According to the Daily Mail, there may be a stay of execution on the way for British bookmakers with their fixed odds betting terminals.

The newspaper said that the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, is going to kill off a proposed review of gambling that could have drastically cut the bet limits on the terminals. 

The ministry responsible for gambling regulation in the UK, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, was proposing to cut the top bet on FOBTs from £100 to just £2, but, according to the newspaper, the Chancellor has been put off by the risk of losing the £400m each year he gets from tax revenues in the machines.

With both William Hill and Ladbrokes showing declining revenues in past weeks, the news, if confirmed, will bring blessed relief.