Curbs on FOBT stakes fuel fewer police callouts to bookmakers

Incidents down by nearly 40% as reduced maximum bet on terminals leads to fewer violent reactions to losses

Government-imposed cuts to the amount of money gamblers can stake on betting machines has led to a near-40% reduction in police callouts to bookies to deal with customers becoming violent after losing money.

Police callouts fell by 38% following a legislation last year slashing the highest possible bet on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from 100 every 20 seconds to just 2, the Guardian can reveal. There were 1,803 police callouts in 2019, compared with 2,907, even though the reduced stake rules only took effect three months into the year.