Tom Watson says two-year delay to cutting maximum bet from £100 to £2 is ‘pathetic’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Labour has accused the government of being “fundamentally weak” after ministers bowed to pressure from bookmakers and agreed to a two-year delay before slashing the maximum stake on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

The maximum stake on the machines will still be cut from £100 to £2 but the change will not take effect until 2020, under the terms of a deal with the Treasury.

Gamblers will lose an extra £4bn in the intervening period, based on the average £1.8bn a year in revenues taken by the machines, which critics say are highly addictive and allow huge losses to rack up quickly.

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Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson said: “Capitulating to a two-year delay is a pathetic move from a fundamentally weak government.

“Those who praised the government when the announcement was made will feel badly let down.

“They are already rolling back on their promises and allowing these machines to ruin more lives.”

Fellow Labour MP Carolyn Harris, a long-time campaigner against FOBTs, said she was “breathing fire” about the reported delay.

Sources in the FOBT manufacturing industry have previously told the Guardian that it should take only six to eight weeks to alter software to implement a new maximum stake.



A government spokesperson said: “We are changing the rules so they balance the needs of vulnerable people, those who gamble responsibly and people who work in this sector.

“But we must get this right, and are engaging with the industry to ensure it has sufficient time to implement these technological changes.”

In practice, the changes to FOBT regulation were unlikely to take effect until next year, because they require parliamentary approval to introduce a new statutory instrument.



But bookmakers appear to have persuaded the government to extend the time limit even further, according to a report in the Times.

A spokesperson for anti-FOBT campaign group Fairer Gambling said: “Unbelievably, Treasury thinks it takes two years for the bookmakers to run a software update on their server-based FOBTs to remove games they should never have been allowed in the first place.

“Somehow Treasury has given the bookies a longer transition period than it’ll take the government to negotiate Brexit. The delay will mean hundreds of thousands more people experiencing harm before the gambling addiction gateway of high speed, high stakes roulette is removed.”

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The Treasury is planning to offset a loss of revenue from duty collected on FOBTs by introducing a higher rate of tax on online gambling.

The higher tax on web-based gaming could now take effect before the curbs on FOBTs, resulting in a net uplift in duty for the Treasury, which has long been concerned about the impact of curbing FOBTs on its tax take.

The government won praise from campaigners, local government groups and former gambling addicts in May, when culture minister Matt Hancock branded FOBTs a “social blight” and unveiled restrictions he said would protect vulnerable people.



High-street bookmakers have claimed that the loss of income from FOBTs, which provide more than half of their annual revenue, would force hundreds of stores to close at the loss of thousands of jobs.

A department for culture, media and sport spokesperson declined to comment on the reported delay, referring questions to the Treasury.