A working party has been set up by BACTA, the trade association, to edge the industry closer to the £1/£100 stakes and prizes target that the business seeks for some relief in the AWP sector.
In a market clearly suffering from lack of support in the 2005 Gambling Act, the closure of many pubs and the smoking ban, an uplift in stakes and prizes from the present 50p/£35 is seen as an essential aid to the business - but not a solution to its problems.
The DCMS, through the Gambling Commission, is ready to grant 60p/£60, apparently, but this is seen by the industry as hardly workable. With a coin input unit of £1, they argue, a player can be left with 40p after his first game - and nothing he can do with it. A second £1 coin would still yield 20p in change and it would need a third coin to even up the sums. Net result - 6p/£60 would encourage unnecessary higher spend, something which might get the Commission some negative feedback.
