UK online gambling taxes will be hiked before the government gets around to slashing the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT).

On Friday, UK media reported that the Treasury had agreed to delay the reduction in maximum FOBT stakes from their current £100 to just £2 until April 2020. The government justified the delay by saying that it was attempting to “balance the needs” of problem gamblers and industry staff by allowing the industry “sufficient time to implement these technological changes.”

Labour Party members were predictably outraged, with MP Carolyn Harris saying she was “breathing fire” over the announcement. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson called the delay “a pathetic move from a fundamentally weak government.”

Anti-gambling campaigners were equally miffed, noting that the companies that make FOBTs needed only a couple months to make the necessary changes, allegedly poking holes in the government’s claim that the industry needed two years to make the switch.