Britain’s Conservative Party-led coalition government has beaten back a motion by the opposition Labor Party to give local councils greater powers to limit the number of fixed odds betting terminals in betting shops in their jurisdictions.
The motion was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons last week by 314 to 232.
Labor leader Ed Miliband raised the motion earlier in the day during Prime Minister’s Questions, arguing that the machines, electronic versions of roulette and other casino table games, are “spreading like an epidemic”.
FOBTs are limited to four per betting shop, but opponents say bookmakers get around the restriction by opening more branches, often in the poorer areas of cities and towns. According to the UK Gambling Commission, 51 percent of betting shop revenue came from FOBTs in 2012-13. There are more than 33,000 of the machines in operation, and they generate more than £1.5 billion a year for bookmakers. Their proliferation has alarmed conservative politicians as well, including London Mayor Boris Johnson and Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association, who also are calling for limits.
Labor’s motion centered on a proposed change in planning rules so that bookmakers would need to apply for local permission to open in locations that aren’t already betting shops. Currently, they do not need consent if they take over premises previously used by a bank, building society, employment agency or other “financial and professional” service.
Labor also wants new regulations to increase the time between bets from 20 to 40 seconds and reminder installed on machines to tell players how long they have played and how much they’re spending.
The coalition’s Liberal Democrat Party also has called for restrictions on FOBTs, and Miliband had hoped to gain their support, and the support of enough Tory MPs, to carry the motion. But Prime Minister David Cameron won the day, saying he does “absolutely share the concerns” of Labor over the proliferation of the devices but that he will wait for the results of a new report on the machines before taking action. The report is slated for partial release this spring.
Last month, the government ruled out calls to dramatically reduce the stakes and prizes on the machines and opted to keep the maximum bet at £100 and the maximum payout at £500.
