FOBTs roulette machines attract more and more attention these days and the UK’s Gaming Board is forced to embrace more rigorous oversight over their operation process. The Board is primarily concerned with FOBTs mushrooming in almost every high street and becoming more than just mini-casinos. The Board members filed a quest to the High Court to make sure these machines fit within existing laws.
It seems that not only punters unusually endear FOBTs roulette machines, but also bookmakers themselves become overly dependant on them. This is highly a surprise, since they are becoming the primary source for the bookmaker’s surging revenues. Since 1997, the overall growth of profits is reflected by 33 percent, from 6.85bn to 9.1bn and much of it is driven by FOBTs roulette machines. Therefore, by cutting these machines, the government cuts a major line for revenues.
Hilary Stewart Jones, a leading gaming industry lawyer at London firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, noted that the future for FOBTs roulette machines is to be treated as remote gambling terminals, which are prospected to be redefined in the context of the gaming bill. Instead of attacking the right of bookmakers to stage these machines, their numbers will be limited.
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