Leader welcomes cuts to gambling machine stakes

COUNCIL leader Allen Brett has welcomed moves to slash the stakes on bookies’ roulette machines.

The maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals - dubbed the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ - will be reduced to £2 under new rules unveiled by the government.

Currently, people can bet up to £100 every 20 seconds on electronic casino games.

Culture Secretary Matt Hancock called the machines “a very serious social blight” that “needs to be tackled.”

But bookmakers have warned the cut could lead to thousands of shops closing.

But writing in his blog this week, Coun Brett welcomed the move.

He wrote: “I was really pleased when I turned on the news last week and saw that the hard work that has been put in to reduce the impact of gambling machines has finally come to fruition.

“Under new rules unveiled by the government, gambling machines found in bookies will now have a £2 limit, rather than the current £100 limit.

“The council, along with other local authorities across the country, has formally supported the Campaign for Fairer Gambling’s call for this reduction for years.

“It’s brilliant to see that spending large amounts of money on these machines will be made harder and that this will call a halt to people being able to spend £100 in as little as 20 seconds.

“It’s well documented that gambling addictions can ruin people’s lives and it’s a real problem we face in Rochdale.

“As you may remember, a few years ago there was widespread coverage of Rochdale’s gambling problem when it was revealed that £72m was spent in Rochdale on gambling machines in 2012 - that’s the equivalent of everyone in the borough betting £340 a year.

“Unfortunately, the problem continued to get worse between 2012 and 2013 and the amount spent on these machines increased by 112 per cent.

“This new limit is a great step in the right direction in the fight to reduce the harm caused to people with gambling addictions, and I’d like to thank everyone who has campaigned for this.” ●●Council leader Allen Brett (inset) said it was ‘brilliant’ to see it will now be harder for people to spend large sums of money on gambling machines