Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of the statement by the Association of British Bookmakers that reducing the maximum stake on gaming machines in betting shops from £100 to £2 will lead to (a) up to 4,500 betting shops closing, (b) 21,000 jobs being lost and (c) a net loss to the UK economy of up to £8.5 billion over the next 10 years.

On 31 October 2017 the government published proposals for changes on gaming machines and social responsibility measures. The consultation outlined options for cutting the maximum stake of Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals to between £50 and £2 and invited views. The consultation closed on 23 January. On 19 March the Gambling Commission published its advice. The Government will consider this alongside the responses received by the consultation, including those from the industry and from others, and will publish its response in due course.