The UK Government has announced new rules for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) to restrict the amount of money people can gamble.
The maximum stake on electronic casino games like roulette has been changed from £100 every 20 seconds to £2.
The machines have been dubbed the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ because of their addictive nature.
The Westminster All-Party Parliamentary Group on FOBTs, led by Carolyn Harris MP, has been calling the UK Government to reduce the stakes on these machines to £2 since 2015.
A report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research found that those on lower incomes or in deprived areas are the main beneficiaries of a reduction to a £2 stake.
But bookmakers say the new limit could lead to betting shops closing and put thousands of jobs at risk.
