The UK Gaming Commission has indicated that it does not believe that the size of stakes and prizes will be found to be a major factor in driving or supporting problem gambling.
The statement is contained in a 19-page interim report to Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport, dated June 30. It will cause a great deal of consternation in the British street market for limited payout gambling machines, especially Categories C and D, which have severe restrictions on the size of prize that they can offer.
The industry continues to feel that fixed odds betting terminals in bookmakers’ shops, with their high stakes and prizes, offer unfair competition and at the same time are highly addictive.
The bookmakers themselves had been concerned that a potential major crackdown on machine payouts would hamper their progress. Thirty-four per cent of William Hill’s retail net revenue came from machines in the last year, for example.
The Commission’s report covers work, which has been ongoing, reviewing the Category B high stake/high prize machines, or FOBTs, since last July. It reports: "There is very little consensus from the available research about the extent to which gaming machines cause gamblers to become problem gamblers and about whether this is greater than for other forms of gambling."
It adds that a great deal more work needs to be carried out to examine if and how the gambling machine industry needs to change in order to diminish any problem gambling.
This research is paid for by the industry at the rate of £5m each year and the money will fund the work of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board which has been set up to look into the matter further.
The areas explored which may have a calming influence on the frequency of play are outlined as an adjustment to the proximity of ATMs to machines, better data management requirements to monitor potential problems and better education of gamblers.
