A split between two trade associations operating in different sectors of the gaming market ended up in court recently.
In the UK, BACTA, which represents the street market, found itself on the opposite side in a High Court battle with the BCA, the British Casino Association.
The court was giving a judicial review on a decision by the UK Government’s Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, over the proposed entitlement of casinos to operate gambling machines.
The BCA had argued that Jowell should have taken her decision on the basis of “fair competition” and granted more machines to existing casinos so that they could compete with the new casinos opening up.
BACTA argued that such a decision would be unfair for its members operating adult gaming centres - arcades with AWPs only - as more machines in casinos would take away income.
The court accepted the BACTA arguments.
