UK Treasury could lose money from FOBTs cut delay

New research indicates that the Treasury will lose more than €110 million if it postpones the FOBTs regulation.

UK.- The Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) released new research that indicates that the Treasury would lose money for every year that it postpones the curbs on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

After the British government decided to reduce the maximum stake for fixed odds betting machines (FOBTs), the gambling industry expected the measure to come into force by 2019 but authorities said that the limit won’t be implemented before 2020.

The report revealed that machine gaming duty (MGD) receipts would fall by €322 million a year but this would be more than offset by €471 million of other benefits. The report cited the Treasury’s plan to increase online gaming taxes to balance the FOBTs cut and predicted that a lot of gamblers would switch from £100-a-spin machines to other modalities that also incur tax, The Guardian reported.

The report, which was commissioned by the amusement arcade trade body Bacta, showed that the Treasury is set to lose between €110 million and €148 million for every year that maximum FOBT stake remains at €110.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to release the date of the cut in the budget later this year, with a separate statutory instrument to follow. Nevertheless, a Treasury spokesperson said that there was no delay and that the department was in talks with operators to ensure that they had enough time to adapt to the new technological changes.