Independent bookmakers in the UK are facing a number of key challenges, the BOS Bookmakers Trade Fair, held at Wolverhampton Racecourse on Thursday, revealed.
The event, which brought together suppliers and service providers from across the industry, including gaming machine manufacturers Inspired Gaming Group and SG Gaming, also included a lively Q&A with Conservative MP Philip Davies.
This gave many independent bookmakers the opportunity to address issues such as the discrepancy in licence fees between large, national LBO operators and their smaller, often family-run peers.
One topic that raised a great deal of interest was the ongoing furore over fixed odds betting terminals, which many of those assembled believed had been unfairly targeted by the mainstream press and politicians.
Davies revealed that new FOBT research is due to be published and suggested that the controversy surrounding the machines “definitely hasn’t gone away.”
Further restrictions on the machines could be introduced with a change of government, he added.
