Australia isn’t the only country that is setting up reforms for its poker machine market; the United Kingdom is also changing the way in which players can access electronic gaming machines. This week, the UK government has announced the introduction of new restrictions on pokie bet limits. The new restrictions target players who tend to wager large sums of money on pokies and gaming machines.
They are staff-based restrictions that leave it to gaming venue workers to intervene when their patrons seem to be spending too much time or money on pokies. If a player has been playing for longer than thirty minutes, staff members will approach them and tell them to take a break. The same will apply when a player has lost more than £250 in a single session.
Richard Glynn, CEO of Ladbrokes notes that very few players tend to exceed these limits without intervention. He states that the average player tends to only spend a few minutes playing pokies and FOBTs. Their average spending is £8. So, the new restrictions would not interrupt players who are simply playing for fun; they would only stop players who are at risk of spending too much time or money on the games.
“The purpose of this is to target individuals who could have a predisposition to harm,” says Mr Glynn. “The industry over the past six to nine months has had a sea change. Social responsibility now sits at the heart of everything we do.” The restrictions will be put into place later this year. It is hoped that they will be effective in curbing problem spending across the country.
If not, the government may consider placing restrictions on the actual games, such as pre-commitment limits.
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