LAST week the culture secretary Matt Hancock announced he would be reducing the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2.

This follows a three month consultation that received over 7,000 survey responses from a wide range of interested parties, and over 240 submissions of supplementary information and evidence from the public, industry, local authorities, Parliamentarians, academics and charities.

FOBTs have been controversial since their introduction to the UK betting market in 2001.

A type of electronic slot machine, they allow users to bet on various games that have fixed odds, such as roulette. Crucially, many versions of the machines allow users to play once every 20 seconds.

Campaigners have called the machines ‘dangerously addictive’ and said that many people have gambled away thousands.

In preparing their response, the Government carefully considered the evidence, concerns and issues that were raised. They found that even reducing the stake to as low as £5 resulted in people still gambling away thousands in a single session, while this was not an issue when stakes were at £2 or below. £2 has been therefore been chosen as the stake limit that would have the most substantial impact.

The move still needs parliamentary approval and the Government will be linking the change to an increase in charges paid by online gambling operators at the next Budget, in order to mitigate the impact on public finances. Further changes to online gambling have also been announced, with increased player protections and stronger age verification rules and proposals to require limits on the maximum spend allowed until a players’ means have been established.

There will also be enhanced protections around gambling advertising, including a major multi million pound responsible gambling advertising campaign led by GambleAware, which will be launched later this year.

I am very pleased that the Government has taken action on this, and will also be looking into the health implications of gambling addiction.

The ability to gamble away £100 every 20 seconds on FOBTs has been a serious problem for compulsive gamblers, many of whom have racked up thousands of pounds in debt.

Those that suffer are often the most vulnerable in our society, and this move goes a long way to solving one of the most serious aspects of gambling addiction.