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After the shock announcement issued last week by William Hill, who are to close up to 700 high street betting shops across the UK, with 4,000 jobs at risk, gambling consultant Steve Donoughue slammed the UK Government for lack of sympathy towards the future of the employees.
FOBT Maximum Bets
The decision was made after the UK Government changed the legislation of maximum bets on FOBT’s from £100 down to just £2. Gaming revenue had fallen significantly since the legislation was introduced in April 2019.The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports (DCMS) responded to the statement,“ The gambling industry has had over a year to make preparations for this change, including to mitigate job losses. We now expect them to provide the right support to any staff affected by the planned shop closures. By cutting the maximum FOBT stake from £100 to £2, we are helping stop extreme losses by those who can least afford them.”
‘Shock’
Donoughue responded by saying the approach is a ‘shock’ in today’s political times, quoting those employees losing their jobs might as well end up ‘on the rubbish heap’, as far as the UK Government are concerned.Speaking to Gambling Insider, Donoughue went on to say,“In normal political times, the fact that the Governmnent would willingly put in place measures leading to redundancies of thousands would be seen as shocking. The 4,500 potential job losses announced by William Hill appear to be of no concern to DCMS or, by the looks of the press, anybody else in commentariat.“ To say they had a year to prepare for this will mean little to those workers, who will now have to look elsewhere to pay rent and put food on the table. They operate in the retail sector, which is currently dying, so for many it could be a long time before they take home a pay packet again.”He voiced further concerns over the decisions being made by the Government, this could potentially see people turn to the black market, which in turn could cause more problems for people with gambling related problems and also the loss tax revenue.He said, “ Steadily the Government will push people online and into the arms of the black market, unprotected and untaxed.”