UK MPs urge review on FOBTs cap delay

The MPs have urged Theresa May to reconsider the delay on cutting the maximum stake on FOBTs.

UK.- A group of politicians from different parties have written to Prime Minister Theresa May to urge her to rethink the delay on bringing in a £2 stake limit for fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). They believe that the decision is immoral and dangerous.

The group, which includes Labour’s Carolyn Harris, Tory Iain Duncan Smith and the SNP’s Ronnie Cowan, wants the limit to be working by 2019. Harris said that they have fought long and hard and the Government made the right decision. However, allowing the Chancellor to delay the cap is immoral and dangerous, Harris said.

“If the PM was to meet with mothers – like I have – who have seen their sons take their lives over their addiction to these machines she would act now. We hope the letter will demonstrate our determination to make sure this happens no later than 2019. Anything less is totally unacceptable and reprehensible,” added Carolyn Harris.

Under the terms of the deal with the Treasury, the maximum stake on the machines will be reduced from £100 to £2, but not before 2020. Gamblers are expected to lose £4 billion in the two year period, based on the average £1.8 billion a year in revenues taken by the FOBTs machines.