Bookmakers have been accused of cheating on new rules after high-stakes roulette-style games were launched on the same day as restrictions on curbing fixed-odds betting terminals came into force.
A reduction in stakes for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2 was introduced yesterday, after campaigners warned that they were leading to huge losses for gamblers, many of them addicts.
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However, The Guardian found that high street bookies Betfred and Paddy Power have launched new machines, which critics have described as “FOBTs by the back door”.
Betfred’s new game features a maximum stake of £500, five times what was possible on the FOBT games that are now banned. A spokesman for the company said: “These are not machine games but over-the-counter bets.”
Paddy Power’s new game features a maximum stake of £100, the same level as FOBTs before the new restrictions. William Hill is planning a similar product but has yet to launch it. The company said it “will only be launched after full engagement with the regulator”.
Sports Minister Mims Davies said the new restrictions were brought in “to protect vulnerable people from gambling-related harm”, adding that operators “should respect both the letter and the spirit of that change”.
She warned: “We are watching very closely to see how the industry reacts to this measure and will not hesitate to act if we see evidence of harm.”
Labour’s shadow culture minister, Tom Watson, said: “These new games seem like FOBTs by the back door and look like a pretty disgraceful example of bad faith by the bookmakers involved. They appear to be trying to cheat the system.”