Another throw of the dice on ‘mini casino’ betting machines?

The high-stakes machines in high-street betting shops can see users lose up to £300 a minute, prompting the Labour party to describe them as “mini casinos”. Critics also claim the machines are clustered in deprived areas and can even be used for money laundering.

Labour had demanded tighter controls on the gambling machines.

But after Prime Minister David Cameron said the government is already doing enough and will wait until spring before taking any more action, it won a Commons vote by 314 to 232 in a vote on a Labour motion calling for local councils to be given the power to limit the number of high-stake fruit machines.

The Prime Minister said: “Fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs) were introduced in 2001 after the Labour government relaxed gambling regulations.

There are actually now fewer of these machines than there were when Labour were in office. David Cameron

“The second fact is there are actually now fewer of these machines than there were when Labour were in office…councils already have powers to tackle the issues and I believe that councils should make full use of that power.”

During Prime Minister’s Questions, he responded to the Labour leader Ed Miliband by suggesting if he had any more evidence on the gambling machines, he should submit it to the review.

“I’m not arguing that is job done, there may well be more to do, but we have a review under way, this is an issue for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, if you have ideas I’d ask you to put those ideas into this review,” he said.

High-stakes gambling

Unlike traditional fruit machines in pubs and amusement arcades, punters can bet up to £100 every 20 seconds on games like roulette on the FOBTs, and stand to win up to £500. Gambling experts say the machines are gateways to addiction, because they are easy to access and play – and can see addicts, often young people, lose thousands.

The Labour party, alongside organisations like Stop the FOBTs, wanted councils to be given more planning powers to stop the spread of the machines. They also wanted to slow down the games and introduce on-screen pop-ups showing players how much money they have already lost.

Tonight, the Culture Minister told MPs that the big five bookmakers had been told to come up with new precautionary measures on fixed odds betting terminals by March.