Bookmakers "held a crunch meeting with the racing industry at Cheltenham last week in an attempt to defuse the potential fallout over proposed changes to the amount that can be gambled on fixed odds betting terminals" in their shops, according to Mark Souster of the LONDON TIMES. These machines, on which £100 ($125) can be wagered per spin, generate more than 50% of the profits of retail bookmakers, who "between them have 8,000 high street outlets." This is the equivalent of £1.7B ($2.1B) per year. However, the government is "looking at reducing how much can be bet per spin." A decision on "whether the stake should be cut and if so, to what level, is expected in the next few weeks." One suggestion is that the maximum allowed per spin could fall to £20 ($25) as part of the Triennial Review, which will set the stakes and prizes on gaming machines. Four are allowed in each shop. At present, bets allowed on the machines, which have been dubbed the "crack cocaine" of gambling, range from £2 ($2.50) to the "contentious" £100 limit. This would "hit the bookmakers hard" but "anything much below £20" would lead to "Armageddon," according to one source, "and the closure of high street shops and redundancies" (LONDON TIMES, 3/21).
