Victoria Coren Mitchell Praises UK FOBT Gambling Regulation

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Friday, May 25th, 2018 | Written by Lucy Brown

Following this month’s news that the maximum stakes of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) in the United Kingdom will be cut from £100 to just £2, a number of interested parties have been expressing their relief that a new chapter may soon open on the country’s gambling industry.

The decision was reached after a 15-year long campaign to clamp down on the highly addictive slot type machines, during which time the number of problem gamblers or those at risk of developing an addiction in the UK has risen to as many as 2 million people.

Coren Mitchell

Victoria Coren Mitchell may be one of the most accomplished poker players in the world, but the Guardian newspaper columnist and TV presenter also has some pretty strong views when it comes to gambling in general. As a poker purist, Coren appreciates that the combination of luck and skill in poker is what makes the game such a unique draw to players, with continuous study, practice and discipline necessary in order to become a successful professional player.

Over the years, Coren has not shied away from expressing her opposition to operators looking to blur the lines between luck based casino type games and poker, either, and in 2014 she even gave up a lucrative sponsorship deal as a PokerStars “Team Pro” member after the operator launched casino products on its main PokerStars platform. As she noted at the time:

“I cannot professionally and publicly endorse [PokerStars’ launch of casino games], even passively by silence with my name still over the shop. Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote.”

Long Voiced Opposition to FOBTs

According to the UK Gambling Commission, a staggering 14% of people who play FOBTs are believed to be problem gamblers, which in turn has contributed to the recent upsurge in problem gambling cases in Britain. As one of the UK’s most influential gambling industry reporters, Coren has long voiced her opposition to these machines, and in a particular scathing attack on the industry last August, Coren called FOBTs “stupid” and “evil”, and as an extract from her piece in the Guardian read:

“Punters lose and lose and lose. And when they disappear, or kill themselves, or their child is taken into care and they start self-medicating with drugs instead, someone else steps blindly up to feed the monster.”

Following the stakes reduction announcement made by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this month, that still has to be ratified before taking effect, Coren and a number of her colleagues have praised the decision to cut the stakes of FOBTs to the lowest level originally suggested by the parliamentary committee. Open letters have also been published in leading tabloid newspapers, such as the Independent, haling the decision as a victory for common sense that will help prevent further pain being caused to gamblers and their families.

Bookmakers Concerned

While Coren and her colleagues are pleased that the new £2 stakes level will help lower the risk of harm being inflicted on individual players and the wider community as a whole, gambling operators have warned that the decision will have far-reaching implications for their operations.

After all, gamblers are able to lose as much as £300 per minute playing FOBTs, and each year these machines generate a massive £2 billion in revenue for high street bookmakers. Consequently, FOBTs account for around half of the revenues generated by bookmakers on an annual basis, and according to the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) more than 4,000 betting shops may have to shut their operations, in the process leading to 21,000 people losing their jobs. Furthermore, the ABB has tried to dismiss the government’s approach as naive, warning that “independent expert advice warned that this would simply shift people, the majority of whom gamble responsibly, to alternative forms of gambling where there is less chance of human interaction and its impact on problem gambling levels is far from certain.”

While operators such as William Hill and Ladbrokes have decried the ruling, not all gambling firms are dismayed. Paddy Power Betfair, for instance, has said that the decision will help reduce the “reputational damage” suffered by the bookmaking industry on account of these highly addictive machines. A Jenningsbet spokesperson also pointed out that the industry now has the opportunity to revisit its roots and reestablish a more “collaborative and healthy relationship” with the horse and greyhound racing industry.