Clause 61 - Nature of licence
Gambling Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Don Foster (Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Culture, Media & Sport; Bath, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman asked me where that information comes from, but I cannot tell him. However, the Government say that they have it. My conversations with a wide range of organisations lead me to believe that nobody really knows the answer—but the Government do.
My point is simple. These are highly addictive machines that will undoubtedly lead to a significant increase in problem gambling in this country as people
seek to chase their losses. The current chairman of the Gaming Board has referred to such machines as having
''special dangers . . . because of their potentially addictive characteristics.''
The Government discussed the introduction of fixed-odds betting terminals with the bookmakers, which were initially going to be similar, but decided not to do so because of real concerns, and clear limits were placed on them with a maximum pay-out of £500 for a single transaction.
The Government recognised the dangers of unlimited pay-out machines in discussions with the bookmakers, but they do not seem to accept the problems in relation to regional casinos. I should like to see whether the Minister has something interesting to tell us about a planned limit, the rejection of any category A machines, a limit on the maximum pay-outs, or anything like that.