The maximum FOBT stakes stake for these so-called ‘crack cocaine’ gambling machines is set to be slashed to £2 following publication of a report due within weeks, it emerged today. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch will press ahead with the dramatic reform later this month, it was reported.

The plan is controversial because ending huge stakes played on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals will leave a £400million hole in gambling tax revenues. But the Department for Culture Media and Sport is pressing on to tackle the problems of gambling addiction and money laundering.

A Whitehall source told the Sunday Mirror: ‘We’re going for the £2 option. No question about it.’

The decision to pursue the plans to cut FOBT stakes comes days after the Mail revealed Chancellor Philip Hammond had agreed to find a way to plug the hole in tax revenues.

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