FOBTs are regulated in England by the Gambling Act (2005). These machines are restricted to accepting maximum bets of £100, with the maximum prize of £500 per bet. In Scotland and Wales, the maximum bet allowed on these machines is £10.
In the UK, it is estimated that there are 34,388 FOBTs. The Gambling Act (2005) says that there should be up to four FOBTs per betting shop.
In the 2015/16 financial year, HMRC received over £2.66bn in tax revenue from betting and gaming. FOBTs have generated £1.8bn between October 2015 and September 2016.
According to research by The Guardian, people living in areas of high unemployment rates are likely to spend four times as much on FOBTs than people living in areas of low unemployment rates. In 2012, people in deprived areas gambled £5.6bn on FOBTs compared to £1.4bn in affluent areas.
