In the end, it was an “expert” who managed to persuade Chancellor Philip Hammond to sign off on the proposal to drastically cut the maximum stake limit for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) to £2, according to media reports.
Hammond, a member of the British Conservative Party, has previously rejected the highly contentious proposal to impose a £2 maximum FOBT stake—a huge drop from the current £100 per spin limit—on grounds that the government may stand to lose “hundreds of millions in gambling tax revenues.”
On Tuesday, however, UK’s The Times reported that “a deal” has been reached in the Treasury, with the chancellor accepting “expert recommendation” that FOBT stakes should be slashed to £2.
All that’s needed now is for Hammond to reach an agreement with Department for Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Matthew Hancock, who has been pushing for the £2 option, over how the government will fill the £400 million gap in state coffers resulting from the drastic FOBT stake cut. Hammond’s allies are confident that a deal between the two is “imminent,” telling the news outlet, “We are very nearly there.”