The industry was united in its condemnation, almost. Paddy Power Betfair\u00a0(PPB) described it as “positive development for the long-term sustainability of the industry.”\u00a0With fewer betting shops than William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral, and a stronger digital arm, PPB had less to lose and was content to take a revenue hit, as long as its major competitors took an even bigger one.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe media was delighted by the move, until it learned that the reforms would not be implemented until October\u00a02019. It then\u00a0returned to its default position of outrage.<\/p>\n
Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch — who led a regulatory review into the machines in 2017 — branded the delay \u201cunjustifiable\u201d and resigned. Within weeks, the government was facing a full-scale party revolt on the issue. Rebel MPs threatened to trash Hammond’s budget unless the reforms were expedited to April 2019. It would have been the first time a UK government had been defeated on a budget plan since 1978, and Hammond relented.<\/p>\n
The decision to slash FOBT stakes came just three days after the US Supreme Court\u2019s rejection of the federal prohibition against sports betting in the US that had existed for all but four states since 1992, paving the way for the American market to open up, and open it did.<\/p>\n
Fully operational and ready to move in for the kill, several major UK operators like William Hill quickly put up stakes in the states that were swiftly legalizing sports betting. In every cloud, there’s always that silver lining, and one thing these companies can count on is that no one across the pond will cap out bets at $3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Storm clouds were gathering on the UK betting industry\u2019s horizon as the New Year broke. A 2017 government regulatory review into fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) had threatened to cut the maximum \u00a3100 ($130) stakes on the machines, but to what? The industry warned that any drastic reduction would lead to hundreds of betting shop closures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":89354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
UK Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals Stakes Get Slashed in 2018<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n