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Crackdown on 'dangerously addictive' betting machines

The Government is to cut the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals from £100 to between £2 and £50. Dubbed the 'crack cocaine of gambling', the machines are said to be dangerously addictive.

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'I lost my job, marriage and £750,000 to gambling' - former addict fears crackdown won't go far enough

The Government announced plans to restrict the amount gamblers can wager on fixed odds betting machines, today.

Medway Council has led a long campaign against the terminals, and in Chatham a voluntary exclusion scheme was introduced to allow gambling addicts to ban themselves from betting shops.

Under the present rules it's possible to bet up to £18,000 in an hour. A former Army Major who received the Sword of Honour at Sandhurst, and then sold it to fuel his addiction, has spoken to us from his home in Tunbridge Wells about the devastation gambling has caused.

Andy Dickenson reports and hears from Justyn Larcombe, MP Tracey Crouch and Malcolm George of the Association of British Bookmakers.

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