Sports minister resigns over delays to reducing Fixed Odds Betting Terminal stakes
Sports minister Tracey Crouch, who resigned over delays to a reduction in stakes of FOBTs. Picture: Andy Payton - Credit: Archant
The sports minister has resigned over delays to changes to Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).
Tracey Crouch, the MP for Chatham and Aylesford, called the delay to a reduction in stakes from £100 to £2 “unjustifiable”.
Ahead of the Autumn Budget, in which the delay was announced, Tower Hamlet’s mayor, John Biggs, sent a letter to the chancellor with 26 other local council leaders, urging stakes to be reduced without delay.
In Ms Crouch’s letter, which she published on Twitter, she said: “It is with great sadness that I write to tender my resignation.
“From the time of the announcement to reduce stakes and its implementation, over £1.6bn will be lost on these machines, a significant amount of which will be in our most deprived areas, including my own constituency.”
You may also want to watch:
It was announced in May that the maximum stakes of FOBTs would be reduced from £100 to £2. The machines, which have been dubbed the “crack cocaine” of betting, allow people to gamble up to £100 every 20 seconds on games like roulette.
In the Budget, chancellor Philip Hammond announced the reduction in stakes would be delayed until next October. This is to coincide with a rise in remote gaming duty which was also announced in Mr Hammond’s speech. The duty is a tax on companies offering online games like poker, and is increasing from 15 to 21 per cent of the industry’s profits.
Most Read
- 1 Teenager found dead in Victoria Park
- 2 Driver arrested after police 'drugs patrol' stops car in Whitechapel
- 3 Two in five people in Tower Hamlets may have had Covid-19
- 4 Post deliveries in east London hit by Covid crisis among Royal Mail staff
- 5 Drug and alcohol abuse by Tower Hamlets parents and children soars
- 6 'I can save the planet with my seaweed' scientist in east London claims
- 7 Disgraceful management of the pandemic
- 8 Leyton Orient sign Dan Kemp on a permanent deal from West Ham United
- 9 Leyton Orient boss Embleton expecting more movement in the transfer window
- 10 Leyton Orient seal late victory over Morecambe
FOBTs are said to disproportionately affect deprived areas. Mayor John Biggs previously called himself “puritanical” about the issue of fixed odds betting, claiming people needed to be protected against addiction. Tower Hamlets Council was part of a lobby, led by the former mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, for the maximum stake to be cut.
Ms Crouch, who has represented her Kent constituency since 2010 and has been digital, culture, media and sports minister since 2015, was praised on social media for her resignation. The Archbishop of Canterbury, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, and Tottenham MP David Lammy were among those to commend her decision.
A spokeswoman from the department for digital, culture, media and sport said they would not comment on individual resignations.