Due to growing pressure from some citizens’ groups and conservative MPs resulted in the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) offering a compromise solution: Bettors are given the option to set betting limits. Additionally, all FOBTs were to be programmed to warn the player if he/she spends more than 30 minutes or £250 on the machine.
At that time, Tory official called the self-regulation a “positive step” toward addressing citizens’ concerns, the people pressed on in hopes of further legislation regulating FOBTs. Long before the ABB acted had a scary factoid been circulating via tabloid and TV: The punter can wager £100 every 20 second. (Technically the figure is correct, but with limited payouts possible, it would be extremely difficult to blow said £100 quite that quickly. Point taken, though.)
As a result of this stat, citizens’ groups have proposed setting back the maximum wager allowed on the machines form £100 to £2, a proposal that is gaining steam among the populace – and may have gotten a bump from history.
A substantive governmental study into FOBTs was ordered by Parliament in September 2016, but it was the events of June ’17 that have likely doomed that £100. In June 2017, a stunning near-victory by the left resulted in a parliamentary coalition between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party. While the Tories had been notably blasé about addressing any FOBT-related issues, the DUP is one party with limiting that max bet high on its agenda. And any FOBT-regulating bill in parliament is unlikely to be blocked, with opposition parties Labour and the Liberal Democrats both pro-FOBT betting limits.
This is written from the vantage point of confused post-election 2017, and we still don’t know the medium-term effects of Theresa May’s cockup. It feels fairly well certain, however, that the days of the £100 FOBT wager are numbered; by 2020, a much lower max bet will be required. Although if you're waitng for a decision this summer, as all things with this governemnt, this has also been delayed until the autumn of 2017.