect the new FOBTs betting limit to be set to £2.
The Government conducted consultations with various stakeholders and it seemed that the interest was huge and, more importantly, most of them felt that £2 is a fair limit. Government officials felt that FOBTs represent a somewhat problematic form of gaming, compared to other types of games, where protection is enforced and punters can’t go broke in a matter of minutes.
In the meantime, land-based casinos think that they should be allowed to place more slot and video poker machines in their facilities, as currently most of them are initially oriented towards high-rollers and thus primarily offer tables.
Some casino managements have already expressed the opinion that they are disadvantaged compared to betting shops which are permitted to store multiple FOBTs per location.