A cut in the maximum amount of cash that can be inserted into Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs)is to be imposed by the government to ease concern about the high-stakes electronic devices. Under the new rules, anyone using a FOBT – often called the crack cocaine of gambling – will need to inform staff if they want to bet more than £50 cash at a time. Gamblers would also have the alternative of getting an online account so that spending can be tracked, following an assessment released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Until now the controversial electronic…

iGaming Business – The Scottish National Party (SNP) has become the latest political party to speak out against fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and has called for “sensible regulation” of such machines in the UK. Gamblers in Scotland staked a reported £4.4 billion (€5.3 billion/$7.4 billion) on the machines last year, an increase of more than £100 million on the amount spent in the previous year. SNP politician Stuart McMillan has joined a number of political figures in backing the Fairer Gambling Campaign’s call to reduce the current maximum stake on FOBTs from £100 to £2. UK chancellor George Osborne…

The waiting for High Street Casinos goes on to discover what, if anything, the Government proposes to do next about the addictive, high-stakes roulette and gaming machines which have created several thousand mini-casinos on our high streets. The pushers, however – they used to be called “bookmakers” – appear to be trying to get their retaliation in first. In addition to the sound of a virtual roulette ball dropping into a slot every 20 seconds, and the occasional disturbance caused by a player cursing or even attacking a machine after it has sucked in their last pound, betting shop customers…

The Argus – Sussex gamblers are estimated to have wagered nearly £1 billion on virtual gaming machines dubbed the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ last year. The controversial high-stake betting shop machines, on which punters can spend £100 every 20 seconds on games like virtual roulette, have been described as dangerously addictive and accounted for around half of all highstreet bookmakers’ profits last year. Nearly £280 million was gambled on the machines in Brighton and Hove alone in 2013, according to figures from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. Of that, nearly £10 million was lost by punters and across the county…

Wales Online – An ex-gambling executive has lifted the lid on how the betting industry has put controversial fixed odds terminals in every high street bookies. The games machines, which let punters stake £300 a minute or £18,000 an hour, have been dubbed “the crack cocaine of gambling”. Last year more than £60m vanished into fixed odds betting terminals in Wales. They are commonly used to play roulette and were introduced to Britain in 2001. “Everyone in the industry thought we would get all these casino high-rollers using these machines,” said Adrian Parkinson, a former regional manager for Tote who…

iGaming Business – Gamblers in the UK will be able to set limits on the amount of time and money they spend on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) under a new code of conduct developed by the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB). According to the Guardian newspaper, the new code will enable customers to set their own limits in the time and money they spend on a machine, while staff will be alerted when limits have been reached. Mandatory alerts will appear on the machines when a customer has spent £250 on a machine or played for more 30 minutes….