Triennial Review of stakes and prizes needed to stem loss of machine income

The pub fruit machine (AWP) is in the commercial equivalent of intensive care and unless the UK government addresses this in its triennial review of stakes and prizes, the prognosis could be terminal. The bleak outlook has been provided by Colm Taylor, whose company, CLMS, has been providing pub companies with an audit of AWP performance and consultancy advice for over three decades.

The long term decline in the profitability of pub AWPs has been compounded by legislation which allows licensed betting offices to site Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) which, according to Colm Taylor, are ’sucking the life out of pubs.’ The former Machine Systems Director at Whitbread, stated: “The data I have researched, which is taken from 60% of the UK’s managed houses, shows that the average weekly income from pub AWPs has decreased by 25% since 2007 – a figure which I estimate to have cost the pub sector at least £600m over the last decade.

“Three decades ago, Britain was manufacturing 50,000 pub machines a year, now that figure is less than 10,000. The triennial review can relieve the headache of decline which is why it’s so important, particularly when pubs are up against the competition of licensed betting offices.”