Bookies bracing for profit shock as fixed-odd betting stake looks set for cut to £2

Betting machines - Alamy

Bookies are bracing themselves for their profits to be slashed ­after it emerged that the Government is set to cut the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals to just £2.

Following a 12-week consultation which closes on Tuesday, Matt ­Hancock, the new Culture Secretary, is expected to impose the lowest ­maximum bet suggested by the review into the “crack cocaine” of the ­gambling ­sector.

At present, gamblers can bet up to £100 in a single 20-second ­flutter but the Government has ­decided that the maximum punt on FOBTs will be cut to between £2 and £50.

Analysts have warned that a ­punitive outcome in the triennial ­review would severely damage ­earnings at the UK’s top bookmakers, with ­William Hill and Ladbrokes Coral ­earmarked as the companies most likely to be impacted by the changes.

Around 1,000 betting shops would close and the two bookies would see their profits slashed by 40pc and 50pc, respectively, in the worst-case £2 scenario, analysts at Credit Suisse predicted when the ­review began.

However, a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that the impact of reducing stakes on FOBTs to £2 will be almost half the £639m predicted by the Government’s consultation.

Figures from GambleAware ­indicated that 233,000 users of the ­machines lost more than £1,000 in just one sitting and the Gambling Commission found 43pc of those that use the machines are at risk of ­becoming a problem gambler or ­already are one.

The Association of British ­Bookmakers has led the sector’s ­resistance to the review opting for a maximum stake at the lower end of the range, arguing that more than 20,000 jobs will be lost and thousands of ­betting shops will be closed. The trade association added that problem ­gambling is “not limited to any single product”.