FOBT stake announcement ‘torpedoes’ Scotland Act

FOBT stake announcement 'torpedoes' Scotland Act

Stephen McGowan

The UK government’s announcement that it will introduce a maximum stake for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) will limit the proposed powers that the Scottish Parliament has under the Scotland Act to cap the number of terminals in a betting shop, according to a licensing expert.

Stephen McGowan, partner and head of licensing in Scotland at TLT, said that the announcement ‘torpedoes’ the power granted to Holyrood.

He said: “The maximum stake for so-called Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) is to be cut to £2, but the move appears to have overlooked separate provisions agreed under the Scotland Act 2016 that could hinder Scottish powers in this area.

“During the Scotland Bill, which arose to transfer new powers to Holyrood, there was considerable and intense debate surrounding FOBTs in a Scottish context. This resulted in the UK Parliament agreeing to create a special power for the Scottish Parliament to legislate on FOBTs to give Scottish licensing boards a power to restrict them.”

Mr McGowan added: “The Scottish power was intended to give Holyrood the right to create law to impose a maximum number of machines that may be made available under the ambit of a betting premises licence. As things stand, the grant of a betting licence allows the bookie to use up to four FOBTs. The Scottish power would have allowed a licensing board to restrict that number when issuing a betting licence.

“However, s.52 of the Scotland Act 2016 creates this power only in relation to machines where the “maximum charge for use is greater than £10”. Today’s announcement effectively torpedoes s.52 of the 2016 Act, leaving the Scottish Parliament powerless to make any amendment to cap machine numbers, given the new maximum stake will be below the £10 threshold. It is of course open to the Scottish Government to lobby the UK Government to seek to amend s.52 to reflect the stake reduction.”

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