According to the Guardian, the maximum betting limit, which will be announced on Friday, will apply to players under 25
The government is to impose new betting limits of just £2 per spin on online slot machines, the Guardian reports, in a move that could cost casino companies hundreds of millions of pounds. Ministers consulted on imposing a maximum bet on casino-style digital games after publishing a white paper on gambling reform last year.
According to the Guardian, the new limit, to be announced on Friday, will be £2 for under-25s, similar to the limit imposed by the government on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in 2019. There will be a higher limit of £5 per ride for anyone over that age. There is currently no limit to the amount punters can wager on these games, which bring in more than £3 billion a year to players and carry a higher rate of addiction than other products, such as betting about football. Some of the larger operators voluntarily impose limits.
Gambling campaigners and industry sources told the Guardian they expected the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to reveal further details, including when the restrictions would come into force. restrictions, Friday. The DCMS declined to comment. The restriction could cost the UK gambling industry hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue.
When the Government began consultation on the limits to impose, it suggested a range of between £2 and £15. The white paper, published in April 2023, estimated that setting the limit at £8,50, the midpoint of the suggested range, would cost the sector up to £185 million. But imposing a £5 limit, or £2 for younger players, is likely to push costs for online casino companies beyond this level. An industry source said imposing two-bet limits could also lead to additional costs for operators.
Activists concerned about the dangers of addiction welcomed the measure but said it does not go far enough. “I'm pleased the Government has found common sense and opted for a £2 limit for under-25s,” said Labor MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs a cross-party group of MPs examining gambling-related harm gambling.
“However, there is strong evidence that a £2 limit should be applied to everyone to prevent harm. The government has sided with the industry and should think again.”
Liz Ritchie, who co-founded the charity Gambling With Lives after her son Jack took his own life due to a gambling addiction, said: “The gambling industry may present this move as a damage to their profit margin, but the real damage is to the millions of people trying to cope with the addiction caused by the toxic products of gambling and the terrible suffering of families affected by gambling suicide. The government has missed another opportunity to stop the damage caused by high stakes, and the truth is that many more people will die.”
Online casinos are the largest and fastest growing segment of the gambling industry, accounting for £4 billion of the sector's £11 billion in revenue last year, excluding the National Lottery. Of this £4 billion, slots account for £3,2 billion, according to the latest statistics from the Gambling Commission, for the year to March 2023. In addition to new limits on slot machine bets, the industry regulator , the Gambling Commission, is looking into the viability checks that gamblers could be forced to overcome if they rack up losses. Data from a new poll released Thursday shows a majority of people favor such controls, despite opposition from some sectors of the horse racing industry.
Research by pollsters Ipsos, commissioned by the UK's leading gambling charity, GambleAware, found broad support for both lighter and tougher controls, both among gamblers and among those who have not placed bets in the last 12 months. While about a third of people said they believed such controls would be an intrusion on privacy, a much smaller number said they opposed them.
The Government set out its proposals to reform gambling regulation in last year's White Paper, including a mandatory levy to fund addiction treatment, education and research, as well as affordability controls and to the new limits for online slot machines. It has asked the Gambling Commission to consult on plans for two possible levels of control over players, depending on losses and age. GambleAware's survey found clear consensus for both types of controls.
