Fixed odds betting terminal decision delayed?

The Daily Mail, which has waged a determined war on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in High Street betting shops, claimed over the weekend that the decision on reducing the maximum stake, and by how much, has been delayed until after the local elections at the start of May due to disagreement at the top levels of government.

The decision was expected this week, but sources have advised the newspaper that there is resistance to chopping the maximum stake too far due to the impact this would have on the government’s tax harvest.

“Whitehall sources” told the Mail that Chancellor Philip Hammond was responsible for the hold-up.

“The Chancellor is refusing to sign off cutting the stake to GBP2 for fear it could lose hundreds of millions in gambling tax revenues,” the Mail reports.

The newspaper revealed last week that Tory rebels are threatening to vote against allowing any maximum stake higher than GBP 5. The Treasury harvested GBP 500 million from the machines last year as players lost a combined GBP 1.7 billion, the Mail reported..

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