Fury as report fails to back £2 limit on ‘crack cocaine’ betting

CAMPAIGNERS reacted with outrage last night after a review of ‘crack cocaine’ gambling machines failed to recommend cutting stakes to £2.

The maximum bet on fixed odds betting terminals could be set as high as £30, government watchdogs ruled.

But MPs, church leaders and campaign groups hit out at the report by the Gambling Commission, arguing that drastic curbs are needed to protect the vulnerable. Chancellor Philip Hammond was warned he faces a Tory rebellion in the Commons unless he ignores the upper limit.

The Treasury, which made nearly £500million from the machines last year, is resisting the drastic curbs because it fears losing tax revenues.

Critics of the terminals – which are found in high street bookmakers – said the lowest possible stakes were needed to combat the rising tide of addiction, debt, violence, and family breakdown in the poorest communities. Shares in gambling firms rose sharply after the report was published amid speculation ministers will shy away from the toughest reforms.

Culture Secretary Matt Hancock has described the machines – so addictive they are compared to crack cocaine – as a ‘social blight’ and is expected to make a decision within weeks. He is thought to be pushing for a £2 limit.

The high- stake electronic casino machines currently allow bets of up to £100 every 20 seconds – in theory allowing players to gamble away £18,000 an hour. Critics insist that only cutting stakes to £2 would cut heavy gambling losses.

Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley, the secretary of the all-party Parliamentary group on betting terminals, warned ministers they could not get a higher stake through the Commons. He said: ‘If Philip Hammond puts his mind to it he will see that this issue should not be determined by what is being taken by the Treasury.’ He added: ‘Taking money from [terminals] is the equivalent of taking money from slavery.’

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Alan Smith, said ministers need to put the interests of the public ahead of ‘concerns about tax take or the powerful gambling lobby’.

Former welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith called on Mr Hammond to ‘do the right thing by the British people’ and introduce a £2 limit.

Tory MP and GP Dr Sarah Wollaston said gambling addiction ‘leaves a trail of misery’. The Gambling Commission decision was dubbed ‘absolutely pathetic’ by Labour MP David Lammy, who added: ‘Labour needs to abolish the Gambling Commission – we need a proper regulator not a toothless industry mouthpiece.’

The latest figures show tax revenues from the gambling machines have risen 40 per cent to £470million. The figure is set to hit £850million by 2020. There are now nearly 35,000 machines in bookies and £1.7 billion is lost on them every year.

The Association of British Bookmakers says cutting stakes could result in betting shops closing and the loss of thousands of jobs.

A spokesman said it ‘fully understands’ public concern.

HOW craven of the Gambling Commission to pass the buck on toughening regulation of the ‘crack cocaine’ gambling machines that destroy so many lives.

Instead of slashing the maximum stake from £100 to £2, it meekly recommends a cut to ‘below £30’, leaving the Government to set the exact figure.

As Peter Oborne argues powerfully on this page, Tony Blair’s reckless liberalisation of gambling laws is to blame for this scourge. Ministers must now tackle his malign legacy and do what the commission was too gutless to do – protect the vulnerable from these sharks. THE payment of over £100million in a year to three executives of the housebuilder Persimmon is simply grotesque, especially as the firm’s profits are built on the taxpayer-funded Help to Buy scheme. It’s the kind of egregious excess that gives capitalism a bad name – and plays straight into Jeremy Corbyn’s Socialist agenda. FOR more than two decades this paper has campaigned to end the scandal of mixed- sex NHS wards. But after initial success in reducing this demeaning practice, the number of patients on wards with both sexes has now hit a seven-year high. Yes, there are huge pressures on NHS beds but that’s no excuse for humiliating patients. This trend must be reversed – and soon.