Newham's FOBT proposals not adopted by the Government

The BBC have today reported comments from a Government spokesman stating the Government:

“do not support Newham Council's proposal as we have already acted by introducing stronger gambling controls to further protect players and promote responsible gambling, in April. This includes putting an end to unsupervised stakes above £50 on FOBTs and giving more powers to local authorities to stop new betting shops opening up in their areas.”

Under the terms of the legislation which allows councils to submit proposals to the government to change the law in a way with would help Local Authorities to promote the “sustainability of local communities” (the Sustainable Communities Act 2007)

In 2014 Newham, supported by 93 other councils in England & Wales, published their proposals to reduce the maximum stakes on category B2 machines (aka Fixed Odd Betting Terminals or FOBTs) from £100 to £2.

A summary of their original proposal can be found here.

Although this would seem to resolve the matter in England and Wales for the time being, powers to regulate machines with maximum stakes of £10 or more is expected to be devolved to Holyrood as part of “Devo-Max”.

We shall keep you updated.