UK bank Barclays is still forecasting that fixed-odds betting terminals will not have the severe cut-back in the UK’s Triennial Review of stakes and prizes, as most people believe.
The most popular estimate suggests that the machines in bookmakers’ shops will suffer a reduced stake from £100 to £2 to bring them into line with Category C (AWP) machines in pubs.
But Barclays, says today’s Daily Telegraph, is sticking to its belief that a "more generous" £25 will prevail.
The newspaper reports that analysts at the bank believe that the big bookmakers, Ladbrokes and William Hill, notably, will suffer big losses from a cutback in FOBT stakes. But it also notes that the UK Treasury will be unhappy at losing taxes.
The review is due in October.
