According to UK reports, Conservative party members of parliament are pushing for a £2 maximum stake on all fixed odds betting terminals and threatening a revolt if the government sets the stake higher.
The UK Government has said it will cut the current £100 max limit to somewhere between £50 and £2, but held a public input session before naming an exact stake. The UK Gambling Commission has recommended a £30-pound maximum stake on roulette type FOBTS and a £2 stake on the less popular FOBT slots.
However, advocates for problem gambling have been pushing for an across the board £2 on all machines.
According to various reports, Conservative Party members have warned Chancellor Philip Hammond that he faces a party rebellion unless a maximum stake of £2 is set.
Conservative Minister Sir Peter Bottomly has said that a higher limit would likely be defeated and that many conservatives support the lowest limits. He has said he believes the lowest limit would be supported across all of the UK’s political parties.
Also, a group of MPs, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, Carolyn Harris of Labour, and the SNP’s Ronnie Cowan, wrote to Hammond in support of the lower limit saying there was “overwhelming” evidence that the £2 limit was the best course of action.
The government, however, has estimated that a reduction to £2 would cost tax coffers up to half a billion pounds annually.
“This money is often lost by those at the lower end of the income distribution, and it is highly questionable that the government derives significant machine gaming duty revenue from those that can least afford it,” the letter from the MPs said.
A review of FOBTs by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is continuing.
