Gaming Intelligence – The publication Wednesday of a set of measures designed to tackle the issue of problem gambling, focused on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), has been met with criticism from both the industry and the machines’ biggest critics, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which said that the government has missed its “single biggest opportunity” to make a real impact on tackling the issue. Following a policy review, the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) yesterday set out a series of measures to curb irresponsible gambling. These include requiring players that want to stake over £50 to either pay…

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…

Totally Gaming – David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, is preparing a crackdown on FOBT machines in betting shops this week, alongside fresh penalties for companies if they fail to enforce new limits on playing times and betting losses, according to the Guardian newspaper. The paper reported that in correspondence between Downing Street and the gambling industry in March, David Cameron said the bookmakers’ new code, introduced in February by the Association of British Bookmakers, needed to be “strengthened to minimise harm”. The Tory leader is due to announce a clampdown on the terminals, with a range of regulatory and…

The Guardian – In the budget, George Osborne reduced the tax burden on land based bingo halls and raised it for betting shop fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). Two gambling sectors treated very differently. The basis of this tax hike on FOBTs, as Osborne put it, was to “bring their profitability more in line with other gaming machines on the high street.” The chancellor has underestimated the disparity between FOBTs and other gaming machines. It is far bigger than a 5% tax adjustment can address. In 2013 FOBTs – or “B2” gaming machines as they are categorised – generated more…

UK chancellor George Osborne has announced changes for Point of Consumption Tax (POC) and Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs). New tax laws for the UK gambling industry are in the government’s Budget for 2014, with the tax rate for FOBTs increasing to 25%. Additionally, the bingo duty would be cut to 10%, and the government will proceed with plans to introduce a 15% POC tax for remote gambling. UK bookmakers in particular were hit with the announcement that the tax rate for FOBTs will be increased from its current rate of 20% to a new rate of 25%. Shortly after this…

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…